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Gold, power, sex, love: Wagner's Rheingold daydream
Wagner's "Ring' cycle (Part 3: "Das Rheingold')
Third in a series about Wagner's Ring cycle.
In Wagner's prologue to Das Rheingold, the first of four operas that constitute his Ring of the Nibelungs, Wagner introduces audiences to the gods and their adversaries and gives necessary background to the Ring's plot. I don't know any Wagner fan who considers this to be his or her favorite part of the cycle, but you need to start here to understand the whole. Anyway, this one-act introduction is only"“ only?— two and a half hours long.
Here we are introduced to a new form of opera, far removed from the tradition of Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi, and even different from Wagner's earlier romantic operas like Lohengrin and Tannhauser. Beginning with a long instrumental prelude, the orchestra states the themes and sets the mood. It shapes the action and comments on the characters' feelings. The orchestra remains so pre-eminent throughout the Ring that many conductors have presented non-vocal distillations of the cycle in addition to playing specific orchestral highlights. Stokowski labeled his a "Symphonic Synthesis" and Maazel called his "The Ring Without Words."
As I mentioned in the first article of this series, Wagner uses what's normally referred to as leitmotifs, denoting (literally, noting) objects and feelings with their own musical themes. The cycle's four operas contain hundreds of these, although many are variations of other themes. Even without hearing words, a listener can get an idea of what's happening through the music alone.
No pauses, not even for applause
There are no breaks in the flow, no arias, duets or ensembles, no pauses for applause. After the Rhine maidens sing about the beauty of gold in the opening scene, there will be hardly any unison singing for the remainder of the cycle. Unlike past masters of opera, Wagner didn't want his characters to sing together (except for a phrase or two, as in the ending of Siegfried.) A salutary result is that characters can listen to each other's words, and so can the audience.
Even if you don't understand German, listen for the beautiful alliteration and onomatopoeia in what Wagner referred to as his "poem" about the water: "Weia waga, woge du welle, walle zur wiege, wagala weia." And Wotan's words to his wife as they enter Valhalla: "Folge mir, Frau, In Walhall wohne mit mir."
"'Sinking in a mighty flood'
Wagner said that the idea for the opening came to him in a daydream as he lay in a hotel room in the Mediterranean town of Spezia in August 1853: "I felt as though I were sinking in a mighty flood. The rush and roar soon took musical shape within my brain as the chord of E-flat major, surging incessantly in broken chords. These declared themselves as melodic figurations of increasing motion."
That chord, played in the deepest bass, opens the Ring cycle. The orchestra's eight double basses must manually lower the pitch of their lowest string by a semitone to play this passage and the resulting sound is so low that it's felt as much as heard.
Three women and one repulsive man
The setting is the bottom of the Rhine River, where three young women guard a pile of gold. Alberich, a short and ugly member of the Nibelung race, tries to woo these ladies, but they laugh at him. In the Metropolitan Opera's current production, we see him slip and slide on underwater rocks as the maidens slither away from him. He is too repulsive to attract a partner and too slow to have his way by force. Frustrated sexually, Alberich fixates instead on the gold.
The women tell him that he can forge a ring from the gold that will empower him to rule the world, but first he must renounce love. Since he's unlikely to score anyway, Alberich logically decides to make that pledge and grab the gold.
Deep in a mine-like shaft, Alberich enslaves the Nibelung people, including his own brother, and forces them to dig to extract more gold from the earth.
A villain worthy of empathy
Although he's often thought of as the villain of the tale, Alberich engenders a little bit of understanding, if not actual sympathy, from the audience. His desires and frustration are comprehensible. Presently he'll be tricked into changing himself into a toad (to prove his magical powers), whereupon Wotan and Loge will seize him and steal the gold. Alberich then puts a curse on whoever possesses the ring.
You might note that Alberich and the Rhine maidens are the only characters who still are present when the Ring cycle comes to an end 15 hours later. Incidentally, Alberich renounced love but not sex, and later on he will force a woman— the queen of the Gibechungs— to satisfy him, and she will bear his child, the murderous Hagen who appears in the final Ring opera, Gotterdammerung.
