Word: wotan
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Perfect Wagnerites know that the operas are built from short musical phrases, called leitmotivs, that symbolize characters and ideas. There are themes for Siegfried's sword and Wotan's spear, for renunciation of love and for its redemption. Artfully intertwined, they underpin Wagner's own libretto, based on the sagas of Norse and Germanic legend. In presenting what the composer called a "stage-festival play," Kupfer found physical leitmotivs to complement the musical ones and give his production a visual as well as a musical unity. Characters do not just stand and sing; they stand and deliver, fighting with fury...
...sets as illustrations from a handsome coffee- table book, but they capture well the Ring's mythic atmosphere. Schenk's direction emphasizes the physical as well as physiological aspects of the Ring (all the characters are related either by blood or marriage): enemies grapple violently, lovers couple passionately, and Wotan embraces two of his children -- the dead Siegmund, the sleeping Brunnhilde -- tenderly and sorrowfully...
...Rhinemaidens frolic in Victorian bloomers. Fricka ascends to Valhalla by means of a balloon gondola. The Valkyries ride off to war aboard carrousel horses suspended in midair. Wotan puts Brunnhilde to sleep in what appears to be a cluttered attic, full of ungodly bric-a-brac, and she awakens in a starry mausoleum. Siegfried slays the dragon Fafner by chopping at a gigantic crab's claw and then pushing over a flimsy set of painted flats. The forest bird who guides the hero to Brunnhilde is a taxidermist's specimen, carried aloft on a stick by a highly visible soprano...
...respectful examination of the sense of the piece. Rochaix and Israel are not the first to note the parallels between Wagner's life and his works, but few have ever acted on them so explicitly. Central to understanding the Seattle Opera's Ring is the notion that Wagner and Wotan are cognates, and that just as the composer uses leitmotivs, or musical symbols, to weave and bind his sprawling tapestry, so should Wotan employ theatrical symbols -- props -- to underscore the unity of the world he has created. The universe of the Ring is an illusion, a necromancer's house...
...that he must die in his forthcoming battle with Hunding, it is imperative that the exhausted fighter actually look upon her for the scene to make dramatic sense, especially since English supertitles are used. Further, some of the ideas are not very original. The use of 19th century costume (Wotan is dressed to look like Wagner) is borrowed from Chereau, while some of the tableaux, particularly those that involve characters suspended from wires, evoke the striking images of Theater Artist Robert Wilson...