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Los Angeles Opera gets its inspiration from Wagner’s legends:
“ The Ring “ that controls the World
The total weight of the equipment used will be 45 tons while the cost of the operas production is expected to be $ 16 million, which is far less than the cost in Los Angeles that reached $ 32 million. The San Francisco Opera has already produced the Rheinegold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods in a somewhat modern but essentially traditional manner.
Richard Wagner was the first composer in Germany to start composing musical drama which in many ways is the forerunner to today’s soap opera series on TV. Los Angeles, being the capital of innovation and movie and TV productions, resorted to Wagner’s legends in his mythical golden Ring cycle which allows its owner to control the world. To produce the tetralogy “Der Ring des Nibelungen”, considered the peak of imagination and innovation, it invited a famous creative German director, Achim Freyer, who was a close friend of the well-known writer Bertold Brecht. His new production resorted to Star Wars methods in which sword duels between the giants and the dwarfs take place with shinning neon sticks. The result was a sold out spectacular success for the LA Opera House managed by the great Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo. I was lucky to attend the last of the four operas: Gotterdammerung (or: Twilight of the Gods) that lasts four and a half hours.
Wagner, the composer poet and philosopher , parades in front of us scenes of heroism, sacrifice, treachery, and the destruction of a world pursuing wealth instigated by corrosive greed and the sway of money represented by the golden ring. That symbol of power was stolen by the wicked dwarfs from
the bottom of the Rhine river while guarded by the maidens but it was later recovered by the brave but gullible hero Siegfried. He fell in a trap designed by the vicious dwarf Hagen who gave Siegfried a potion that induces loss of memory, thus causing Siegried to betray his beloved Brunnhelde who knows the secret of his weakness if he gets stabbed from behind. That was the end of the hero and the destruction of the good gods, but the triumph of love at the end permits the resurgence of the world once again and its continuation.
For Wagner, love is the motor that keeps the world alive and the reason for humanity’s survival. His superb music flows like Indian raga music as if it was a rich river carrying endless melodies depicting feelings and changes of mood, climate and seasons. It was Wagner who loomed over the second half of the nineteenth century and changed the course of music by using the concept of a unified art work and made the orchestra an equal part of the drama. For decades, he dominated the intellectual life of the Western world. His use of the ‘ leitmotif ’ or dominant recurring theme enabled him to describe characters or states of mind. When we hear Siegfried’s leitmotif played with a somber mood, we are certain – like, sound music in suspense films- that he is about to face a tragedy within a few moments.
Placido Domingo was pleased with the great success of the Ring cycle, which was described by the American media and critics as a “ smashing victory “, and encouraged him together with Musical Director and conductor James Conlon to try to repeat the experience again in 2011. Since Wagner established the Bayreuth Festival in Germany over a hundred years ago to show his operas exclusively, the whole world is now following suit by producing these operas from Austria to Italy, England and the USA. Watching a Wagner performance in his Bayreuth Festival may require you to wait three to four years before you can get a ticket. Some used to criticize Wagner’s music and called it ‘difficult’, but the German genius triumphed proving that he can be the most famous and sought after composer these days.
The amazing part in the LA production of Twilight of the Gods was the scenes design, costumes and direction of Achim Freyer. He is considered one of the most important theater and opera directors of our time. Born in 1934, he studied painting before moving to the theater in the eighties. He became famous in Germany by producing the” Magic Flute “ opera by Mozart in Hamburg then Berlin. We saw him in 1996 in Venice, Italy with a brilliant production of “ Don Giovanni ” by Mozart, and he received the
prize for the best director in Italy when he presented “ Turandot” by Puccini. Eventually, Freyer started his collaboration for the first time with LA Opera in 2002.
Beautiful singing and perfect acting was displayed by the American bass Eric Halfvarson who played the role of the evil Hagen as buoyantly as it should be but also combining his interpretation with the dark scheming double face of an ambitious wicked character . He hides behind the cloths worn by a dwarf with very short legs so that you cannot see how tall he was. Distinguished performances were also made by the English tenor John Treleaven acting as Siegfried and the American soprano, Linda Watson in the role of Brunnhilde. Both of them are well known to audiences in Europe particularly those who frequent Vienna, Bayreuth Festival, and the Royal Opera House in London. All three singers have become specialists in Wagner and his music which calls for many requirements with respect to the way of singing and the timbre of the voice as well as good command of German pronunciation. Wagner was the only composer who wrote his own poetry as well as the dialogue of his operas. His ideas were inspired by myths and tales of the German medieval knights and pirates of Northern Europe. He was also affected by his contemporaries in the field of philosophy, such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche as well as the oriental intellectual schools of thought.
