The beginning of the end
Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
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| © Premsa Liceu |
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four musical dramas with text and music by Richard Wagner, which has its central theme in the possession of a magic ring, forged by the Nibelung Alberich, which grants anyone possessing it the power to rule the world. Richard Wagner had written in summer 1848 Der Nibelungen-Mythus als Entwurf zu einem Drama (The Nibelung myth as sketch for a drama) based on the myth of the lineage of the Burgundians who settled in the early 5th century at Worms. A year later, he started to write a new libretto possibly stimulated by a series of articles inviting composers to write a 'national opera' based on the Nibelungenlied, a 12th century High German poem which, since its rediscovery in 1755, had been hailed by the German Romantics as the "German national epic". That work became a four operas piece that took Richard Wagner about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four operas are known as Der Ring cycle and they are in sequence Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).
The Canadian opera director Robert Carsen presented his version of the prologue of Der Ring: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. He explained the inspiration of his work saying “Now we're suffering from the destruction of nature by the avariciousness of power. [...] Wagner foresaw that the laws of nature are not in tune with those of men”. Curiously, Wagner had created his drama as a trilogy, but finally he decided to write this prologue in which in a world where harmony still reigns, the water nymphs watch over their treasure in the depths of the Rhine. But then it is stolen by Alberich the Nibelung, an ugly, lascivious dwarf who knows its secret: whoever can seize the gold and make himself a ring out of it will become master of the world, providing he foregoes love. First performed at the Royal Theatre in Munich on 22 September 1869 it was showed for the first time at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 30 March 1910 and now has returned directed by Robert Carsen, one of the most internationally acclaimed scene opera directors, with the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu conducted by Josep Pons.
Patrick Kinmonth has designed a minimalist and dark scenario with grey concrete blocks suspended and cranes. In fact, this production was premiered in Cologne in 2000. It goes perfectly well with the music of Wagner because it lets the music had the main role at it really works as an ecologist point of view of the Wagner’s libretto. Deeply interesting. The voices of the bariton Albert Dohmen as Wotan and especially Ewa Podlés performing the short role of Erda, shined along with the rest of the cast. At the end, the music and singers were acclaimed but the scenario was, in my opinion, incomprehensibly booed in a too much ado about nothing chorus. Das Rheingold had in the Robert Carsen and Patrick Kinmonth hands an austere and brilliant scenario which lets all the magnificent of the Wagner’s opera shined us.
Das Rheingold | Videos here
Text by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo courtesy of Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona. © Premsa Liceu
All rights reserved
Das Rheingold | Videos here
Text by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo courtesy of Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona. © Premsa Liceu
All rights reserved