Wagner Das Rheingold

As a musician, theatre man and philosopher – what excites you most about Wagner? 

With my non-musical background, it remains a mystery why I started listening to Wagner as a nine-year-old boy. Which made me study German and immerse myself in the Wagnerian world to an extent that made me quite knowledgeable in this field. 

I call Wagner a “cosmopoetic” composer. His unique creative power is comparable only to Bach’s before him, probably, and a few writ-ers from the Western literary canon, such as Dante, Shakespeare or Tolstoy. Wagner wanted to return to the Classical antiquity’s unity of the arts, which the Greeks called mousiké (μουσική) – the Muses’ craft. This term signified the totality of the performing arts, and contained a profound metaphysical meaning, which is the essence of Wagners concept of Gesamtkunstwerk. Greek tragedy is its first testimony and served as a permanent inspiration for Wagner, who simply substituted the Greek mythological apparatus with the Germanic one. It is not by chance that this aspect fascinated the young Nietzsche, who when nominated professor at the University of Basle’s Greek department immediately expressed his desire to meet Wagner in person.

What is so exceptional about this production?

It is the first time that a “philological” reading of a Wagner score is not only performed in concert but put on stage. Speaking about the musical side, I like to turn to famous singers such as Lili Lehmann who at Wagner’s request sang a Rhinemaiden, a Valkyria and the Woodbird in the very first Ring, and Brünnhilde in the 1896 Ring at Bayreuth. From her recordings we can learn a lot about the vocal style of those days: the light vibrato, nuance, portamenti and so forth.

We also have a lot of testimonies from the world  premiere in Munich, 1869 – not authorised by Wagner but strongly desired by Ludwig II – and from the first Bayreuth Ring in 1876. We know the instruments and bows they used, and recent studies have provided new material about the 1876 concertmaster, August Wilhelmj, who also wrote a treatise on violin playing. Particularly interesting for us are his views on some principles of musical execution, such as the rubato, portamenti and the variability of tempi in general. With Les Musiciens du Prince we have already studied and performed German and French music from the late 19th century. Thus, we add another, important tessera to the growing mosaique of our repertoire.

What are we to expect from this performance?

We will take an indepth look at Wagner’s musical language, his articulatory demands and his original indications (for example the use by the singers of the “parlato”). I think one of the greatest surprises will be the difference in sound. Apart from the period wind instruments, the gut strings – which were still widely used until the First World War – will make the greatest impact upon you. Our sound will be transparent, maybe more coarse but radically different from the monumental Wagner we have been used to during the past hundred years.