In the LA production, we did not see at this show the Viking helmets or spears as Wagner liked to have in his classical productions, but we flew away to an imaginary world full of optic ploys and sound effects based on Hollywood’s movies of star wars and space adventures of illuminated geometrical shapes like triangles or circles. The spectator would not notice the passage of time , but could only follow events and continuous movement while living the world of conflict between the bad guys and the good guys struggling to capture of the Ring.
“ The Ring “ that controls the World
The total weight of the equipment used will be 45 tons while the cost of the operas production is expected to be $ 16 million, which is far less than the cost in Los Angeles that reached $ 32 million. The San Francisco Opera has already produced the Rheinegold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods in a somewhat modern but essentially traditional manner.
Richard Wagner was the first composer in Germany to start composing musical drama which in many ways is the forerunner to today’s soap opera series on TV. Los Angeles, being the capital of innovation and movie and TV productions, resorted to Wagner’s legends in his mythical golden Ring cycle which allows its owner to control the world. To produce the tetralogy “Der Ring des Nibelungen”, considered the peak of imagination and innovation, it invited a famous creative German director, Achim Freyer, who was a close friend of the well-known writer Bertold Brecht. His new production resorted to Star Wars methods in which sword duels between the giants and the dwarfs take place with shinning neon sticks. The result was a sold out spectacular success for the LA Opera House managed by the great Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo. I was lucky to attend the last of the four operas: Gotterdammerung (or: Twilight of the Gods) that lasts four and a half hours.
Wagner, the composer poet and philosopher , parades in front of us scenes of heroism, sacrifice, treachery, and the destruction of a world pursuing wealth instigated by corrosive greed and the sway of money represented by the golden ring. That symbol of power was stolen by the wicked dwarfs from
the bottom of the Rhine river while guarded by the maidens but it was later recovered by the brave but gullible hero Siegfried. He fell in a trap designed by the vicious dwarf Hagen who gave Siegfried a potion that induces loss of memory, thus causing Siegried to betray his beloved Brunnhelde who knows the secret of his weakness if he gets stabbed from behind. That was the end of the hero and the destruction of the good gods, but the triumph of love at the end permits the resurgence of the world once again and its continuation.
For Wagner, love is the motor that keeps the world alive and the reason for humanity’s survival. His superb music flows like Indian raga music as if it was a rich river carrying endless melodies depicting feelings and changes of mood, climate and seasons. It was Wagner who loomed over the second half of the nineteenth century and changed the course of music by using the concept of a unified art work and made the orchestra an equal part of the drama. For decades, he dominated the intellectual life of the Western world. His use of the ‘ leitmotif ’ or dominant recurring theme enabled him to describe characters or states of mind. When we hear Siegfried’s leitmotif played with a somber mood, we are certain – like, sound music in suspense films- that he is about to face a tragedy within a few moments.
Placido Domingo was pleased with the great success of the Ring cycle, which was described by the American media and critics as a “ smashing victory “, and encouraged him together with Musical Director and conductor James Conlon to try to repeat the experience again in 2011. Since Wagner established the Bayreuth Festival in Germany over a hundred years ago to show his operas exclusively, the whole world is now following suit by producing these operas from Austria to Italy, England and the USA. Watching a Wagner performance in his Bayreuth Festival may require you to wait three to four years before you can get a ticket. Some used to criticize Wagner’s music and called it ‘difficult’, but the German genius triumphed proving that he can be the most famous and sought after composer these days.
The amazing part in the LA production of Twilight of the Gods was the scenes design, costumes and direction of Achim Freyer. He is considered one of the most important theater and opera directors of our time. Born in 1934, he studied painting before moving to the theater in the eighties. He became famous in Germany by producing the” Magic Flute “ opera by Mozart in Hamburg then Berlin. We saw him in 1996 in Venice, Italy with a brilliant production of “ Don Giovanni ” by Mozart, and he received the
prize for the best director in Italy when he presented “ Turandot” by Puccini. Eventually, Freyer started his collaboration for the first time with LA Opera in 2002.
