For several years now, “Discourse Bayreuth” has been an enriching programme at the Bayreuth Festival with discussions, installations, exhibitions and talks that expand on the traditional Festival programme with the Bayreuth canon of ten Wagner works, telling stories and questioning them with thoroughly critical discourse. But commissioned works have also seen the light of day.
But what has changed since that year of cancellation in 2021: the new Ring conducted by Pietari Inkinen, which was eagerly awaited last year and which Katharina Wagner and director Valerie Schwarz became aware of through the “Ring Award”, an award for young people under 35 presented in Graz every three years since 1997, had to be cancelled. And it couldn’t happen this year – the Wagner community even had to wait until the next festival summer for the new production of the “Tetralogy”.
This year, the existing discourse format made a virtue out of necessity by taking the regular series (in principle, Placido Domingo has only tried his hand at conducting a detached “Walküre” without the “Restring” once before) and, free from all staging constraints, being able to win over old master Hermann Nitsch for the Festspielhaus at short notice, also better known as the so-called “blood artist”, who in recent decades has even been able to integrate many a “blood-orgy-mystery play” into opera productions as part of Viennese Actionism.
In terms of time and space, this “Valkyrie” singular on 29 July 2021 was preceded by a morning event under the motto “Ring 20. 21”, a morning adaptation of “Rheingold” took place as another commissioned work with a world premiere by Gordon Kampe at the festival pond at the foot of the hill, which was first tested by Tobias Kratzer two years ago for “Tannhäuser”, which summarised the “Ring in one day” with a “Götterdämmerung” installation set up by Chiharu Shiota to the left of the festival driveway and a virtual dragon fight (“Sei Siegfried”) during the Valkyrie breaks in front of the King’s Portal (the future “Parsifal” director Jay Scheib gave a taste of his 3D art here). That sounds exciting, and it was – in part.
After all, the virtual dragon fight in particular raises hopes of an exciting “Parsifal” for 2023. But “Das Rheingold – Immer noch Loge” in a one-hour version in the morning between water lilies and three festival-tested ducks, who were not even driven away by three Rhine daughters in the murky pond water next to the festival driveway, also wanted to emphasise the topicality and modernity of Wagner’s original version with all kinds of current references in Paulus Hochgatterer’s text.
In principle, this was not really necessary, but thanks to the extremely committed and comprehensible interpretation of Daniela Köhler, Stephanie Houtzeel and Günter Haumer, which was amplified with microphones, the performance served as an adequate prelude to next year’s eagerly awaited “Walküre” with a largely “Ring” cast in the afternoon. Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegmund and Lise Davidsen as Sieglinde, but also the future “Ring” conductor Inkinen, were under particular scrutiny.
A few days earlier, Günther Groissböck had quit the role of Wotan not only this year, but completely and in future, thus finally causing another typical Bayreuth scandal. So everyone was expecting an exciting performance, of which it was easy to forget from the opening credits that it was supposed to be a semi-staged event of the “Bayreuth discourse” born out of necessity. In the back of the stage, the huge white canvas set up for Hermann Nitsch’s painter-statists as a three-winged triptych, while chairs were placed in the foreground for the singers required for each act.
This starting position for each act meant that the singers first had to adjust to the situation. By the third act at the latest, however, the singers took the reins themselves and were able to provide a little playful, dramatic intensity in their acting. Nitsch’s colour combinations spread across the triptych and the stage floor in the background – gallons and gallons, but slowly trickling away, sometimes scrubbed by hand on the floor or smudged with brushes and then spread across the screen with a final climax – provided appropriate imagery throughout with gradients, mixtures and colour intensities that you first had to get your head around.
In accordance with the theoretical superstructure described in more detail in the programme booklet, the incest was painted in a suitable “red” of blood disgrace, but an orgasm described with “valerian” (especially in what colour?) appeared to be described in an overly mellow and detached manner. The extra in a white dress and blindfolded, smeared with blood-red paint, brought in for Siegmund’s death and tied to a cross, as well as the monstrance carried in during the third act, also gave rise to associations with the farewell to the world work “Parsifal”. The main problem, however, turned out to be the static nature of the stage, which was already prevalent to no small extent, only after no adequate equivalent could be heard from the pit.
Even if some passages of the “Walküre”, which is lyrical in so many places, were played delicately and with hints of spherical sounds, this seemed random in all too many places and, above all, not planned through appropriate rehearsal. Right at the beginning of the first act, when the storm has passed and love begins, the musical tension broke off for the first time. This continued, and the prelude to the second act turned out to be nothing more than a blurred rebellion, from which – as in so many other passages – no motifs (however deliberately restrained or particularly emphasised), no line, no dynamics could be discerned.
This was frightening, and one can hope that next year a new production of the “Ring” will try much more. The singers obviously also suffered from the extremely slow conducting tempi (Kirill Petrenko was around twenty minutes faster at the time): In the third act, when the drama of the Ride of the Valkyries and Wotan’s subsequent anger had been well reflected in the rumbling orchestra, there were also clear problems of harmonisation between the “Valkyries” ensemble (whose intonation was very good and balanced) and the music.
One also had the impression that Tomasz Konieczny, who increasingly drew on his reserves as Wotan, who stepped in at short notice, was not sufficiently supported by a lack of restraint from the pit. All in all, the conducting therefore unfortunately (still) seemed overstretched. As a result, the Wälsung pair Vogt and Davidsen did not adequately convey the fervour of the first act (which was of course not intended in the overall context of the paintings in the background).
Although: Lise Davidsen, who was not always able to understand the text, but exquisitely conveyed it with nuanced creative power and exciting tone colour, with her large, dramatic voice, which never became forced, was particularly enjoyable due to the static surroundings. And Klaus Florian Vogt’s Siegmund, who lacked the nuance of his beloved sister, was also absolutely convincing with his clarity and expressiveness, but could phrase even more and interpret more freely in terms of tension (especially in the “Todesverkündigung”) (which seemed particularly difficult on this day due to the circumstances).
Dmitry Belosselskiy’s Hunding, on the other hand, with his imprecise intonation, could not hold his own against the twins on this evening. Christa Mayer‘s Fricka, with her clear, clear and precise mezzo, was rightly applauded by the audience at the end. Iréne Theorin, who began her career in Bayreuth decades ago as one of the eight Valkyries, was able to satisfy the audience with her creative power and moulding arcs of tension, as in the “Todesverkündigung”.
Konieczny as Wotan began the long monologue with good text comprehension and authentic narration, but had to pay tribute to the exhausting part at the end. In the end, it should be emphasised once again that the performance framework and the performance itself took place as part of the “Bayreuth Discourse” (i.e. not as a regular festival performance), but rather made a virtue out of the circumstances. Better a little “Ring” than none, and also for Hermann Nitsch late satisfaction and accolade for his love of Wagner. In the end, there were a few boos for the artist, a lot of disapproval for the conductor, but cheers for the singers.