Ring Cycle Films - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

jallanite · 05-08-2012, 12:03 AM

The New YorkMetropolitan Opera’s 2011 Wagner’s Ring Cycleis now available on film in one day showings of each of the four operas in Canada and the U.S. and at later dates in Britain. See:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-rele...gx-1648976.htm ,
http://www.gqti.com/metring.aspx , and
http://www.cineworld.co.uk/films/event/ringcycle .

This has nothing to do with Tolkien per se, but Tolkien in Letters (letter 229) remarks on a comment by his Swedish translator Åke Ohlmarks that The Ring is in a certain way ‘der Nibelungen Ring’. Tolkien answers shortly: “Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases.” Tolkien has answered a little too quickly even in respect to the medieval Nibelungenlied where the Ring also resembles Tolkien’s Ring in being made of gold.

But Ohlmarks’ version of the history of the Ring in Germanic literature is correctly called by Tolkien a farrago of nonsense. Tolkien may not have been thinking at all of the tale after that comparative modern Wagner got hold of it. For it is Wagner who first made the Ring into a talisman that bestows supreme power on its possessor. And while the Ring does not bestow invisibility even in Wagner’s tale, Wagner does connect it with a helm of invisibility (the tarnhelm, which would become dernhelm in Old English). In the Nibelungenlied there is instead an invisibility cloak (tarnkappe) and in the Volsungasaga Siegfried (Sigurð) changes shape with Gunther (Gunnar) through the enchantment of Gunther’s (Gunnar’s) mother Grimhild.

But to get back to the films, I posted information on them in a private site viewable only by co-members of the Wellinghall (Toronto) Smial of the Tolkien Society because I thought it was generally of interest Tolkien fans and possibly there might be some desire to get up a party of people to attend. I mentioned I was planning to attend in any case. Barrow-downs’ Bethberry, who is also a member of Wellinghall, was the only one who responded (negatively), but suggested I write short reviews of these films. As far more people would read them at Barrow-downs it seemed more reasonable to post them here and to link to this thread from the private site. And others may join in with comments.

I believe from short clips that these films are to be shown in German only, without English subtitles which may cause difficulties to many potential viewers. See http://ringcycle.metoperafamily.org/ . If you don’t understand German I suggest at least going through an English translation of the operas first.

jallanite · 05-08-2012, 12:06 AM

Wagner’s Dream, a documentary by Susan Froemke, is the first of these films, providing an account of what new director Robert LePage wished to accomplish that was new.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-cQmMOe1N4 .

LePage was hired as part of an attempt by the Metropolitan Opera to update its image and gain new subscribers. LePage believes that any media, including opera must change and keep changing to hold its audience. Many modern productions of the Ring Cycle however have overdone modern gimmickry. The basic charge is to simply tell the story and to let nothing stand in the way of the story.

Wagner himself was far from satisfied with the original production of the Ring, but Wagner died before the year was out and what changes Wagner had planned are unknown. Indeed, a production of the Ring operas to specification is impossible. How does one start an opera set under the water with three nymphs swimming fluidly when the audience only sees three fat ladies in fish tales? Thin people very rarely have the diaphragm power to be opera singers.

Willing suspension of disbelief is very necessary no matter what is done.

LePage was inspired by the geography of Iceland where the Norse versions of Wagner’s stories were written, having a single set built to cover every scene in all four operas, a set which could be programmed to change shape and colour at the desire of the director. Whether this set entirely works is debatable. Reviewers have different opinions.

Disaster almost strikes at several points. The rainbow bridge does not work properly on opening night of the first opera, but is fixed for later appearances. Deborah Voigt, the singer who plays the Valküre Brünnhilde, trips and falls on her entrance on opening night, but is fortunately not hurt and just gets up and continues, leading some in the audience to think the fall was purposely done. Ben Heppner had originally been scheduled to perform the role of Siegfried, but dropped out in February. Gary Lehman had been slated to perform instead but withdrew only eight days before opening night, citing illness, and Jay Hunter Morris, as understudy, was called in as emergency replacement.

The film stresses that this was the first time that Deborah Voigt had played Brünnhilde, a part which is the female lead in three of the four operas. Emphasis is laid on the amount of work involved in the parts of Siegfried and Brunnhilde, parts that only a handful of singers in the world are even capable of fulfilling because of their difficulty. Both singers are generally rated as successes in this production.

There is nothing here that relates to Tolkien. That will not be true of subsequent reviews of the operatic films themselves.

Bêthberry · 05-08-2012, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jallanite

Barrow-downs’ Bethberry, who is also a member of Wellinghall, was the only one who responded (negatively), but suggested I write short reviews of these films.

Just to clarify any possible misconceptions which readers here might construe, I said with such short notice I was unable to attend the screenings given other commitments this week. I declined the suggestion to attend but I didn't dismiss or refute the idea of seeing the Ring Cycle films.

