The End of the World

            The absolute first thing must be an awed appreciation of the voices tonight! Everyone was incredible! The Norns were dramatic and eerie, Brunhilde was powerful yet sensitive, Siegfried dynamic and mellifluous by turns, the Gibbichungs intense and expressive, Hagen was magnificent! His rich bass was practically left a treacly trail of evil in his wake! Waltraute was impassioned and the Rheinmaids lilting and exquisite.

            We’ve made no secret of the fact that we do not care for the director’s “concept” for this cycle, so we won’t belabor that too much. I felt that this one was the least tedious and the most coherent since das Reingold. As for some of his “interpretations” and liberties, I will simply say that I do not believe that the Ring requires additional violence, sexual assault, or incest. It was also a little disappointing the world ended here with a literal whimper (from Hagen when the Rheinmaidens chucked the ring into a trash can fire). As bleak, despondent, and generally nihilistic as this production was, I really thought the director would be (and I was personally looking forward to) all about burning it all down.

            Just to clarify, when we are trashing this cycle we are only attacking the direction and the director’s overall “vision”. The performers have been amazing, the production values have been incredible – the lighting, sets, costumes, etc. have all been excellently done; however little they may have served the actual story, they alone served to somewhat hide the nakedness of the Emperor’s concept. I leave out the video, because we truly loathe the incorporation of video into so many productions. The extremely rare moments when it adds anything positive are so overwhelmed by the all the times it is a distraction, a disruption, or just a lazy way to work around exposition.

            The last thing we want to laud is the Bayreuth audience! The Ring is the endurance trials of opera and this crowd was gold medal grade all the way through. Not a single cell phone went off, I think I might have heard two sneezes, and six coughs over the entire 19+ hours. No one sang along (HGO production of La Boheme), tapped feet or wrist watches to the music (SFO Ring), or squirmed endlessly (squeakily) in those little wooden school desks (every production ever – except our seats are plush and squishy). Seriously, as soon as the lights dimmed you’d have thought they were magically transformed into waxworks (well, statues – wax would totally have melted in that sweat box). They took their hours of pent up potential energy and used to it vociferously acknowledge the performers. My pet peeve (okay, one of them!) with so many American audiences is that they treat the performance like the opening ceremonies for the REAL event – the race to see who can get to the parking lot first. There was none of that here – curtain call after curtain call, they roared like lions, and just when you thought it was time to seek medical attention for the blistering of your palms, here comes the conductor and the thundering made me genuinely afraid for the fabric of the building.

Although we obviously would have preferred a production we didn’t hate, loathe, and despise, the music was splendid. So as Brad insists on saying, we have no Bayreuth’s remorse. All angst and bad puns aside, we have loved all that we have experienced of Germany! The landscape and the marvelous cultural heritage have been tremendously enjoyable! We plan to finish strong with a visit to the 3^rd of Ludwig II’s fantastical pleasure palaces, Herrenchiemsee!