Wagner's Das Rheingold
Joachim Schlömer (stage director), Lothar Zagrosek (conductor) – With Bernhard Schneider (Froh), Wolfgang Probst (Wotan), Robert Künzle (Loge) – Staatsoper Stuttgart
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Cast
Wolfgang Probst — Wotan
Motti Kastón — Donner
Bernhard Schneider — Froh
Robert Künzle — Loge
Michaela Schuster — Fricka
Helga Rós Indridadóttir — Freia
Mette Ejsing — Erda
Esa Ruuttunen — Alberich
Eberhard Francesco Lorenz — Mime
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Lothar Zagrosek — Conductor
Joachim Schlömer — Stage director
Program notes
Performed at the Opera of Stuttgart, The Rhinegold abandons Wagnerian mythology to the benefit of an unsettling tale in camera.
"Four operas, four directors." It was as a response to this original artistic idea that Wagner's Tetralogy was produced in 1999-2000 on the stage of the Stuttgart Opera under the direction of the Austrian conductor Lothar Zagrosek and later filmed in 2002-2003. The Rhinegold (the Prologue) was entrusted to Joachim Schlömer, The Valkyries to Christof Nel, Siegfried to Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, and lastly the last day of the Ring, the Twilight of the Gods to Perter Konwitschny.
Joachim Schlömer, to whom the responsibility fell of opening the cycle, was trained as a dancer and choreographer in Germany where he was born. He has premiered a hundred ballets while also dedicating himself to directing performances since the nineties.
Nonconformist and original this Tetralogy was a sensation. From its prologue, The Rhinegold, the audience in Stuttgart must have been captivated by this intimist and modern approach which totally abandons mythological imagery. Everyone, from Wotan to Fafner, the maids of the Rhine to Alberich and Loge, is dressed in thirties-style costumes and the scenery, a spa in the art deco style (the Rhine is the basin…), is the same during the entire work.
Thus presented The Rhinegold is treated like a story in camera where the psychologically ravaged characters expend themselves in deadly rivalries. The singers, whose artistry is perfectly matched, blend perfectly into the dramaturgy, while at the rostrum Lothar Zagrosek delivers a contrasted and explosive version while retaining splendid fluidity.