I think it's quite an interesting avenue to explore, particularly since Tolkien believed that drama ought to be seen on the stage and not simply read. Given he and Priscilla attended the opera in Florence, one might assume he felt that opera should also be seen and heard rather than read. And this is just such an opportunity.

Morthoron · 05-09-2012, 02:58 PM

Charles Baudelaire said of Wagner:

"I love Wagner, but the music I prefer is that of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws."

jallanite · 05-09-2012, 03:10 PM

Das Rheingold: Commentary

Wagner wrote the Ring Cycle backward. He planned a single opera about Siegfried as he appears in the first half of the medieval Nibeglungenlied, decided to also write an opera about the youth of Siegfried as told in Norse material, then decided that to cover that fully, he needed another opera on the life of Siegfried’s father Sigmund, and yet another opera on the origins of the Ring and the dragon whom Siegfried fights.

Although Wagner takes most of his material from Norse sources, he uses Germanic forms for the names. Here is a table of the cast members of Das Rheingold in order of appearance, omitting only the three Rhine maidens who are Wagner’s own invention, along with the Norse names of the characters and some notes on the names.

Characters:

German/Wagnerian Name
Norse Name
Commentary

Alberich
Andvari
albe ‘elf’ + rich ‘king’; andvari ‘careful’

Fricka
Frigg
The form Fricka is an invention of Wagner or some contemporary folklorist. In southern Germanic mentions and Old English mentions the wife of Wotan/Óðinn is Freia.

Wotan
Óðinn (Odin)[/SIZE]
< Proto-Germanic *Wōđanaz ‘Ecstasy’.

Freia
Freyja
‘Lady’

Fasolt
Hreiðmarr (Hreidmar)
In the Norse version Hreiðmarr is the father of Fafnír and Regin. The name Fasolt is Wagner’s invention.

Fafner
Fafnír

Froh
Freyr
‘Lord’

Donner
Þórr (Thor)
< Germanic *Þunraz meaning ‘Thunder’ and also cognate with the modern English word.

Loge
Loki
Loki survives only in Scandinavian sources. Wagner invents the German form Loge and uses the guess of some commentators that Loki might be connected with fire.

Mime
Reginn (Regin)
Wagner uses the name Mime from the German-influenced Þiðreks saga where Mime is Sigurð/Siegfried’s foster father and Mime’s brother Reginn is the dragon as opposed to the standard Norse story in which Reginn is Sigurð’s foster father and his dragon brother is Fáfnir.

Erda
Jǫrd (Jörd)
‘Earth’

For the text of the opera in English and German, see http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/...ing0_intro.htm

For the main Norse source in English, see http://www.marxists.org/archive/morr.../chapter14.htm .

For Tolkien’s recreation of this material, see The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún, “Upphaf (Beginning)” and chapter “I Andvari’s Gold”.

Wagner introduces the idea that Alberich/Andvari gains the gold from which he forges the Ring of Power from the Rhine where it has previously been only a plaything of the nymphs of the Rhine. To do this, Alberich must forswear love forever. Love here seems to be identical with carnal lust. And the river nymphs are so cruel and heartless in their teasing of the ugly dwarf Alberich that one almost feels that it serves them right when Alberich turns on them and steals their gold.

Wagner weaves in parts of a Norse tale of a giant trying to trick the gods by building a citadel in exchange for Freyja as his wife and the sun and moon. Wagner has two giants, Fasolt and Fafner, and the ending is quite different. It is to gain the Ring of Power that Wotan goes to Alberich’s domain, ostensibly to regain it for the Rhine nymphs but really, for himself, to increase his own power.

Nibelungen in most sources is the family name of the royal house who rule the Burgundians from the city of Worms. But in the Nibelungenlied the Nibelungs are originally a northern people over whom Siegfried rules of whom at least some are dwarfs. This led some scholars to believe that the Nibelungs were originally dwarfs in lost sources. Wagner accepted this theory in his opera, but few if any modern commentators accept it. It is the Nibelungenlied that garbled the story by confusing the hereditary treasure of the Nibelungen dynasty of Worms with the originally unrelated treasure which Siegfried won from a dragon but which later would have been reckoned part of the Nibelungen hoard.

In the Norse sources the only power that Andvari’s Ring has is by unexplained means to increase the treasure hoard of its owner. Tolkien ascribes such a power to the seven dwarf-rings.

Wotan takes Alberich by surprise and makes him his prisoner, to be ransomed only by giving up his treasure and the Ring. It is unexplained why Wotan can do this but later cannot directly or indirectly similarly obtain the Ring from its owners. Alberich, on being set free, lays a curse on the Ring.

And so the giants Fasolt and Fafner gain the Ring and immediately begin quarrelling over it. Fafner kills Fasolt and two operas later will appear again as a dragon in a den, lying on a golden hoard. Similarly Tolkien’s Sméagol kills his friend Déagol over the Ring and regresses into a cannibalistic wretch whom most would not now recognize as one who was once a hobbit.