You'll miss a great deal if you overlook the singer/actors who are not big names, the supposed supporting players. Richard Paul Fink gave a great portrayal of Alberich, with a colorful expression of desire and frustration. Gerhard Siegel was Alberich's tenor brother, Mime, singing and acting well. Kim Begley gave an excellent characterization as Loge, moving seductively and displaying charm and deceit. Wagner's Loge is actually a combination of two Norse gods: Logi, a god of fire, and Loki, a trickster. From these two, Wagner created a character with those two characteristics and two distinct musical motifs: fire and cunning.
Wotan welshes on a contract
We see that Wotan, leader of the gods, is the creator and defender of laws"“ he has his contracts engraved on his spear"“ but he manipulates his own rules. Wotan contracts with a pair of giants, Fafner and Fasolt, to build Valhalla, a palace for the gods, bur then he tries to welsh on the deal. Wotan tells Loge to find a way to renege on his promise to pay the giants by giving them Freia, the sister of Wotan's wife. (This is Wotan renouncing love, in the form of its goddess.) During that scene the orchestra plays the spear theme but with an incorrect series of notes, symbolizing the distortion of the contract.
James Morris has been singing and acting Wotan since this production was new, and he still sounds authoritative and thrilling. In a few moments he seems to rest his voice, but then he unleashes it with power and beauty for the climaxes.
That deceptive rainbow
Erda, the Earth-mother, rises from the depths and warns Wotan, "All things that are, perish. An evil day dawns for the immortals." She tells Wotan to give up the ring, but that sacrifice alone is not an alternative to his doom; it's merely the first step in accepting it, and the doom she predicts is inevitable. Frightened, Wotan gives the golden ring to the giants. Fafner clubs his brother Fasolt to death, demonstrating the curse in action. Jill Grove was a youthful Erda, a bit lacking in sonority. John Tomlinson gave an outstanding performance as Fafner, with a resonant deep baritone.
The opera ends with the gods ascending into Valhalla over a Rainbow Bridge, but Loge looks at them and sings: "Those who deem themselves strong and great are hastening toward their end. I am ashamed to share in their dealings." It's a majestic scene, visually and aurally. James Levine and the Met orchestra were superb.
Now we are ready for the three main operas of the Ring, and we haven't yet met some of the greatest characters, Siegmund, Sieglinde and Brünnhilde. â—†
Third in a series about Wagner's Ring cycle.
To read the first article in this series, click here.
To read the next article (on Die Walküre), click here.
In Wagner's prologue to Das Rheingold, the first of four operas that constitute his Ring of the Nibelungs, Wagner introduces audiences to the gods and their adversaries and gives necessary background to the Ring's plot. I don't know any Wagner fan who considers this to be his or her favorite part of the cycle, but you need to start here to understand the whole. Anyway, this one-act introduction is only"“ only?— two and a half hours long.
Here we are introduced to a new form of opera, far removed from the tradition of Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi, and even different from Wagner's earlier romantic operas like Lohengrin and Tannhauser. Beginning with a long instrumental prelude, the orchestra states the themes and sets the mood. It shapes the action and comments on the characters' feelings. The orchestra remains so pre-eminent throughout the Ring that many conductors have presented non-vocal distillations of the cycle in addition to playing specific orchestral highlights. Stokowski labeled his a "Symphonic Synthesis" and Maazel called his "The Ring Without Words."
As I mentioned in the first article of this series, Wagner uses what's normally referred to as leitmotifs, denoting (literally, noting) objects and feelings with their own musical themes. The cycle's four operas contain hundreds of these, although many are variations of other themes. Even without hearing words, a listener can get an idea of what's happening through the music alone.
No pauses, not even for applause
There are no breaks in the flow, no arias, duets or ensembles, no pauses for applause. After the Rhine maidens sing about the beauty of gold in the opening scene, there will be hardly any unison singing for the remainder of the cycle. Unlike past masters of opera, Wagner didn't want his characters to sing together (except for a phrase or two, as in the ending of Siegfried.) A salutary result is that characters can listen to each other's words, and so can the audience.
Even if you don't understand German, listen for the beautiful alliteration and onomatopoeia in what Wagner referred to as his "poem" about the water: "Weia waga, woge du welle, walle zur wiege, wagala weia." And Wotan's words to his wife as they enter Valhalla: "Folge mir, Frau, In Walhall wohne mit mir."
"'Sinking in a mighty flood'
Wagner said that the idea for the opening came to him in a daydream as he lay in a hotel room in the Mediterranean town of Spezia in August 1853: "I felt as though I were sinking in a mighty flood. The rush and roar soon took musical shape within my brain as the chord of E-flat major, surging incessantly in broken chords. These declared themselves as melodic figurations of increasing motion."
