Furchtbarer Ring

From www.wagneropera.net: hi-tech Ring from the late 19th century

Philip Kennicott's article on the Ring in the current issue of Opera News makes some claims which are considerably more tendentious than the tone of the article grants.  For instance, Kennicott seems to imply that the ideological viability of the Ring stands or falls by the person of Siegfried.  Surely Siegfried can hardly be less than problematic, but a number of interesting stagings have rendered him less central than Kennicott claims he must be. Take Brünnhilde, for instance: Definitely the Opera has a recent post about the significance of her arc in the narrative and how different directors have treated it, especially from feminist perspectives.  And come to that, is the Ring's status as an opera (or four) of ideas really that exceptional?  I might argue that the Ring differs from other philosophical reflections in operatic form in degree, not in kind.  (If I argued this, of course, I would not be able to cite sources other than the operas themselves and I could never maintain a debate.  I need to read some books about Wagner.  My father suggests that I should "just add another degree on the side."  I disagree.  But I do want to read some more books.)  At any rate, I enjoyed reading and rereading the article, sometimes wondering how I would formulate a polite and intellectually respectable disagreement with Mr. Kennicott over coffee, and sometimes just savoring things like a description of Ring-lovers as "itinerant crowds of slightly deranged pilgrims who will hop continents to see it."  Can I add "become slightly deranged Ring-pilgrim" to my lifetime to-do list?


Although not yet a slightly deranged pilgrim, I did check the Karl Böhm Ring (1966, Bayreuth, live) out of the university library this weekend.  The poor young man who checked it out gaped in dismay as he tipped the discs in their neat paper slipcovers out of the battered case.  "There are fourteen of them!" he exclaimed.  "Yes."  I tried to smile encouragingly.  "You want all of them?"  "Yes, please."  It transpired that each individual disc had to be coaxed out of its sheath and checked out of the system.  So while we worked at getting them out of their covers, I tried to make small talk.  "It's four different operas," I said, "but they tell one overarching story."  I suggested a narrative arc with expansive hand gestures.  "Only a slightly crazy person would have come up with such an idea," I said; the young man laughed.  "There's a curse, and love and death and power struggles, and it all ends with the end of the world."  "Wow," said the helpful young man.  "Are you going to listen to all of it?"  "I'm going to try!  Although not all at once."  The young man shook his head in  wonder.  "Are you a teacher?"  "Sort of," I said, "but this is for fun.  I like the music," I explained.  "It's... it's dense, but really exciting and... well, it's really exciting.  It's my last pre-term indulgence."  "Well, good," said the young man.  "We all need a little indulgence.  It's due on Monday; is that okay?"  It has been a Wagner-saturated weekend.  And that's absolutely okay.