Tolkien quotes his Swedish translator Åke Olhmarks as saying:

.... which was originally forged by Volund the master-smith, and then by way of Vittka-Andvare passed through the hands of the mighty [Æsir] into the possession of Hreidmar and the dragon, after the dragon’s fall coming to Sigurd the dragonslayer, after his murder by treacherous conspirators coming to the Burgundians, after their death in Atle’s snake-pit coming to the Huns, then to the sons of Jonakr, to the Gothic tyrant Ermanrik, etc.

Völund’s ring is different ring, given to him by his wife, not forged by him. There is no story of any ring connected with Völund’s son Witige who appears as a mighty hero not to be identified in any way with the dwarf Andvari who must have been born much earlier. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudga .) The Nibelungen Ring ceases to be mentioned in medieval texts after it was worn by Siegfried/Sigurð. Mentions of the Ring here after Sigurð’s murder are bogus, save that the characters referenced appear in tales that are linked to the Sigurð story.

Ohlmarks indeed did not know what he was talking about and later became much worse.

A review of the film will follow once I have seen it, later today.

jallanite · 05-09-2012, 09:47 PM

Das Rheingold: A Review

Yes, the films do have English subtitles, which is a blessing to me and others who get almost nothing from oral German.

Was the film any good?

It depends on what you mean by any good. I would rate it higher than either John Carter or Wrath of the Titans but below The Hunger Games as a film. But this is not a normal film but rather a film of a live theatrical production without retakes. It would be unfair to compare it with a film where one might expect the director to say to Eric Owens who played Alberich, “You looked a little nervous when singing at a 45 degree angle dangling from the safety wire. Could we do it again, perhaps a few times again?” And all special effects are done live in viewing order, or they just don’t happen.

If you can make allowances for that, this was an excellent film.

You already know from reviews of the live performances that the vocals were excellent, if you like Wagner at all and if you have read the reviews. And you already know that the electronic staging was controversial.

On that matter I think that sometimes it was problematical and sometimes worked magnificently. It was especially effective in the Nibelheim scene where “the machine” which had heretofore served as a floor became the ceiling, enhancing the idea that Nibelheim was down below and also magnificent in the final scene where the gods (actually stunt doubles of the gods) walked up a section of the machine representing the rainbow bridge at an angle greater than 45°.

The leads were all excellent, especially Richard Croft as Loge, Stepanie Blythe as a magnificently fat but sympathetic Fricka, and Eric Owens as Alberich. Loge’s hands were enhanced by a fiery red glow at times and by a fiery glow on the ground wherever he walked. Fricka was beautiful with magnificent red hair and a gorgeous green gown and a very gentle and unharsh manner. Alberich was captivating after the first scene where too many of his slides down “the machine” didn’t work for me.

Bryn Terfel played the one-eyed Wotan with a lock of hair falling over the right side of his face to hide the supposedly empty socket, but in one of this first appearances the eye could be faintly seen through the hair. One of Wotan/Óðinn’s titles is Grey-beard but this Wotan had only black stubble, although a lot of stubble.

Donner had the red hair that fits his character, but no red beard as he should have, since one of Thor’s titles in the Norse Eddas is ‘Red-beard’. His hammer also has a handle like a sledge hammer whereas in the Prose Edda the only fault attributed to Thor’s hammer is that its handle is too short.

jallanite · 05-10-2012, 09:50 PM

Die Walküre: Commentary

Wagner now jumps to the early history of Brünnhilde and the history of Siegmund, the father of his ultimate hero. But here the sources are quite variant, and Wagner builds a new story from elements of the Norse story of Sigmund, although rendering the names in German form.

Here is a table of the cast members of Die Walküre in order of appearance, omitting only the eight Valkyries other than Brünnhilde whose names are Wagner’s own invention, along with the Norse names of the characters and some notes on the names.

Characters:

German/Wagnerian Name
Norse Name
Commentary

Siegmund
Sigmund
sieg/sig ‘victory’ + mund ‘power’

Sieglinde
Hjǫrdis (Hjördis)
Sieglinde < Sieglind, the mother of Siegfried in the Nibelungenlied. Hjǫrdis is the name of Sigurð’s mother in most Norse tales. But an earlier wife of Sigmund is named Sigrlinn, she being the mother of Sigmund’s son Helgi Hundingsbane according to one source. The sister with whom Sigmund has intercourse is named Signý. In the Þiðreks saga the wife of Sigmund and mother of Sigurð is named Sisibe.

Hunding
Hunding
Hunding is a foe slain by Helgi son of Sigmund when Helgi was 15, whence he is known as Helgi Hundinsbane. It is some sons of Hunding that are later responsible for Sigmund’s death in Norse tradition.

Wotan
Óðinn (Odin)
< Proto-Germanic *Wōđanaz ‘Ecstasy’.