That chord, played in the deepest bass, opens the Ring cycle. The orchestra's eight double basses must manually lower the pitch of their lowest string by a semitone to play this passage and the resulting sound is so low that it's felt as much as heard.
Three women and one repulsive man
The setting is the bottom of the Rhine River, where three young women guard a pile of gold. Alberich, a short and ugly member of the Nibelung race, tries to woo these ladies, but they laugh at him. In the Metropolitan Opera's current production, we see him slip and slide on underwater rocks as the maidens slither away from him. He is too repulsive to attract a partner and too slow to have his way by force. Frustrated sexually, Alberich fixates instead on the gold.
The women tell him that he can forge a ring from the gold that will empower him to rule the world, but first he must renounce love. Since he's unlikely to score anyway, Alberich logically decides to make that pledge and grab the gold.
Deep in a mine-like shaft, Alberich enslaves the Nibelung people, including his own brother, and forces them to dig to extract more gold from the earth.
A villain worthy of empathy
Although he's often thought of as the villain of the tale, Alberich engenders a little bit of understanding, if not actual sympathy, from the audience. His desires and frustration are comprehensible. Presently he'll be tricked into changing himself into a toad (to prove his magical powers), whereupon Wotan and Loge will seize him and steal the gold. Alberich then puts a curse on whoever possesses the ring.
You might note that Alberich and the Rhine maidens are the only characters who still are present when the Ring cycle comes to an end 15 hours later. Incidentally, Alberich renounced love but not sex, and later on he will force a woman— the queen of the Gibechungs— to satisfy him, and she will bear his child, the murderous Hagen who appears in the final Ring opera, Gotterdammerung.
You'll miss a great deal if you overlook the singer/actors who are not big names, the supposed supporting players. Richard Paul Fink gave a great portrayal of Alberich, with a colorful expression of desire and frustration. Gerhard Siegel was Alberich's tenor brother, Mime, singing and acting well. Kim Begley gave an excellent characterization as Loge, moving seductively and displaying charm and deceit. Wagner's Loge is actually a combination of two Norse gods: Logi, a god of fire, and Loki, a trickster. From these two, Wagner created a character with those two characteristics and two distinct musical motifs: fire and cunning.
Wotan welshes on a contract
We see that Wotan, leader of the gods, is the creator and defender of laws"“ he has his contracts engraved on his spear"“ but he manipulates his own rules. Wotan contracts with a pair of giants, Fafner and Fasolt, to build Valhalla, a palace for the gods, bur then he tries to welsh on the deal. Wotan tells Loge to find a way to renege on his promise to pay the giants by giving them Freia, the sister of Wotan's wife. (This is Wotan renouncing love, in the form of its goddess.) During that scene the orchestra plays the spear theme but with an incorrect series of notes, symbolizing the distortion of the contract.
James Morris has been singing and acting Wotan since this production was new, and he still sounds authoritative and thrilling. In a few moments he seems to rest his voice, but then he unleashes it with power and beauty for the climaxes.
That deceptive rainbow
Erda, the Earth-mother, rises from the depths and warns Wotan, "All things that are, perish. An evil day dawns for the immortals." She tells Wotan to give up the ring, but that sacrifice alone is not an alternative to his doom; it's merely the first step in accepting it, and the doom she predicts is inevitable. Frightened, Wotan gives the golden ring to the giants. Fafner clubs his brother Fasolt to death, demonstrating the curse in action. Jill Grove was a youthful Erda, a bit lacking in sonority. John Tomlinson gave an outstanding performance as Fafner, with a resonant deep baritone.
The opera ends with the gods ascending into Valhalla over a Rainbow Bridge, but Loge looks at them and sings: "Those who deem themselves strong and great are hastening toward their end. I am ashamed to share in their dealings." It's a majestic scene, visually and aurally. James Levine and the Met orchestra were superb.
Now we are ready for the three main operas of the Ring, and we haven't yet met some of the greatest characters, Siegmund, Sieglinde and Brünnhilde. â—†
Third in a series about Wagner's Ring cycle.
To read the first article in this series, click here.
To read the next article (on Die Walküre), click here.
What, When, Where
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Niebelungs). By Richard Wagner; James Levine, conductor. Through May 9, 2009 at the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, New York. (212) 362-6000 or www.metoperafamily.org.
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