Melbourne Opera Die Walküre

We are lucky here in Melbourne to have Melbourne Opera and even luckier to have this wonderful company take on Wagner’s Ring Cycle. We had Part 1: Das Rheingold last year. I’ve written about it (belatedly) here. Now we have Part 2: Die Walküre. We saw the second staging of this production on 11 February 2020. The program features a Jeffrey Smart etching which he gave personally to the company’s Patron-in-Chief Lady Potter, presumably some years ago. A powerful image.

In her Director’s Notes, Suzanne Chaundy says her challenge is to portray this epic work in a truly affecting way. She says that too often the real and raw emotions are overlooked in the storytelling for the sake of a concept. I agree whole-heartedly. Some reviewers of this production have called it traditional meaning I suspect old-fashioned. Not a criticism in my book.

Chaundy goes on to describe her design (she always uses the Royal ‘we’) as epic in which she has adopted a deeply detailed performance style to interrogate every dramatic moment. She has successfully achieved this using every element at her disposal, set, lighting, costumes and directing. Squeezing every ounce of drama from the story is the great achievement of this production.

As she says while in Das Rheingold we have watched the renunciation of love in return for power, here the focus is on the power of love. The passionate love of Siegmund and Sieglinde; Wotan’s paternal love for both his wolflings and his valkyrie, their love of him, Sieglinde’s love for her unborn child. So many glorious moments – both musically and dramatically!

Right from the outset and throughout the standard of acting from the singers was outstanding – a level above many other productions. The set which built on the one used in Das Rheingold (which in the moment I had forgotten) supports the performers in every way. All of the spaces were open and ease of movement assured. All of them moved confidently, giving added depth to their characters.

Everything required of the story was in its place including the Ash tree in Hunding’s hut – which in many productions is either missing entirely or completely abstract. I liked the way it looked like a very old tree with a bifurcated trunk. Having the larger trunk rise symbolically up to the realm of the gods was an effective way to transition from Act 1 to Act 2.

The scene in Hunding’s hut can be a bit busy with people wandering hither and thither – often in the murky gloom. But here it all worked well and the lighting was terrific. I’m not sure we needed to see Seiglinde put the drug in Hunding’s drink but no harm done. I was particularly pleased we didn’t have any overt violence done to Sieglinde; lots of modern productions want to see her physically assaulted but there’s no need for anything further than the I belong to Hunding which says it all.

I was also pleased that the dawning love between the two siblings emerged through their increasingly intent glances. This is consistent with Wagner’s wishes and I’ve never seen it done so clearly as here. In the very first Ring Cycle I saw, in Adelaide in 1998 (see my blog here) perversely the singers were instructed not to look at each other, and they didn’t even when declaring undying love for each other!

As ever I don’t feel confident enough to critique the singing. All of it was fine by me. For more nuanced and knowledgeable responses to the strengths and weaknesses of the singers and the orchestra check out the reviews I’ve linked to below. I thought the Melbourne Opera orchestra was, as usual, wonderful under the baton of Wagner expert Anthony Negus. Lots of spine tingling moments.

Having seen Lee Abrahmsen in a number of Melbourne Opera Wagner productions I expected her to be a great Sieglinde and she was. Here she is discovering Siegmund exhausted. [Photos are from the Man in Chair review linked below.]

Bradley Daley as Siegmund was fine. The two of them have similar colouring and really looked like twins. I’m not sure Stephen Gallop looked mean enough for Hunding. His physique – tall and slender – was against him here, as it was in the role of Alberich in Das Rheingold. I didn’t find him really menacing. A bit tough on a singer to respond like this.

I was really looking forward to seeing Warwick Fyffe as Wotan. As with Lee Abrahmsen I’ve seen him in many productions and other roles. Notably for me as Fasolt in Das Rheingold in my very first Ring and his performance of Fasolt’s yearning for Freia was so moving I’ve felt fondly for him ever since! Even in his celebrated role as Alberich in the Melbourne Ring! I wondered how he would go as Wotan as his physical characteristics to my mind fit Alberich better than the all powerful God of the Universe. But he was terrific – and right from his initial appearance on stage. His acting was superb but it was his singing that ensured his performance was the stand-out in the whole drama. He modulated his singing perfectly; assuming all of the different tones required at all the right moments – contemplative, wheedling, majestic, furious. Wonderful. Here he is at the end of the opera – magnificent.

The three great dialogue scenes in Act 2 were all splendid. They can be difficult to portray and it has taken me many performances to really understand the nuances of these very complex arguments. As is probably evident I think many directors clutter them up with too much walking and gesturing or too intrusive settings. Here all of the elements came together perfectly – simple set, terrific costumes, sensitive acting and great singing.

Sarah Sweeting was a terrific Fricka, looking fabulous and singing beautifully. Fricka can be hard to make sympathetic but here we were shown clearly the logic of her position. Imperious in her victory but also vulnerable. And Zara Barrett was a fine Brunnhilde. She looked a bit like a friend which was a tiny bit distracting. Perhaps the black hair, which for me at any rate was unusual and she was very tall. Great costume.

My favourite scenes were all carried off completely successfully. The Annunciation; where Brunnhilde appears to Siegmund announcing his death was perfectly arranged with all of the characters in the right place. Such majestically solemn music. Beautifully paced, and sung.