Beautiful singing and perfect acting was displayed by the American bass Eric Halfvarson who played the role of the evil Hagen as buoyantly as it should be but also combining his interpretation with the dark scheming double face of an ambitious wicked character . He hides behind the cloths worn by a dwarf with very short legs so that you cannot see how tall he was. Distinguished performances were also made by the English tenor John Treleaven acting as Siegfried and the American soprano, Linda Watson in the role of Brunnhilde. Both of them are well known to audiences in Europe particularly those who frequent Vienna, Bayreuth Festival, and the Royal Opera House in London. All three singers have become specialists in Wagner and his music which calls for many requirements with respect to the way of singing and the timbre of the voice as well as good command of German pronunciation. Wagner was the only composer who wrote his own poetry as well as the dialogue of his operas. His ideas were inspired by myths and tales of the German medieval knights and pirates of Northern Europe. He was also affected by his contemporaries in the field of philosophy, such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche as well as the oriental intellectual schools of thought.
In the LA production, we did not see at this show the Viking helmets or spears as Wagner liked to have in his classical productions, but we flew away to an imaginary world full of optic ploys and sound effects based on Hollywood’s movies of star wars and space adventures of illuminated geometrical shapes like triangles or circles. The spectator would not notice the passage of time , but could only follow events and continuous movement while living the world of conflict between the bad guys and the good guys struggling to capture of the Ring.
The conductor, James Conlon , who carried on his shoulders the burden of the enchanting music is one of the few Americans who has successfully led European orchestras for many years, the last of which was Opera de la Bastille in Paris for 10 years, and before that he worked as guest conductor at the Opera La Scala di Milano in Italy. Strong and purposeful, he proved his distinction in underlining the peculiar sound of Wagner’s music and the beauty of his orchestration building up tension and power without a forceful push in a way that LA has not witnessed before. He took a thoughtful view
of the work and highlighted a qualitative jump in the cultural field of the city of angels that makes it compete with the American hub of culture, New York.
The cost of this epic cycle was enormous, but only one forth of the budget goes to the talented singers, while the cost of a first class ticket of $ 260 was sufficient only to cover half the cost of the production. According to what the head of Communications & Public Relations at the LA Opera, Gary Murphy told me, the total cost of $32 million would have been much greater if the sets and equipment of Hollywood’s Star Wars films were used. Wagner’s music is wonderful and penetrates the soul slowly like a curing balsam. Producing his grand operas has always been expensive since their composition in the nineteenth century, but the great composer always warned “ If you want high art as I present it, do not worry about the level of expenses”. Since Wagner’s death in his dear Venice in 1883 , music was never the same as before. The cinema industry resorted to his melodies in its early days, and more recently in the middle of the 20th century, G.R. Tolkien, the modern story writer seems to have gotten the inspiration for his “ Lord of the Ring ” from Wagner’s Ring cycle. Don’t you see some resemblance between the events and the thoughts of Wagner ? Tolkien denies that similarity, and adds that the only semblance is that his Ring and Wagner’s Ring are round !
of the work and highlighted a qualitative jump in the cultural field of the city of angels that makes it compete with the American hub of culture, New York.
The cost of this epic cycle was enormous, but only one forth of the budget goes to the talented singers, while the cost of a first class ticket of $ 260 was sufficient only to cover half the cost of the production. According to what the head of Communications & Public Relations at the LA Opera, Gary Murphy told me, the total cost of $32 million would have been much greater if the sets and equipment of Hollywood’s Star Wars films were used. Wagner’s music is wonderful and penetrates the soul slowly like a curing balsam. Producing his grand operas has always been expensive since their composition in the nineteenth century, but the great composer always warned “ If you want high art as I present it, do not worry about the level of expenses”. Since Wagner’s death in his dear Venice in 1883 , music was never the same as before. The cinema industry resorted to his melodies in its early days, and more recently in the middle of the 20th century, G.R. Tolkien, the modern story writer seems to have gotten the inspiration for his “ Lord of the Ring ” from Wagner’s Ring cycle. Don’t you see some resemblance between the events and the thoughts of Wagner ? Tolkien denies that similarity, and adds that the only semblance is that his Ring and Wagner’s Ring are round !