Brünnhilde
Brynhildr
The Valkyrie in sleep on the mount is named Sigrdrifa in the earliest Norse account and later retellings only dubiously identify her with Brynhildr.

Fricka
Frigg
The form Fricka is an invention of Wagner or some contemporary folklorist. In southern Germanic mentions and Old English mentions the wife of Wotan/Óðinn is Freia who in Norse tradition is differentiated from Frigg.

For the text of the opera in English and German, see
http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/shw/Ring.htm

For the main Norse source in English, see http://www.marxists.org/archive/morr...ters/index.htm , chapters I to XII.

For Tolkien’s recreation of this material, see The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún, “Völsungakviða en nýja (‘The New Lay of the Völsungs’)”, chapters II to IV.

The Norse sources make out Sigmund to be the son of Vǫlsung, son of Rerir, son of Sigi, son of the god Óðinn. Vǫlsung was a powerful king in Hunland until treacherously defeated by his son-in-law, King Siggeir of Gothland. Wagner makes his Siegmund to be a robber along with his supposed father Wälse who was, in reality, Wotan/Óðinn and along with Siegmund’s twin-sister, Sieglinde.

In the Norse sources Óðinn come unnamed and places a sword in Vǫlsung’s oak in his hall. In Wagner’s version it is Hunding’s hall that is built around a tree and there Wotan places the sword which Siegmund is destined to find along with his twin-sister Sieglinde.

When Vǫlsung is slain by Siggeir’s doing along with all Vǫlsung’s children except for Sigmund and Signý, Signý is able to preserve Sigmund’s life and plots to aid him to avenge themselves on Siggeir using her own sons fathered by Siggeir as helpers. None proves suitable and by Signý’s grim command Sigmund slays them. Then by magic, Signý lies with her brother Sigmund, he not knowing it is Signý, and Signý bears a son named Sinfjotli who proves worthy, is brought up by Sigmund, and aids him in his revenge. When Siggeir’s hall is burnt, Signý willingly goes to her death in it.

Sigmund fathers Sigurð much later on another wife.

Wagner has much changed this tale to make it into a wildly incestuous love match in which both Siegmund and Sieglinde know that they know that they are brother and sister and do not care that love making is forbidden in such a case..

In the Norse sources Sigrdrifa, the Valkyrie who is sometime identified with Brynhildr, is cast into a sleep by Óðinn when she caused a warrior named Helm Gunnar to die in battle instead of Agnar, Audi’s brother, against Óðinn’s wishes. Nothing else is known of these warriors. Wagner ties his tales strongly into the main plot by making Brünnhilde instead attempt to save Siegmund and cause Hunding to be slain.

That Wotan fathered the nine Valkyries on the Earth goddess is Wagner’s invention.

Arguably the most popular Wagner piece, the Ride of the Valkyries: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PHINKZrwRs .

Tolkien’s story of Túrin, available in various versions in various places, also contain an incestuous carnal relationship between brother and sister.

Film review on Saturday.

jallanite · 05-12-2012, 08:34 PM

Die Walkürie: A Review

The film began at 10:00 am and ended a little after 3:00 pm and I have no memory of being bored in the least, though I did space out and miss short bits here and there.

Part of the reason for the length is that two intermissions were included: each including short bits of interviews and other documentary-type material followed by twenty minutes of shots of the stagehands setting up for the next Act and of the theatre audience, the cinema lights being turned on while this portion of the film ran.

Musically the production was superb, as most reviews of the live performance indicate.

The use of “The Machine” of stage setting had varied success.

Hunding’s hall was particularly disappointing. “The Machine” was up in the air for this set, providing a backdrop of what was supposed to be the upper part of the back wall of the hall. Below this backdrop the space was clear, looking out on a blank set which was supposed to represent the sky beyond the hall. I could not help thinking that with about half the wall missing, it must be extremely cold in Hunding's hall, especially as flakes of stage snow were falling during the beginning of the Act. That was rather distracting.

More distracting were the two centre panels of the machine which were placed much father forward in the set to represent the trunk of the tree around which the hall is built. The bark of the tree was created by a light projection onto the tree which worked well until either Siegfried, Sieglinde, or Hunding came between the tree and the audience which happened quite often. The projection was so bright that it then could still be seen over the bodies of the characters making it obvious that the bark on the tree was a projection or that for some reason the characters were supposed to be appearing as ghosts with the bark background showing through. Annoying!

The ride of the Valkyries was done through the machine by having the eight Valkyries each sitting on one panel of the machine, all facing the audience, the panels on which they were sitting bobbing up and down to simulate a gallop. Each Valkyrie dismounted by having the panel on which she was sitting slant down so that the forward part of the panel touched the floor of the stage. Then she slid down the panel. Meanwhile the dialogue indicates that all the Valkyries are not supposed to be riding together.

