Very Scrupulous in Music and Vision 3 September

Very Scrupulous

An unusual Salzburg 'Ring',
appreciated by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

This review deals with a Salzburg Der Ring Des Nibelungen, not with 'the' Salzburg Der Ring Des Nibelungen. From 2006 to 2009, the latter was the very special (indeed unique) production where the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Berlin Philharmonic joined forces, under the baton of Simon Rattle and the dramaturgy of Stéphane Braunschweig, and with the best singers on the market, to produce a memorable version of Wagner's cycle. However, Salzburg is not only a series of Festivals -- there are four major ones each year, but also a dozen high quality ones less known internationally. It is also known for its repertory theatre: the Landestheater features a season with eight operas, four ballets and nearly twenty plays. It is also the home of a hundred-year-old Marionette Theatre, always run by the same family -- a fully private venture with a permanent home in a central and elegant location in the former ballroom and dining room of the 1893 Hotel Mirabell. The Marionette Theater has a five month season in Salzburg but, to earn its keep, spends almost an equal amount of time touring internationally. A few productions are joint ventures with the Festivals and the Landestheater.
To celebrate Wagner's birth bicentenary, the Marionette Theatre co-produced with the Landestheater a rather special version of Der Ring. I was fortunate to catch the penultimate 2013 performance; in September the production is in Weimar and from early October to Christmas will tour ten US States. Our American readers should mail info@marionetten.at to receive the full schedule and choose a location near to where they live and work. It is worth the trip.
Of course, the audience sees a highly abridged version of Der Ring -- two and half hours instead of fourteen. Also, it is not a 'political' Ring as we have been accustomed since the mid-Seventies. Neither the Aix-Salzburg Ring nor the brand new Metropolitan Opera Ring had such a slant and can be seen as welcome exceptions which, I hope, may set a new trend. The two stage directors, Carl Philip von Maldeghem and Claudia Carus, and set and costume designer Christian Floeren, follow Astrid Grossgasteiger's dramaturgy whereby Der Ring is a fairy tale and an allegory. The musical part comes from the 1958-64 Georg Solti recording -- a stereo sound marvel at the time, and still inimitable today because Solti had, at his disposal, the best voices of the 'golden age' and the Wiener Philharmoniker at its peak.

A scene from Wagner's 'Ring' at the Salzburger Marionettentheater. Click on the image for higher resolution

The story is mostly told by Loge and by two young actors (Christiani Wetter and Tim Oberliessen); the actors also take part in the action in the roles of the Giants, Hunding, Gutrune, and Gunter.

A scene from Wagner's 'Ring' at the Salzburger Marionettentheater. Click on the image for higher resolution

This Ring is very scrupulous in following the main plot, but with major cuts in the sub-plots. And quite a bit of humor ... for example, the Gods travel in a convertible light blue Studebaker of the Nineteen Fifties and wear 'elegant' period (nineteen fifties) attire, but Freia (the Goddess of Youth) is an exception, set up as Brigitte Bardot in the film Et Dieu Crea la Femme. The Valkyries look like Radio City Music Hall Blue Bells. Siegfried and Brünnhilde are two attractive marionettes always in search of a bed for lovemaking. The Valhalla is a pompous villa of the fifties in the Prologue but becomes a poor camper at the Twilight of the Gods. Siegmund and Sieglinde travel by Easy Rider motorbike.

A scene from Wagner's 'Ring' at the Salzburger Marionettentheater. Click on the image for higher resolution

The audience appeared to enjoy this thoroughly, and it was interesting to see that a couple of families of Middle Eastern origin enjoyed the performance. I wish the company a successful US tour.

Copyright © 3 September 2013 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy