Add a Plot »
Director: Brian Large
Conductor: James Levine
First performance at Bayreuth, April 17, 1876
Time: mythological
Place: Germany
This just too long. The Prologue is skippable; as Simon (100 Great Operas) says, it's often scrapped from performances.
In this, the final chapter of the Cycle, Siegfried goes astray, and gets killed essentially by Brunnhilde: she instructs an enemy how he's vulnerable.
This picks up shortly after the prior opera ended, with B & S in their rocky lovenest, having exchanged private marriage-like vows. He takes a trip on her horse, leaving the Ring with her; he kept the helmet. While he's gone, B is visited by a sister Valkyrie, who tries to convince her to return the Ring to the Rhine. She says she'd rather see Valhalla fall to ruin than to give up this pledge of love from S.
S meets Alberich's offspring: Hagen, Gunther and Gutrune, and with a potion they provide he forgets his past and falls in love with Gutrune (casting is poor: she looks older than Fricka). Hagen encourages Gunther & Siegfried to become blood brothers, and a plan is hatched for Gunther to wed Brunnhilde with Siegfried's help. With his magic helmet S disguises himself as G, and conquers B (she resists plenty), performing wedding vows and seizing the Ring. When they get back to Gunther's home, S reveals himself and she sees that he has the Ring (it should be with Gunther, her new spouse). The jig is up, and both S & B swear on the tip of Hagen's spear that their conflicting stories of the wedding night are true.
Hagen is encouraged by Alberich in a dream to kill S and take the Ring. So a-hunting they go, and S dies. They bring him home, and B gets the Ring, tosses it in the River and sets fire to Valhalla. At the last we see the Rhine maidens playing keepaway from Alberich with the Ring, so the story comes full Cycle, er, circle.
The best music is still S's hunting horn theme, and now his funeral march. That means over 4h of meh music.
It takes a lot of concentration to watch this nonsense. Partially because not a lot happens, partially because the production is dark and dreary (all 4 operas were), partially because Siegfried and Brunnhilde are petulant and capricious, so I don't like them even though I like the singer/actors playing them.
I wonder why Hitler liked the Ring Cycle so much. Perhaps because saw the Jews as the gods of Valhalla, and he was trying to destroy them to start the world fresh? Or did he identify with Siegfried or Wotan, knowing he'd get killed eventually?
I sat through all 4 operas in 1 week in Aug'86, sleeping through some of it, likely not well-versed on the synopses beforehand. It's sort of a badge of something (masochism?), and I've always felt like I never gave the Cycle a fair chance. I don't know if I ever listed to the complete vinyl set I have; at 20 min per side that would be a royal pain without an autochanger. Although I fell asleep often during these 4 operas this week, I always went back to a familiar place and started again. My sin this time is not watching everything and not reading all the lyrics, but I think I've had enough, certainly for now. It'll be interesting to see whether I watch this again, ever.
I find it fascinating that the cartoon What's Opera, Doc? ('57) utilizes all Wagner music, and Bugs disguises himself as Brunnhilde for a chunk of the time, but less than half the music is from the Ring Cycle. Siegfried's hunting horn theme is used a bit. On the Soundtracks page lists Ride of the Valkyries, but also music from Tannhauser, Rienzi, and The Flying Dutchman.
Yes, a couple of retreads in the cast: Hagen is played by the former Fafner, and Waltraute by the former Fricka.
Cast:
daughters of Erda
. FIRST NORN Contralto : Gweniet Bean
. SECOND NORN Mezzo-soprano : Joyce Castle
. THIRD NORN Soprano : Andrea Gruber
SIEGFRIED, grandson of Wotan Tenor : Siegfried Jerusalem
BRÜNNHILDE, daughter of Wotan Soprano : Hildegard Behrens
Gibichungs
. GUNTHER Bass : Anthony Raffell
. GUTRUNE Soprano : Hanna Liskowska
HAGEN, their half brother Bass : Matti Salminen
WALTRAUTE, a Valkyrie Mezzo-soprano : Christa Ludwig
ALBERICH, a Nibelung Baritone : Ekkehard Wlaschiha
Met Opera, cond. Levine; 6