Admittedly no production of Die Valkürie has ever convincingly shown the horseback riding of eight Valkyries through a stormy sky on stage.

The machine did work well in the final entombment of Brünnhilde. But what we saw of the emergence of the fire barrier around Brünnhilde’s tomb was too complicated to describe properly to anyone who has not seen it without taking many times more space than I wish to devote to it. The machine seems to work best when used to show the impossible where there is no firm indication of what is happening in the audience’s mind. Then it looks spectacular.

05-08-2012, 12:03 AM	#1
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	Ring Cycle Films The New YorkMetropolitan Opera’s 2011 Wagner’s Ring Cycleis now available on film in one day showings of each of the four operas in Canada and the U.S. and at later dates in Britain. See: http://www.marketwire.com/press-rele...gx-1648976.htm , http://www.gqti.com/metring.aspx , and http://www.cineworld.co.uk/films/event/ringcycle . This has nothing to do with Tolkien per se, but Tolkien in Letters (letter 229) remarks on a comment by his Swedish translator Åke Ohlmarks that The Ring is in a certain way ‘der Nibelungen Ring’. Tolkien answers shortly: “Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases.” Tolkien has answered a little too quickly even in respect to the medieval Nibelungenlied where the Ring also resembles Tolkien’s Ring in being made of gold. But Ohlmarks’ version of the history of the Ring in Germanic literature is correctly called by Tolkien a farrago of nonsense. Tolkien may not have been thinking at all of the tale after that comparative modern Wagner got hold of it. For it is Wagner who first made the Ring into a talisman that bestows supreme power on its possessor. And while the Ring does not bestow invisibility even in Wagner’s tale, Wagner does connect it with a helm of invisibility (the tarnhelm, which would become dernhelm in Old English). In the Nibelungenlied there is instead an invisibility cloak (tarnkappe) and in the Volsungasaga Siegfried (Sigurð) changes shape with Gunther (Gunnar) through the enchantment of Gunther’s (Gunnar’s) mother Grimhild. But to get back to the films, I posted information on them in a private site viewable only by co-members of the Wellinghall (Toronto) Smial of the Tolkien Society because I thought it was generally of interest Tolkien fans and possibly there might be some desire to get up a party of people to attend. I mentioned I was planning to attend in any case. Barrow-downs’ Bethberry, who is also a member of Wellinghall, was the only one who responded (negatively), but suggested I write short reviews of these films. As far more people would read them at Barrow-downs it seemed more reasonable to post them here and to link to this thread from the private site. And others may join in with comments. I believe from short clips that these films are to be shown in German only, without English subtitles which may cause difficulties to many potential viewers. See http://ringcycle.metoperafamily.org/ . If you don’t understand German I suggest at least going through an English translation of the operas first.

05-09-2012, 02:58 PM	#4
Morthoron Curmudgeonly Wordwraith Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits Posts: 2,504	Charles Baudelaire said of Wagner: "I love Wagner, but the music I prefer is that of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws." __________________ And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision.

