Wagner's entire Ring Cycle live, on stage in Bayreuth
Siegfried and Mime, Act 1 of Siegfried. Photo Enrico Nawrath
My lifelong wish, to experience Richard Wagner's entire Ring Cycle live, on stage in Bayreuth, was granted this year!
Colin Bayliss
Clemens Bieber
Bea and Alec Bobotek
Stephen Charitan
Jerry Floyd
Diana Herbst
Hildegaard Arnold Kiel
Walter Meyer
Anne Midgette
John F. Runciman
Per-Erik Skramstad
Julia Thornton
Mark Twain
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I will forever treasure this unique experience!
Being an undying romanticist though, I would like to voice my disappointment relative the choice of costumes as well as the various stage settings.
For example:
During most of the performances Siegfried looked like a scavenger, the scantily clad Rhinemaidens, on account of their portliness, pathetic:
While the music was beautifully played (conducted by the fabulous Christian Thielemann) and the singing was convincing, the interjection of modern day characters, that had absolutely nothing to do with Wagner's original scripts, like children playing games, adults walking about wearing blue overalls and yellow crash helmets, riding bicycles or reading newspapers, disrupted the audience's concentration and took away much of the enthrallment created by the singers' rendition of their role! I have yet to find someone to explain to me why this is being done, as nobody (that I ask) seems to understand these insertions at all!
In my opinion operas should be presented the way they were conceived by the composer, true to the time of action: Why would I want to go and hear an opera, the story of which plays - let us say - in the 17th century, only to see it performed in today's attire and surroundings, with the use of contemporary utensils! Where can there possibly be my chance here to elude the present day grind for two to four hours, which - after all - allegedly is the desired purpose?
And by the way, the broken telephone pole (ash-tree???) in Hunding's dwelling and the square, narrow walled-in confinds, where the Valkyries ride into instead of onto (a plateau), made no sense and did not meet with much enthusiasm either.
Other than that, this (my) experience of the entire event was truly remarkable and not to be missed!
Photos
Photos by Hildegaard Arnold Kiel