Ring Cycle #1: Das Rheingold
One down, three to go.
I have no idea whether that was a good Das Rheingold or a mediocre one. I wasn’t sitting there wondering if Wotan’s voice was cavernous and commanding enough or whether the orchestra was truly disciplined. Instead, I was revelling in the music and the story, setting aside my habitual criticisms and simply feeling thankful to be finally attending a complete performance of the Ring Cycle, the penultimate experience for an operagoer.
It comes at just the right time. My long-held enthusiasm for opera has been slowly fading and the Bohemes and the Carmens, as much as I love them, have begun to seem a bit tiresome. But this is something else, something that reminds me what a really great night at the opera can do.
And now, enough gushing.
The story opens with three cavorting Rhinemaidens. They were dressed in white nightgowns and were having a pillowfight, making me wonder if they would soon begin making out. The arrival of Alberich, an ugly drawf, interrupts any planned makeouts and they begin to tease him. After humiliating Alberich, the Rhinemaidens foolishly tell him all about the gold they are guarding. The gold can be forged into a ring that gives the wearer ultimate power (sound familiar?), but only by someone who vows to renounce love forever. The Rhinemaidens aren’t worried about anyone stealing their gold, however, since they’re convinced that no one would ever completely sacrifice love for wealth or power. They’re proved wrong when Alberich promptly renounces love and steals the gold.
And, well, a bunch of other stuff happens, but no need to detail it here. The production was very visually striking, with the billowy curtains of the first scene replaced in the following scenes with industrial revolution steel and victorian costumes (one memorable visual moment is when the Rhinemaidens’ flowing white nightgowns were corseted and then encased in massive Victorian mourning gowns during the transition).
Depicting the gods as the established aristocratic powers, Alberich as an upstart capitalist, and the giants as working-class labourers is perhaps not “traditional” (in the way a horned-helmet-and-breastplate production would be) but quite aligned with Wagner’s original vision, since there are indications he originally intended it as a socialist political allegory. I have heard of a Ring set in the corporate world, and would be very curious to see it.
A few other notes:
- Alberich commits the classic mistake of movie villains - explaining, gleefully and at great length, all the details of his evil plans for world domination.
- I liked the finger-chopping-off bit. Having Loge wipe up the blood afterward was effective.
- The scheduled Wotan was suffering from laryngitis, and his short-notice replacement acquitted himself very well.
- During the Rhinemaiden scene, Wotan was asleep on the floor, centre stage. I’m not sure what that was supposed to signify.
- The Ring Cycle is even kinder to its women than I had thought. The female characters have more brains and dignity than most of the male characters (Siegmund might be an exception, but the men generally have few redeeming values). One of the overarching themes of The Ring is the sacrifice of love for wealth and power, and the women, as the frequent sacrificees, are the ones who eventually upend the corrupt rule of the gods and redeem humankind.
Das Rheingold isn’t anyone’s favorite opera and is probably the weakest of the four, but I have never heard a more enthusiastic audience. I found myself wondering if the people sitting around me would be attending the rest of the cycle, and whether we would be chatting with each other by the time we got to Siegfried. It felt like An Event, as the first Canadian Ring should feel, and I have more hope than ever that the complete experience will be satisfying.
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