05-09-2012, 03:10 PM	#5
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	Das Rheingold: Commentary Wagner wrote the Ring Cycle backward. He planned a single opera about Siegfried as he appears in the first half of the medieval Nibeglungenlied, decided to also write an opera about the youth of Siegfried as told in Norse material, then decided that to cover that fully, he needed another opera on the life of Siegfried’s father Sigmund, and yet another opera on the origins of the Ring and the dragon whom Siegfried fights. Although Wagner takes most of his material from Norse sources, he uses Germanic forms for the names. Here is a table of the cast members of Das Rheingold in order of appearance, omitting only the three Rhine maidens who are Wagner’s own invention, along with the Norse names of the characters and some notes on the names. Characters: German/Wagnerian Name Norse Name Commentary Alberich Andvari albe ‘elf’ + rich ‘king’; andvari ‘careful’ Fricka Frigg The form Fricka is an invention of Wagner or some contemporary folklorist. In southern Germanic mentions and Old English mentions the wife of Wotan/Óðinn is Freia. Wotan Óðinn (Odin)[/SIZE] < Proto-Germanic Wōđanaz ‘Ecstasy’. Freia Freyja ‘Lady’ Fasolt Hreiðmarr (Hreidmar) In the Norse version Hreiðmarr is the father of Fafnír and Regin. The name Fasolt* is Wagner’s invention. Fafner Fafnír Froh Freyr ‘Lord’ Donner Þórr (Thor) < Germanic *Þunraz meaning ‘Thunder’ and also cognate with the modern English word. Loge Loki Loki survives only in Scandinavian sources. Wagner invents the German form Loge and uses the guess of some commentators that Loki might be connected with fire. Mime Reginn (Regin) Wagner uses the name Mime from the German-influenced Þiðreks saga where Mime is Sigurð/Siegfried’s foster father and Mime’s brother Reginn is the dragon as opposed to the standard Norse story in which Reginn is Sigurð’s foster father and his dragon brother is Fáfnir. Erda Jǫrd (Jörd) ‘Earth’ For the text of the opera in English and German, see http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/...ing0_intro.htm For the main Norse source in English, see http://www.marxists.org/archive/morr.../chapter14.htm . For Tolkien’s recreation of this material, see The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún, “Upphaf (Beginning)” and chapter “I Andvari’s Gold”. Wagner introduces the idea that Alberich/Andvari gains the gold from which he forges the Ring of Power from the Rhine where it has previously been only a plaything of the nymphs of the Rhine. To do this, Alberich must forswear love forever. Love here seems to be identical with carnal lust. And the river nymphs are so cruel and heartless in their teasing of the ugly dwarf Alberich that one almost feels that it serves them right when Alberich turns on them and steals their gold. Wagner weaves in parts of a Norse tale of a giant trying to trick the gods by building a citadel in exchange for Freyja as his wife and the sun and moon. Wagner has two giants, Fasolt and Fafner, and the ending is quite different. It is to gain the Ring of Power that Wotan goes to Alberich’s domain, ostensibly to regain it for the Rhine nymphs but really, for himself, to increase his own power. Nibelungen in most sources is the family name of the royal house who rule the Burgundians from the city of Worms. But in the Nibelungenlied the Nibelungs are originally a northern people over whom Siegfried rules of whom at least some are dwarfs. This led some scholars to believe that the Nibelungs were originally dwarfs in lost sources. Wagner accepted this theory in his opera, but few if any modern commentators accept it. It is the Nibelungenlied that garbled the story by confusing the hereditary treasure of the Nibelungen dynasty of Worms with the originally unrelated treasure which Siegfried won from a dragon but which later would have been reckoned part of the Nibelungen hoard. In the Norse sources the only power that Andvari’s Ring has is by unexplained means to increase the treasure hoard of its owner. Tolkien ascribes such a power to the seven dwarf-rings. Wotan takes Alberich by surprise and makes him his prisoner, to be ransomed only by giving up his treasure and the Ring. It is unexplained why Wotan can do this but later cannot directly or indirectly similarly obtain the Ring from its owners. Alberich, on being set free, lays a curse on the Ring. And so the giants Fasolt and Fafner gain the Ring and immediately begin quarrelling over it. Fafner kills Fasolt and two operas later will appear again as a dragon in a den, lying on a golden hoard. Similarly Tolkien’s Sméagol kills his friend Déagol over the Ring and regresses into a cannibalistic wretch whom most would not now recognize as one who was once a hobbit. Tolkien quotes his Swedish translator Åke Olhmarks as saying: .... which was originally forged by Volund the master-smith, and then by way of Vittka-Andvare passed through the hands of the mighty [Æsir] into the possession of Hreidmar and the dragon, after the dragon’s fall coming to Sigurd the dragonslayer, after his murder by treacherous conspirators coming to the Burgundians, after their death in Atle’s snake-pit coming to the Huns, then to the sons of Jonakr, to the Gothic tyrant Ermanrik, etc. Völund’s ring is different ring, given to him by his wife, not forged by him. There is no story of any ring connected with Völund’s son Witige who appears as a mighty hero not to be identified in any way with the dwarf Andvari who must have been born much earlier. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudga .) The Nibelungen Ring ceases to be mentioned in medieval texts after it was worn by Siegfried/Sigurð. Mentions of the Ring here after Sigurð’s murder are bogus, save that the characters referenced appear in tales that are linked to the Sigurð story. Ohlmarks indeed did not know what he was talking about and later became much worse. A review of the film will follow once I have seen it, later today.

05-08-2012, 12:06 AM	#2
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	Wagner’s Dream, a documentary by Susan Froemke, is the first of these films, providing an account of what new director Robert LePage wished to accomplish that was new. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-cQmMOe1N4 . LePage was hired as part of an attempt by the Metropolitan Opera to update its image and gain new subscribers. LePage believes that any media, including opera must change and keep changing to hold its audience. Many modern productions of the Ring Cycle however have overdone modern gimmickry. The basic charge is to simply tell the story and to let nothing stand in the way of the story. Wagner himself was far from satisfied with the original production of the Ring, but Wagner died before the year was out and what changes Wagner had planned are unknown. Indeed, a production of the Ring operas to specification is impossible. How does one start an opera set under the water with three nymphs swimming fluidly when the audience only sees three fat ladies in fish tales? Thin people very rarely have the diaphragm power to be opera singers. Willing suspension of disbelief is very necessary no matter what is done. LePage was inspired by the geography of Iceland where the Norse versions of Wagner’s stories were written, having a single set built to cover every scene in all four operas, a set which could be programmed to change shape and colour at the desire of the director. Whether this set entirely works is debatable. Reviewers have different opinions. Disaster almost strikes at several points. The rainbow bridge does not work properly on opening night of the first opera, but is fixed for later appearances. Deborah Voigt, the singer who plays the Valküre Brünnhilde, trips and falls on her entrance on opening night, but is fortunately not hurt and just gets up and continues, leading some in the audience to think the fall was purposely done. Ben Heppner had originally been scheduled to perform the role of Siegfried, but dropped out in February. Gary Lehman had been slated to perform instead but withdrew only eight days before opening night, citing illness, and Jay Hunter Morris, as understudy, was called in as emergency replacement. The film stresses that this was the first time that Deborah Voigt had played Brünnhilde, a part which is the female lead in three of the four operas. Emphasis is laid on the amount of work involved in the parts of Siegfried and Brunnhilde, parts that only a handful of singers in the world are even capable of fulfilling because of their difficulty. Both singers are generally rated as successes in this production. There is nothing here that relates to Tolkien. That will not be true of subsequent reviews of the operatic films themselves.

