Political Allegory

Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung' at La Scala Milan,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

On 18 May 2013 I was at La Scala for the opening night of Götterdämmerung, the last opera of Richard Wagner's Ring as part of a joint production by the Milan Opera House and the Berlin Staatsoper in collaboration with the Antwerp Toneelhuis, an experimental 'total theatre' group. Reviews of two of the previous three operas of this Ring production have been published here [Das Rheingold and Die Walküre] when they were premiered at La Scala in 2010-2012. In Milan, Götterdämmerung will be performed until 7 June as a single opera and then as part of two Ring cycles until 29 June. In Berlin, the production is expected to enter the standard repertory of the opera house and to be in its program for several years to come.

Margarita Nekrasova, Waltraud Meier and Anna Samuil as the three Norms in the prologue to Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung' at La Scala Milan. Photo © 2013 Brescia/Amisano. Click on the image for higher resolution

This review deals both with the production of this Ring cycle overall -- as the four operas have been unveiled -- and specifically with Götterdämmerung as presented on 18 May. This production can be classified as part the 'politically oriented' Rings that prevailed from the mid-Seventies in several European opera houses. The first of these was the (nearly aborted) La Scala production created by Luca Ronconi (stage direction) and Pierluigi Pizzi (sets and costumes) in 1974. The musical director, Wolfgang Sawallisch, objected to proceeding beyond Die Walküre. The entire project was revived in Florence (with Zubin Mehta in the pit) betweeen 1979 and 1982. The most widely known of the 'politically oriented' Rings of the seventies was the Bayreuth Centenary production in 1976 entrusted to Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Boulez. After four years in the 'Holy Hill', it became a successful television serial that was also shown in regular movie houses. Now whilst only photographs remain of the Florence production, the Chéreau-Boulez Ring is available on DVD.
It is fair to say that the saga lends itself to a political allegory of industrial and political power, of lust for money and for women, of Nazism's rise and fall, a direction taken by Luchino Visconti in his 1971 blockbuster film. In a La Fenice / Köln production, the Ghibichung Kingdom is not Hitler's Reich, but rather East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall; the elements changed, but the 'politically oriented' reading of the four operas was still evident. In this current La Scala/Staatsoper production (and in a parallel production started in Palermo), the political element is the fight of the innocent and of the underdogs against a palace filled with power and sex games. Recently, other productions (Lepage in New York and Braunschweig in Aix-en-Provence / Salzburg) have taken different paths and emphasized the philosophical and the fantastic elements of the Ring.

Iréne Theroin as Brunnhilde and Lance Rayan as Siegfried in Act I of Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung' at La Scala Milan. Photo © 2013 Brescia/Amisano

I have not dealt kindly in my reviews with this strong political orientation. Nonetheless, as the Ring unfolded, on the one hand, the stage direction gradually reduced the political symbolism and, on the other hand, we reach Götterdämmerung where the Gods are faraway (only in the account of a desperate Valkyrie), the passions are human, and deal with sex and power.

Gerd Grochowski as Gunther, Iréne Theroin as Brunnhilde, Mikhail Petrenko as Hagen, Lance Ryan as Siegfried and Anna Samuil as Gutrune with members of the chorus in Act 2 of Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung' at La Scala Milan. Photo © 2013 Brescia/Amisano. Click on the image for higher resolution

From the musical standpoint, the direction of this Ring is entrusted to Daniel Barenboim, but he recently had an accident and had to cancel the premiere and a batch of performances of Götterdämmerung (but he plans to conduct the full Ring cycle in June). He was replaced by his close associate Karl-Heinz Steffens. Their style is different: Barenboim slowed the tempi to give a solemn atmosphere to the saga (although he gave faster tempos in Bayreuth some twenty-five years ago as can be seen and heard in the DVDs of those performances). Steffens was diligent and precise; also thanks to the La Scala orchestra and chorus at their very best, he kept the tension for the full duration of the performance (slightly over six hours, including intermissions).

The final scene from Act III of Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung' at La Scala Milan. Photo © 2013 Brescia/Amisano

He was also helped by thirteen good soloists. Iréne Theorin was an excellent Brünnhilde who handled the final and very taxing holocaust scene beautifully. Lance Ryan is a generous Siegfried, with some slight mezza voce difficulties. Waltraud Meier is still a great singer in spite of her age; she handled the two roles entrusted to her (Waltraute and one of the Norns) quite well, even though she had a minor uncertainty at the end of the scene with Brünnhilde in the first act. Mikhail Petrenko was Hagen, with a huge volume and a very clear tone. Johannes Martin Kränzle as Alberich was as grave as one would want. Adequately perverse were Gerd Grochowski as Gunther and Anna Sumuil as Gutrune. All the others were quite good. After more than six hours in the theatre there were ten minutes of standing ovations.