United Kingdom Wagner, Götterdämmerung: Soloists, Extras Association of Zurich Opera, Choir of Zurich Opera, Philharmonia Zurich / Gianandrea Noseda (conductor). Zurich Opera House, 5.11.2023. (MF)
Production:
Director – Andreas Homoki
Set and Costumes – Christian Schmidt
Lighting – Franck Evid
Artistic cooperation set – Florian Schaaf
Video – Tieni Burkhalter
Dramaturgy – Werner Hintze and Beate Breidenbach
Cast:
Siegfried – Klaus Florian Vogt
Brünnhilde – Camilla Nylund
Gunther – Daniel Schmutzhard
Gutrune – Lauren Fagan
Hagen – David Leigh
Alberich – Christopher Purves
Waltraute – Sarah Ferede
First Norn – Freya Apffelstaedt
Second Norn – Lena Sutor-Wernich
Third Norn – Giselle Allen
Woglinde – Uliana Alexyuk
Wellgunde – Niamh O’Sullivan
Flosshilde – Siena Licht Miller
Wotan – Wolfram Schneider-Lastin
Stunt – Valentin Lendenmann
At the end of Siegfried, the third evening of Wagner’s tetralogy, Siegfried and Brünnhilde sang jubilantly of a world ruled by love, free of self-serving power struggles. Götterdämmerung, the fourth and final evening opens with the three Norns promptly shattering this dream: they announce that the end is nigh as the rope of fate they are spinning breaks. Siegfried, still with Brünnhilde and unaware of the curse besetting the Ring, gives it to her as token of their steadfast love as he sets out on new adventures. He meets Alberich’s son Hagen who plots to use Siegfried for his world domination scheme by gaining possession of the Ring. Siegfried is easy prey for Hagen who serves him a magic potion making the hero forget his love for Brünnhilde and deceive her. Eventually, Hagen kills him. Siegfried’s death triggers the downfall of the old world. Brünnhilde, having managed to hold on to the cursed Ring returns it to the Rhinemaidens. She chooses death and the world of the Gods goes up in flames.
This Götterdämmerung premiere completes the cycle by director Andreas Homoki and conductor Gianandrea Noseda. On this fourth and last evening, Homoki convincingly pursues his precise, unagitated and focused storytelling approach. Unlike Dmitri Tcherniakov’s recent Berlin Ring, which required solid familiarity with the work, this Zurich production is reassuringly straightforward in the best of senses, all the while carving out psychological subtleties.
In the first scene between Brünnhilde and Siegfried, right after the doom mongering of the three Norns, Homoki’s staging leaves no doubt that the two protagonists’ love and the old world are ill-fated: the couple sing exuberantly of their togetherness but fail to come together, Brünnhilde nearly falls out of bed as she reaches for Siegfried and their attempt at a melting hug resembles a clumsy tussle.
Wotan, hardly a stranger to bending his own rules whenever it suited him, was guided by good intentions when he tried to create a universe in which love and power form a common denominator. Although Wotan no longer appears in Wagner’s text, Homoki puts him on stage twice, exhausted and inactive. In Götterdämmerung the world is in a sorry state, embroiled in a raw struggle for power. Still, even if ultimately good does not prevail, Brünnhilde at least achieves a state of forgiveness and love, which infuses her with the strength to set Valhalla and the entire world ablaze and prevent Hagen’s victory.
Götterdämmerung is the only one of the four operas in which society is represented on stage by a large chorus. Homoki is adept at directing large mass scenes, in which the chorus nimbly contracts and expands like a school of fish, but handles lyrical, intimate dialogues and fast-paced Rhinemaiden comedy skilfully as well. The set by Christian Schmidt evokes a number of elements from the previous works, first and foremost the rooms on the revolving stage, occasionally furnished, but also the Walkürenfelsen and the tree in Hunding’s hut. Here too, Wotan has let go of the reins and been careless in his castle’s upkeep for quite some time. The walls are worn and stained. Time and neglect have taken a serious toll on the home of the gods.
Gianandrea Noseda continued his fine and balanced take on the score on this final night. Wagner composed the Götterdämmerung in the 1870s, bringing a 25-year journey to culmination. Since starting the cycle in the late 1840s, Wagner also composed Die Meistersinger and Tristan und Isolde and the development is audible. As Noseda explains in the programme, the three foregoing evenings’ musical composition peaks in this last one. Wagner handles the leitmotifs more freely than before, embedding them in a complex polyphonic orchestral setting which Noseda enthusiastically develops and brings to life. The sound – if at times a bit voluminous in the brass section – is light, precise and powerfully transparent. Under Noseda’s baton, Philharmonia Zurich accomplishes the all-enveloping Wagnerian soundscape we long for.
The cast is led by a spectacular Camilla Nylund as Brünnhilde and outstanding Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegfried. They performed these roles in last season’s Siegfried and debuted in their Götterdämmerung equivalents. Both are exceptional performers, and they are a gift to this production, individually and together. Nylund is a true force of nature with commanding presence, she is a strong, passionate and vulnerable woman. When expressing hurt over the injustice of her betrayal she is assertively forceful while laying bare her soul. She reveals her heart’s inner core when saying farewell to Siegfried, a character Vogt was born to portray. His boyish mischievous looks and genuine enjoyment of the stage are complemented by his strong and versatile tenor. Nylund and Vogt form a veritable dream team.
Christopher Purves as Alberich has a very brief appearance but dominates the scene with a haunting performance brimming with energy. It is truly fear-inducing to witness how much evil spitefulness Purves manages to pack into just a few minutes. David Leigh sings his villainous son Hagen with a sonorous bass. Having missed quite some rehearsal time due to illness, he did not yet seem entirely at ease with his part. No doubt he will catch up during coming performances.
Sarah Ferede gave an energetic and intense Waltraute with her rich mezzo-soprano. In their sisterly dialogue, Nylund and Ferede were mesmerising. Lauren Fagan as Gutrune and Daniel Schmutzhard as Gunther were convincing as the instrumentalised Gibichung siblings who find their true inner identity shortly before perishing. The three Norns – Freya Apffelstaedt, Lena Sutor-Wernich and Giselle Allen – gave good performances, although they were occasionally somewhat dominated by the orchestra.
Much of Götterdämmerung is doom and gloom. This was offset by the Rhinemaidens – Uliana Alexyuk, Niamh O’Sullivan and Siena Licht Miller – who were a bubbly bunch with crystal clear voices. White satin pyjama-clad Marilyn Monroe lookalikes, they couldn’t care less about the other character’s inner and outer conflicts. Effervescently hopping and frolicking about as if there were no tomorrow, they snatch the Ring and dive back into the Rhine, leaving the rest of the world to go up in flames.
That is not the end, however. Wagner’s tetralogy concludes in spheric beauty on the Erlösungsmotiv, last heard in Die Walküre when Sieglinde learns she is carrying Siegfried in her womb. The world will go on, and it will be for those who are left to create their own. Homoki has the empty Valhalla rooms revolving to the final notes.
The premiere audience applauded the cast and production team enthusiastically and soon leapt to its feet for a standing ovation.
Michael Fischer