Deutsche Oper Berlin. 1.RANG Links. Row 7, Seat 1 (120 euros).
That's how the entire Ring cycle started.
Conductor - Sir Donald Runnicles. Wotan - Iain Paterson; Donner - Thomas Lehman; Froh - Kieran Carrel; Loge - Thomas Blondelle; Alberich - Michael Sumuel; Mime - Ya-Chung Huang; Fasolt - Albert Pesendorfer; Fafner - Tobias Kehner; Fricka - Annika Schlict; Freia - Martina Weischenbach; Erda - Lauren Decker; Rheinmaidens - Lea-ann Dunbar, Arianne Manganello, Karis Tucker.
The banner announces the opera that is being performed. We didn't notice the second banner which would have the title of the opera on it. (Das Rheingold for today.)
I started this series with considerable trepidation, predominantly due to the pre-reading of this production (what little I did of it), and due to a dialog I had with Microsoft CoPilot.
What I read about this production gave me an impression that it was similar to that of the Bayreuth Ring, but at a different (more difficult) level. A different story was being played on stage than the one Wagner intended, and the audience is left to fend for itself when it comes to understanding what is going on. CoPilot introduced to me the term Regietheater and all its implications, and suggested a completely different mindset would be needed if the operas are to be appreciated fully. To make things worse, CoPilot says the director Stefan Herheim is of the third-wave Regietheater generation, and uses terms like Postdramatic, Meta-Theatrical, and Ontology-Changing to describe their products. None of these terms is familiar to me.
Let me first say my reaction after seeing this first of the operas was that all the worries are overblown. It was perfectly fine to treat this as a modern rendition of the old warhorse, although the director may have chosen to skip some elements in the original plot. Or rather chosen not to emphasize them, or represent them some other way. And he added a few elements to it.
A grand piano forms the center-piece (and supposed anchor) of the production. It sat there, by itself, as the audience filed into their seats. Then a group of travelers came on stage with suitcases, and the leader hits a key on the piano. No sound came from the piano, as it's just a prop (a rather versatile one, it turns out). Instead the orchestra started with a soft E-flat, exactly as Wagner intended. A few observations. The Director (Herheim) meant these to be refugees, although so far (I finished Walkure last night) they could just be travelers who happen to be spectators. The other is the music performed is exactly what Wagner wrote (not that I know all the details). Also, suitcases are used a lot in this production. They are placed in front of the piano so the entrances and exits of people are blocked from the audience, they are basic building blocks for the different sets (e.g., walls).
One clever ploy is that these travelers become the Nibelungs. But the production designers didn't bother to "change" Alberich at all when he used the helmet to turn into a big dragon and a small mouse. I thought they could at least project these images onto this jack-of-all-trades sheet.
Generally speaking, the leitmotifs can be appreciated just as Wagner intended them. Valhalla, Staff, Notung, Rhine, and others all evoke images of their intended objects. Again, this opera can be appreciated exactly as Wagner intended it, other than some of the "new" elements Herheim introduced. In my opinion, most of them are superfluous anyway, luckily they are not significant enough to detract from the drama.
In fact, one can even complain some staging is a bit clumsy. A prime example is the way they used gold as payment to the giants for completion of Valhalla. They simply took objects (golden ones, I suppose) from suitcases and piled them onto Freia who was lying in the piano; no subtlety, no finesse. And the gold ring is the same gaudy lighted orb used in many other productions.
The other prop that is constantly present is the sheet. Herheim talks about how it started small and grew in size. I didn't catch the progression. But I had to admire how they could control a rather large sheet, and how they could project different backgrounds onto it to accommodate different scenes. And it is a lot cheaper than the 24-plank setup the Met used for its now-retired set. While the sheet worked admirably in this opera, it got a little comical during Die Walkure (again, I am typing this entry after having seen Walkure).
The way they used effigies for Fasolt and Fafner was also clever. I was disappointed when their heads (made from suitcases, of course) dropped to the floor even though the two were still singing.
In other productions I have seen, Das Rheingold ends with Wotan leading the family towards Valhalla. Here Wotan goes down the prompter's box and follows Erda to the center of the earth (?), that would explain how the two conceived Sigmund and Sieglinde. Indeed the opera ended with a projection of twin fetuses. I thought they copied the Bayreuth production, but Anne remarked that the Bayreuth twins were Wotan and Alberich (a fact that production made up). Incidentally, Erda is located at the prompter's box as she supposedly knows how the story unfolds. Interesting idea, but I am quite sure Erda isn't the prompter.
The prompter's box must be quite sturdy as we often have people standing on it.
One more new element in this production is that the spectators are watching a rehearsal, thus the action we see is one additional level removed from the story. If that is indeed the case, is the actual audience (yet one more level removed) supposed to feel any emotion from the story? As I said, the audience can ignore all these distractions; does that make the production a success, or a failure?
There is this "book" whose significant was lost on me during Das Rheingold. In Die Walkure the title "Die Walkure by Richard Wagner" appears clearly on the cover. I suppose it is to emphasize we are seeing a rehearsal here, and people still need their scores at this stage.
What made today's performance great was that Wagner came through, by and large. Despite all the added elements, we get the story as Wagner intended it. Credit must be given to the musicians - both the singers and the orchestra. The singers came across strongly (a few weak spots here and there, but I don't remember the specifics), and the orchestra sounded superb. Incidentally, Runnicles is the first left-handed conductor I have seen.
From left: Rheinmaidens, Mime, Freia, ?, Loge, Runnicles, Alberich, Wotan, Fricka, ?, Erda, ?, ?. The first two ?s are Donner and Froh, the second are Fasolt and Fafner.
I have remarked before how hard-edged German opera productions tend to be. Today's was somewhat tamer, although there really is no need for simulated sexual scenes. And this great tendency to strip down to underwear and slips. One unexpected aspect is how the Nibelungs move strikingly like Nazis, with the goosesteps and the outstretched arms.
In addition to the four operas in the Ring, we are also going to a concert at Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus. Six altogether. My entries thus would have to be quite brief.
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