05-09-2012, 09:47 PM	#6
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	Das Rheingold: A Review Yes, the films do have English subtitles, which is a blessing to me and others who get almost nothing from oral German. Was the film any good? It depends on what you mean by any good. I would rate it higher than either John Carter or Wrath of the Titans but below The Hunger Games as a film. But this is not a normal film but rather a film of a live theatrical production without retakes. It would be unfair to compare it with a film where one might expect the director to say to Eric Owens who played Alberich, “You looked a little nervous when singing at a 45 degree angle dangling from the safety wire. Could we do it again, perhaps a few times again?” And all special effects are done live in viewing order, or they just don’t happen. If you can make allowances for that, this was an excellent film. You already know from reviews of the live performances that the vocals were excellent, if you like Wagner at all and if you have read the reviews. And you already know that the electronic staging was controversial. On that matter I think that sometimes it was problematical and sometimes worked magnificently. It was especially effective in the Nibelheim scene where “the machine” which had heretofore served as a floor became the ceiling, enhancing the idea that Nibelheim was down below and also magnificent in the final scene where the gods (actually stunt doubles of the gods) walked up a section of the machine representing the rainbow bridge at an angle greater than 45°. The leads were all excellent, especially Richard Croft as Loge, Stepanie Blythe as a magnificently fat but sympathetic Fricka, and Eric Owens as Alberich. Loge’s hands were enhanced by a fiery red glow at times and by a fiery glow on the ground wherever he walked. Fricka was beautiful with magnificent red hair and a gorgeous green gown and a very gentle and unharsh manner. Alberich was captivating after the first scene where too many of his slides down “the machine” didn’t work for me. Bryn Terfel played the one-eyed Wotan with a lock of hair falling over the right side of his face to hide the supposedly empty socket, but in one of this first appearances the eye could be faintly seen through the hair. One of Wotan/Óðinn’s titles is Grey-beard but this Wotan had only black stubble, although a lot of stubble. Donner had the red hair that fits his character, but no red beard as he should have, since one of Thor’s titles in the Norse Eddas is ‘Red-beard’. His hammer also has a handle like a sledge hammer whereas in the Prose Edda the only fault attributed to Thor’s hammer is that its handle is too short.

