Yet Another Ring Story - Das Rheingold

Back at the end of May, Audrey took me to a Wagnerian opera for my birthday.

Apparently I have stayed on the mailing list for the Edmonton Opera Company ever since Fenya sang in The Magic Flute with them back in 2015. We also saw Carmen that same year and enjoyed it as well, but when I stumbled across the announcement that, for their 60th season, they would begin an annual adaptation of Richard Wagner's famous (and infamously difficult to stage) Ring cycle: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Gotterdämmerung, I was tremendously excited I hadn't missed an opportunity to this legendary opera in my own city.

I have been a fan of this music since before I knew it was even from an opera, encountering Ride of the Valkyries in the movie Apocalypse Now (and also The Blues Brothers), Siegfried's Funeral March in Excalibur and much of the rest in What's Opera Doc? featuring Bugs Bunny.

During my university years, a co-worker at the airport named David mentioned this when I complained about there not being a soundtrack to the film Excalibur. He patiently explained how much of the music was in the public domain, such as the haunting O Fortuna from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and the dramatic Wagnerian music when Excalibur is returned to the lake, Siegfried's Funeral March. 

Before David moved to B.C. for school, he generously suggested a trade of two replica samurai swords and all 4 Ring operas on cassette, with librettos, in exchange for my 12 (first printing but definitely not mint) issues of The Watchmen. 

I loved reading the epic story of mystical gold being made into a magical ring whose story runs through 15 hours of operas before climaxing [SPOILER ALERT I guess] with a grieving magical Viking shieldmaiden riding her horse into a bonfire and exploding while Wotan's castle Valhalla collapses in the background. Watching the Metropolitan Opera stage this scene on PBS years ago, I was thoroughly disappointed in the scale of pyrotechnics and lack of equestrian drama, but appreciating that it is kind of, you know, a lot.

But David's collection was a lot of tapes to go through, and I really began to appreciate Wagner when I purchased Telarc's amazing CD, The Ring Without Words during university - a symphonic presentation of the scores for all four operas woven together as a seamless tapestry and fitting them all together on a single disc as a single 69 minutes performance.

I can't tell you how many bootlegs I made of this disc onto cassette for classmates who heard me listening to it, and it was in regular rotation for me for many, many years. The Amazon reviews suggest many, many experiences similar to mine too.

Knowing all this, Audrey was only too happy to buy the tickets for this scaled-down 'chamber' version of Das Rheingold - running only about 100 minutes compared to the usual two-and-a-half hours and with an 18 piece opera instead of the usual 85.

I was slightly disappointed to learn of these changes but excited at seeing the story unfold in the intimate environs of the Maclab Theatre, where the performers have an audience on three of their four sides and in much closer proximity than usual. There is also no orchestra pit, with the musicians all situated above and behind the tiny stage.

I have to say though, in that space, the orchestral prelude sounded just as rich and full as anything Telarc ever offered. I was thrilled to hear the familiar openings and other musical cues, like all the dwarfs smithying away in their underground mines. And the close quarters made all the singing and drama that much more fulsome as well. 

In this stage design, a 1930s hotel replaced Odin's hall, with Wotan the tormented, one-eyed boss who is yet as much larger than life as the Teutonic deity he represents. I mean, watching Donner the thunder god pull back his suit jacket and pull out a literal hammer made me wonder why they didn't sub in a nickel plated .45 automatic (which even has a hammer so the wording still works when he threatens the giants with it later ("Fasolt and Fafner, know ye the weight of my hammer's heavy blow?"), but that feels nitpicky.

An absolutely tremendous experience that made me incredibly reflective about my childhood, my youth, my family, Robert Duvall, Bugs Bunny, Thor comics, King Arthur and a great many other things, making it the perfect outing for my birthday - thank you Audrey!

I already have tickets for next June's production of Die Walküre on my wishlist...