Where The Rhinegold (1869) ended with the creation of Walhalla, which brought The Valkyrie (1870) us straight back to earth. According to director Romeo Castellucci, this opera is the most human in the Wagner tetralogy. But is it really?
Together with music director Alain Altinoglu, bass-baritone Bas Gábor Bretz (Wotan), contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Fricka) and the extended cast, Wagner's first day of The Ring of the Nibelung (1853-1874) and the struggle for divine life, comes to life.
Divine greed versus human desire
The Rhinegold and its sequel are two sides of the same coin. In the first, divine greed sets in motion the beginning of the end. It seems as though the ring stands for an absolute aversion to emotion and feeling. Wotan alludes to this in The Valkyrie also hints at. His confession about the ring's existence to Brünnhilde (soprano Ingela Brimberg), his beloved daughter and Valkyrie, emphasizes how all of this is fatal – the gods will perish. The magic ring gold remains cursed.
The Valkyrie is not only about greed versus altruism – in this opera production, Castellucci regularly drew parallels between Wotan and Buddha – but also about duty versus desire. The human characters, twins Siegmund (tenor Peter Wedd) and Sieglinde (soprano Nadja Stefanoff), are the result of Wotan's lust. To the shame of Fricka, fantastically portrayed by Lemieux, who is the goddess of marriage. There's something repugnant about the enamored twins: the blood bond on one hand, but also the fact that Sieglinde is (unhappily) married to another on the other. With our contemporary view of marriage, this gives the production a special perspective. For Fricka, it's clear: the Wälsungs must pay – this for her honor as a goddess, but also as a woman. The theme of the tormented supreme goddess who pours her wrath on the consequence (the twins), not the unfaithful one (Wotan), is a motif as old as time itself (hello, Hera)!
The entire production is thus a collision between these philosophical motifs. This makes it emotionally more accessible as a matter of feeling than The Rhinegold". The gods clash with humans, and between them sits yet a third player: the Valkyrie Brünnhilde. She is the split between the two worlds. She is the core of the opera (concentrated in one character): conflicts with honor, loyalty, emotions and the consequences of life.
Hojotoho!
The Mint's production and Castellucci's challenge was to convey his mobile, playful – but also symbolic – style from the exalted The Rhinegold to the conflictual The Valkyrie. Did they succeed? For this reviewer, it's largely been well translated in this performance. There's only one moment where I wished it had paused for a bit. This would have allowed the vocal technique to take center stage: during the Ride of the Valkyries. The reason: this well-known moment in the opera – when performed with an excellent selection of Valkyries – needs nothing more, but less. And let me certainly emphasize: these Valkyries shone in terms of color and vocal technique, each in their own strength and simultaneously they also shimmered in unison. This was a goosebump moment. Bravo, Valkyries!
About this production it can be said that the female voices formed a powerful whole – like a mist with different rainbow hues. Lemieux as Fricka, in her brief moment of rage and divine divinity, was a vocal masterpiece. Her Fricka's demands lingered in the air. Stefanoff as Sieglinde – who is really just a pawn of fate – has a remarkably fluid flow from high to low, allowing her various tonal colors to shine. Brimberg as Brünnhilde has done justice to the role – both vocally and dramatically. Her full, dark voice is perfect for the iron-strong, yet emotionally moved, Rhine maiden. You expect a powerful, stormy sound from Brünnhilde. This was immediately felt in "Hojotoho!" – her Valkyrie cry. But at the end, at her fateful moment, there's precisely that fragility. Brimberg brought the complete picture with her voice.
I certainly don't want to shortchange the men – they were powerful performers – but The Valkyrie was now the battleground for many a female showstopper. The production was a spectacle to behold from start to finish. I wish Siegfried the same success story. Bravo!
- WHAT: The Valkyrie (1870) by Richard Wagner
- WHO: Alain Altinoglu (conductor), Romeo Castellucci (director), Christian Longchamp (dramaturg), Peter Wedd, Ante Jerkunica Gábor Bretz, Nadja Stefanoff, Ingela Brimberg, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Karen Vermeiren, Tineke van Ingelgem, Polly Leech, Lotte Verstaen, Katie Lowe, Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur, Iris van Wijnen, Christel Loetzsch, La Monnaie Orchestra
- WHERE": De Munt, Brussels
- WHEN: January 21 through February 11, 2024; viewed on January 21, 2024
