Word: wieland
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...innovations: 1) to ditch realism for abstraction in the sets, 2) to make the stern old gods of Valhalla look less like period pieces. Designer Wieland Wagner's argument: the world has changed and so must the cult of Wagner...
...Wieland's garden was scant and ghostly, was seen only through a veil. He marched his knights of the Grail in from the depths of the huge (200 ft.) stage in near darkness. But even traditionalists had to admit that the result of it all was a Parsifal of strong simplicity, rich with the mystery of its Grail theme. Conductor Hans Knappertsbusch and the orchestra gave a faultless musical performance, and young (30) U.S. Bass-Baritone George London sang a magnificent Amfortas. Glowed Wagner Biographer Ernest Newman, 82, critic of the London Sunday Times and a Bayreuth regular...
...jolt came with the Ring cycle. When Wotan appeared on another dimmed-down stage in Das Rheingold, the murmur went up: "He has no helmet!" Muttered one oldtimer: "The stage is so dark I can't even see if he has a beard." (He had.) Shock followed shock. Wieland stripped his stages bare, cut down on all warlike gear save for a few essential spears. Siegfried's funeral pyre was left to the imagination. In Götterdämmerung, nobody got to see Valhalla burn: there was only a red glow in the sky, no sign...
Kindly Light. Wieland is sure he is on the right track. He keeps the lighting dim partly to avoid any need for elaborate sets, partly out of respect for Richard Wagner's scores. "Grandfather did not want characters clearly seen because it would detract from concentration on the music." He believes that fussy old sets and sticky pathos make grandfather ridiculous to too many mid-century men. "We must go forward...
...going forward," Wieland seemed to have left a good chunk of the traditional Wagner audience behind...