The Ride of the Valkyries is not one of my favourite scenes and can often be ruined by ridiculous costumes and heroes being heaved aloft and goodness knows what. But here it was well done. The two trapeze artists who appeared in Das Rheingold as cavorting Rheinmaidens were back as two valkyries astride horses careening through the heavens above their eight sisters below. (I’m not sure whether the performers were the same, but the concept was). Fantastic music and great singing by all of the Valkyries. I didn’t think we needed to see any heroes but there weren’t too many being bundled up and over the rocks on stage. Here’s a picture of the Valkyries aghast at discovering Brunnhilde has brought a woman to them instead of a hero.

Another of my favourite moments is when Sieglinde, told by Brunnhilde she is pregnant, launches into Glorious Woman. This can sometimes be rushed and muddied by the presence of all the Valkyries but here Lee Abrahmsen was centre stage bursting into life and her performance was spine tingling.

The culmination of the whole drama in Wotan’s Farewell was everything one could wish for. The back and forth of the complex dialogue between Wotan and Brunnhilde – his anger slowly, receding, her horror at her punishment slowly turning to acceptance but with a proviso – was beautiful on all counts – staging, acting, singing. Here she is imploring him to forgive her.

The conclusion was completely emotionally satisfying. Wotan walks his daughter to the flat bedrock on which she is to sleep. He places on her breast the wolf skin he took from Siegmund. A nice touch, linking past to present and future – no doubt to be seen again when Brunnhilde is awakened by Siegfried. Summoned by Wotan’s spear red smoke – just as effective as the most sophisticated pyrotechnics – rises up to surround her. It’s all beautifully done.

There were three really innovative moments, that I’ve not seen in any other production, that worked particularly well. As indicated in the programme presumably all part of Chaundy’s commitment to bringing as much drama to the fore as possible.

At the conclusion of Act 1 we usually see Siegmund and Sieglinde take off hand in hand out of Hunding’s hut into the unknown; Siegmund with sword drawn. Indicative of battle rather than love. In this production after the sword is retrieved and spring has entered to its glorious accompanying music, instead of such a departure, we see the lovers fall into a swooning embrace, apparently about to consummate their union. Obviously sure of the potency of the drugged draught given by Sieglinde to Hunding. The curtain falls on their passionate kiss. A bigger visual indication of Sieglinde’s forthcoming pregnancy than usual and an improved ending.

At the conclusion of Wotan’s long dialogue with Brunnhilde in Act 2, during which he has recounted how and why he lost his eye, he snatches off his eye patch and hurls it to the ground. His patch was an unusually bulky affair that initially I found a bit distracting (though never as bad as Bryn Terfel’s strategically placed long hair in a MET production). But having it so obvious and then cast down worked to great effect. A visual signal of Wotan’s acceptance of defeat in his attempt to rule the world. Clever and with a relatively small gesture underscoring Wotan’s emotional defeat.

A third dramatic moment was the extension beyond its usual presentation of the conclusion of the Siegmund / Hunding battle. This is often scooted past quickly. Here we stayed with Wotan standing over the body of Siegmund, mourning his dead son while Hunding lurks in the background. Wotan bends and takes the wolfskin that Siegmund has worn in memory of his father. He then contemptuously dispatches Hunding with his spear. As noted above the wolfskin appears again during Wotan’s Farewell.

After all those superlatives, time to mention a couple of failings. First and most significant I thought the surtitles were too brief to adequately inform audiences unfamiliar with the work about what was happening. Short and sharp is good but these were too pared back. Most egregiously Wotan tears off his eye patch, I don’t think the surtitles reflect his telling Brunnhilde how he came to lose his eye. Maybe I wasn’t attending. But if so, a pretty big lapse. Also I’m sure Fricka referred to someone – maybe Siegmund – as a maniac. Not quite in keeping with the tone of the production and certainly not reflective of the libretto.

Secondly, perhaps a minor gripe, but really having the sword sticking so far out of the tree in Hunding’s hut was silly. And unnecessary. Sieglinde recounts how Wotan has stuck the sword in the tree up to its hilt. Why is that so hard to do? In the final scene Wotan is meant to place a shield over Brunnhilde so that when he finally gets to her Siegfried mistakes her for a man. So why not do that? Placing the wolf pelt with her was a nice touch but the shield should have followed. I’m sounding like a grumpy Wagnerian and these things don’t matter so much now, but I was annoyed on the night!

But that’s what we committed Ring Cycle devotees do – we notice the minutæ and want everything to be perfect. And this production by Melbourne Opera is very close to perfect. Here are some reviews that are much more expert than mine. And which contain photos! I don’t read reviews before I do this blog as I don’t want to be influenced so it’s interesting to see where we concur – and where we don’t.

Here is my regular, in these opera posts, Man in Chair blogpost. I find these reviews interesting, informative and fair and over time hope they help me become more knowledgeable about the nuances of the music. Another local opera goer I follow on twitter who writes interesting reviews is Paul Selar and his review of this production can be found here.

And this is another review from a critic who watched the production live streamed from half a world away – the wonders of modern technology. And of Twitter where this was circulated. Interesting to see how our local productions are perceived internationally.