According to Wagner, Act I of Siegfried takes place in Mime’s cave, a refuge in the forest in which Mime tries to reforge Siegmund’s sword. Productions since the 1970s have tended to emphasise the industrial or the primitive in this scenario; Claus Guth’s production takes a domestic angle.Mime and Siegfried, now a teenager, sleep on campbeds in a squat. Mime has raised Siegfried since he found Sieglinde dying in childbirth. He pours the breakfast cereal for Siegfried, and takes the clean sheets out of the washing machine to hang them up on the line. Siegfried throws the cereal across the room, because he hates Mime. At the same time he is conflicted by the feelings of affection he has for the dwarf. He wonders who his parents really are.
To mend his father’s sword at the end of the act, Siegfried creates a fire in a hole in the floor, throwing in the bedding and some kerosene. He pulls the washing machine motor out of its case and uses it as a lathe to grind the metal; a saucepan serves as a crucible, and the washing machine case is the anvil on which he works the metal. He tempers the sword with beer, then finishes the bottle.
Falk Struckmann seems to find the Wanderer (Wotan in disguise) a more congenial role. He has recovered from his Sunday night problems, having only a little trouble with some big notes at the end of the question scene. Peter Galliard is a stronger-toned Mime than most. Christian Franz (Siegfried) was a little underpowered in the forging scene, but good enough.
The Act II curtain opens on a large picture window, looking out into a thick forest. Alberich (Wolfgang Koch) and the Wanderer swap insults and wake Fafner (Alexander Tsymbalyuk, as fabulous as he was in the first two operas), who has now turned into a dragon through sitting on his treasure for years (let that be a warning to you all). There is an atavistic thrill in hearing three deep, big voices soar out over a big orchestra.
Two questions a seasoned Ring-watcher takes into Act II of Siegfried are ‘How will they show the dragon?’ and ‘How will they show the Woodbird?’ Well, at first they didn’t show the dragon at all. He only appeared after being mortally wounded by Siegfried, in his original guise as Fafner. The Woodbird (the huge-voiced Gabriele Rossmanith) is Siegfried’s counterpart, in the same t-shirt and shorts, literally mirroring him in the window.
Act III opens in a huge library, with Erda (Deborah Humble) a librarian or researcher looking for lost wisdom amongst the books and papers. She is powerful and assertive, giving the Wanderer hell. The following scene, where Siegfried confronts his grandfather and breaks Wotan’s spear, also takes place in the library. When the curtain rises for the third scene we see an altered version of the dormitory where Wotan left Brünnhilde (Katarina Dalayman) surrounded by fire. Siegfried, the youth without fear, walks through the fire, discovers the first woman he has ever met, and is terrified out of his skull. The ensuing forty minutes is played with both comedy and drama. Siegfried is terrified, realising that he must grow up, and Brünnhilde warm, loving, fearful and resistant in turn; all of which is sung and played with passion and strength. Of course the audience went bananas at the end – the music takes you up and up and finishes at a high.
Again, the horns were the weak link in the orchestra, for example racing ahead in the Act III prelude. But the ‘Forest Murmurs’ were magical and Brünnhilde’s awakening was ecstatic, as they should be. People who think Wagner’s music full of bombast will be surprised by the limpid beauty in these pieces.
Guth’s direction has brought out the compassion and comfort that the male characters are both trying to express and receive. Siegfried caresses Mime gently after he has killed him. Erda holds the Wanderer’s head against her breast; Brünnhilde does the same with Siegfried. The male characters are not mindless thugs, but feeling beings needing warmth and comfort. Siegfried is a man who wants to love; Wotan realises that he should have loved more.
Part four, Götterdämmerung, on Sunday night, when there will be tears before bedtime.
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