05-10-2012, 09:50 PM	#7
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	Die Walküre: Commentary Wagner now jumps to the early history of Brünnhilde and the history of Siegmund, the father of his ultimate hero. But here the sources are quite variant, and Wagner builds a new story from elements of the Norse story of Sigmund, although rendering the names in German form. Here is a table of the cast members of Die Walküre in order of appearance, omitting only the eight Valkyries other than Brünnhilde whose names are Wagner’s own invention, along with the Norse names of the characters and some notes on the names. Characters: German/Wagnerian Name Norse Name Commentary Siegmund Sigmund sieg/sig ‘victory’ + mund ‘power’ Sieglinde Hjǫrdis (Hjördis) Sieglinde < Sieglind, the mother of Siegfried in the Nibelungenlied. Hjǫrdis is the name of Sigurð’s mother in most Norse tales. But an earlier wife of Sigmund is named Sigrlinn, she being the mother of Sigmund’s son Helgi Hundingsbane according to one source. The sister with whom Sigmund has intercourse is named Signý. In the Þiðreks saga the wife of Sigmund and mother of Sigurð is named Sisibe. Hunding Hunding Hunding is a foe slain by Helgi son of Sigmund when Helgi was 15, whence he is known as Helgi Hundinsbane. It is some sons of Hunding that are later responsible for Sigmund’s death in Norse tradition. Wotan Óðinn (Odin) < Proto-Germanic Wōđanaz ‘Ecstasy’. Brünnhilde Brynhildr The Valkyrie in sleep on the mount is named Sigrdrifa* in the earliest Norse account and later retellings only dubiously identify her with Brynhildr. Fricka Frigg The form Fricka is an invention of Wagner or some contemporary folklorist. In southern Germanic mentions and Old English mentions the wife of Wotan/Óðinn is Freia who in Norse tradition is differentiated from Frigg. For the text of the opera in English and German, see http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/shw/Ring.htm For the main Norse source in English, see http://www.marxists.org/archive/morr...ters/index.htm , chapters I to XII. For Tolkien’s recreation of this material, see The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún, “Völsungakviða en nýja (‘The New Lay of the Völsungs’)”, chapters II to IV. The Norse sources make out Sigmund to be the son of Vǫlsung, son of Rerir, son of Sigi, son of the god Óðinn. Vǫlsung was a powerful king in Hunland until treacherously defeated by his son-in-law, King Siggeir of Gothland. Wagner makes his Siegmund to be a robber along with his supposed father Wälse who was, in reality, Wotan/Óðinn and along with Siegmund’s twin-sister, Sieglinde. In the Norse sources Óðinn come unnamed and places a sword in Vǫlsung’s oak in his hall. In Wagner’s version it is Hunding’s hall that is built around a tree and there Wotan places the sword which Siegmund is destined to find along with his twin-sister Sieglinde. When Vǫlsung is slain by Siggeir’s doing along with all Vǫlsung’s children except for Sigmund and Signý, Signý is able to preserve Sigmund’s life and plots to aid him to avenge themselves on Siggeir using her own sons fathered by Siggeir as helpers. None proves suitable and by Signý’s grim command Sigmund slays them. Then by magic, Signý lies with her brother Sigmund, he not knowing it is Signý, and Signý bears a son named Sinfjotli who proves worthy, is brought up by Sigmund, and aids him in his revenge. When Siggeir’s hall is burnt, Signý willingly goes to her death in it. Sigmund fathers Sigurð much later on another wife. Wagner has much changed this tale to make it into a wildly incestuous love match in which both Siegmund and Sieglinde know that they know that they are brother and sister and do not care that love making is forbidden in such a case.. In the Norse sources Sigrdrifa, the Valkyrie who is sometime identified with Brynhildr, is cast into a sleep by Óðinn when she caused a warrior named Helm Gunnar to die in battle instead of Agnar, Audi’s brother, against Óðinn’s wishes. Nothing else is known of these warriors. Wagner ties his tales strongly into the main plot by making Brünnhilde instead attempt to save Siegmund and cause Hunding to be slain. That Wotan fathered the nine Valkyries on the Earth goddess is Wagner’s invention. Arguably the most popular Wagner piece, the Ride of the Valkyries: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PHINKZrwRs . Tolkien’s story of Túrin, available in various versions in various places, also contain an incestuous carnal relationship between brother and sister. Film review on Saturday.

05-12-2012, 08:34 PM	#8
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	Die Walkürie: A Review The film began at 10:00 am and ended a little after 3:00 pm and I have no memory of being bored in the least, though I did space out and miss short bits here and there. Part of the reason for the length is that two intermissions were included: each including short bits of interviews and other documentary-type material followed by twenty minutes of shots of the stagehands setting up for the next Act and of the theatre audience, the cinema lights being turned on while this portion of the film ran. Musically the production was superb, as most reviews of the live performance indicate. The use of “The Machine” of stage setting had varied success. Hunding’s hall was particularly disappointing. “The Machine” was up in the air for this set, providing a backdrop of what was supposed to be the upper part of the back wall of the hall. Below this backdrop the space was clear, looking out on a blank set which was supposed to represent the sky beyond the hall. I could not help thinking that with about half the wall missing, it must be extremely cold in Hunding's hall, especially as flakes of stage snow were falling during the beginning of the Act. That was rather distracting. More distracting were the two centre panels of the machine which were placed much father forward in the set to represent the trunk of the tree around which the hall is built. The bark of the tree was created by a light projection onto the tree which worked well until either Siegfried, Sieglinde, or Hunding came between the tree and the audience which happened quite often. The projection was so bright that it then could still be seen over the bodies of the characters making it obvious that the bark on the tree was a projection or that for some reason the characters were supposed to be appearing as ghosts with the bark background showing through. Annoying! The ride of the Valkyries was done through the machine by having the eight Valkyries each sitting on one panel of the machine, all facing the audience, the panels on which they were sitting bobbing up and down to simulate a gallop. Each Valkyrie dismounted by having the panel on which she was sitting slant down so that the forward part of the panel touched the floor of the stage. Then she slid down the panel. Meanwhile the dialogue indicates that all the Valkyries are not supposed to be riding together. Admittedly no production of Die Valkürie has ever convincingly shown the horseback riding of eight Valkyries through a stormy sky on stage. The machine did work well in the final entombment of Brünnhilde. But what we saw of the emergence of the fire barrier around Brünnhilde’s tomb was too complicated to describe properly to anyone who has not seen it without taking many times more space than I wish to devote to it. The machine seems to work best when used to show the impossible where there is no firm indication of what is happening in the audience’s mind. Then it looks spectacular.