Staatsoper unter den Linden: A Rheingold without any gold

© Monika Rittershaus

RIchard Wagner Das Rheingold Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin

A Rheingold without any gold

The creation of this Ring der Nibelungen production has a prologue: the planning and staging of this entire Ring with its four works lasting a total of approx. 16 hours in one season, was supposed to be a birthday present from the Staatsoper Unter den Linden to its General Music Director, Daniel Barenboim. Unfortunately, Daniel Barenboim had to step down from conducting the three Ring cycles at the end of August for health reasons. Christian Thielemann was engaged to conduct the 1st and 3rd cycles. Thomas Guggeis for the 2nd cycle.  This is a review of this 2nd cycle.

Immediately after the 1st cycle there was an outcry and great protest from the animal rights association PETA because live animals - 20 hamsters and 30 rabbits - were used as props in Rheingold and Walküre.  Kept in cages, exposed on stage under glaring lights and to Wagner's loud music.  As a result, the Staatsoper decided to eliminate the use of the hamsters and reduced the number of rabbits to 20 that appear for relatively short scenes on stage. There is really no artistic reason to use any live animals on stage, especially since the animals hardly move and you don't notice them - especially when sitting in the orchestra.

But now to stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov's concept: all four operas take place in the research centre E.S.C.H.E.  This acronym stands for Experimental Scientific Center for Human Evolution. The floor plan for this research centre is printed on the entire show curtain - it is quite a large facility, and the dimensions of this centre and the human experiments can only be imagined.

The stage design, for which Dmitri Tcherniakov is also responsible, is a complex and extremely elaborate structure consisting of three rooms that can be moved horizontally plus three more vertical levels - one takes the lift into the Nibelheim, for example. As befits a scientific centre of the late 60s, the facilities are kept extremely simple and sterile.  Here are stress laboratories, anatomy rooms, rooms for the live hamsters and rabbits. This cold atmosphere is further enhanced by Gleb Filshtinsky's many neon tube lights. Only the administrative rooms of the director - with warm wood panelling - indicate that a thoroughly well-equipped centre is available here, right down to the credible machinery that is on display in the laboratories. Tcherniakov does away with any Teutonic romanticism. He dissects the plot in its basic emotional elements. He also consistently eliminates conventional props - no golden hoard or camouflage helmet is shown here. A real ring is used, but it is treated more as a costume prop.

As a result, the actors perform other functions - Wotan is the head of the institute who is delighted to move into his snazzy new research centre. The Rhinemaidens are research assistants in white coats equipped with clipboards who circle Alberich and dutifully note his reactions as he is tied to his couch with all sorts of electrodes. Other staff members stand watching in the background with inscrutable expressions.  Fricka is very much Mrs. Wotan in a couture suit and handbag, Freia in an Audrey Hepburn-style sheath dress by Givenchy. Loge in a mustard-yellow corduroy suit with bellbottoms. Elena Zaytseva's costumes bespeak careful research of the era.

“Untersuchung menschlicher Verhaltensmodelle in einer Testgruppe” which translates as “Study of human behaviour models in a test group” is emblazoned on a banner between the floors on the way down to Nibelheim. One suspects bad things happen down here - then meets Alberich who terrorises Mime and the Nibelungs with a rubber mallet. Tcherniakov has Alberich use the electrode helmet of the first scene as a helmet and reduces this whole scene to a hallucination - as a presumed toad, he is then led away in a straight-jacket by two security. In keeping with not using any conventional props, there is no gold hoard to pay Fasolt and Fafner with. There is only a final symbolic handing over of the ring. The climax of the entry of the gods into Valhalla is a cheap trick presented by Froh, who conjures a whole rainbow out of a flower.

Even though Tcherniakov does away with all physical Wagnerian symbols, he does work on psychological interpretation and portrayal of the characters and the detailed interpersonal relationships. For this, it is essential that he has willing and understanding first-class interpreters at his disposal, as he does here.

First and foremost, Michael Volle as Wotan, who both vocally and in his portrayal as the proud research centre director on the one hand, and on the other is a desperate patriarch who is dominated by Claudia Mahnke's petite, screeching Fricka. Anett Fritsch plays Freia with a bright and elegant soprano. Johannes Martin Kränzle is a very intense Alberich, throwing himself into the role with his whole being and resonant baritone. Stephan Rügamer visibly suffers under him as the Mime. With both Kränzle and Rügamer, it is the physical and psychological expressions of their roles that impress. Mika Kares as Fasolt and Peter Rose as Fafner are the ruffians who do not feel comfortable in the sterile environment of the centre. They insist on down-to-earth payment and then immediately implement Alberich's curse, with Fasolt’s corpse dragged out by security guards. Lauri Vasar as Donner and Siyabonga Maqungo as Froh can hold their own vocally, but are treated more like extras by Tcherniakov. Rolando Villazón makes his debut in a Wagnerian role as Loge and gives this character an overly comedic touch without matching in vocal performance. Anna Kissjudit is a very bourgeois Erda with worthy vocal dignity. That leaves the three Rhinemaidens: Evelin Novak as Woglinde, Natalia Skrycka's Wellgunde and Anna Lapkovskaja as Flosshilde give the impression of triplets, so similar are their appearances and their – very good – voices.

In the pit, Thomas Guggeis reigns. He spent the most time rehearsing the cast and the orchestra during the preparation period.  The Staatskapelle follows his sometimes lively tempo with ease and joy of playing. Guggeis has the gift of imbuing Wagner's melancholy and ponderous passages with a positivity that gives even more expression to the dramatic musical line.

On this first evening of the Ring, Tcherniakov shows that he completely ignores the whole of Wagner's mythology and thus also the Nordic saga from which Wagner drew so extensively. There is also no sign that Tcherniakov interprets the Ring as a parable for society’s apocalypse. Let’s see what comes next.

The audience applauds the singers and conductor with long and loud applaus

Zenaida des Aubris