Wagner's Götterdämmerung
Peter Konwitschny (stage director), Lothar Zagrosek (conductor) – With Albert Bonnema (Siegfried), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Gutrune) – Staatsoper Stuttgart
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Cast
Albert Bonnema — Siegfried
Hernan Iturralde — Gunther
Franz-Josef Kapellmann — Alberich
Roland Bracht — Hagen
Luana De Vol — Brünnhilde
Eva-Maria Westbroek — Gutrune
Tichina Vaughn — Waltraute
Janet Collins — First Norn
Lani Poulson — Second Norn
Sue Patchell — Third Norn
Helga Rós Indridadóttir — Woglinde
Sarah Castle — Wellgunde
Janet Collins — Flosshilde
Manuel Garcia — A bear
Chor der Staatsoper Stuttgart
Ulrich Eistert
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Program notes
Performed at the Opera of Stuttgart, Twilight of the Gods, the last day of the Tetralogy, reveals another side to the Wagnerian mythology.
"Four operas, four directors." The response to this singular artistic idea is Wagner's Tetralogy produced in 2000 on the stage of the Stuttgart Opera under the direction of Austrian conductor Lothar Zagrosek and filmed in 2002-2003. The Rhinegold (the Prologue) was entrusted to Joachim Schlömer, The Valkyrie to Christof Nel, Siegfried to Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, and lastly the last day of the Ring, the Twilight of the Gods to Peter Konwitschny, a German of Polish extraction, a regular performer of Wagnerian works who directed Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.
Iconoclastic and experimental, this Tetralogy created a sensation, until this Twilight of the Gods. Peter Konwitschny brings together characters in suits and ties and others in animal hides, which reveals the Wagnerian mythology from an ironic perspective. However, he does so to explore things in greater depth and to recapture the truth of the Wagnerian gesture and not out of gratuitous provocation. The fall of the gods and the decline of the order they embody are real, so is the emotion.
Musically the conductor and the orchestra performed perfectly, and vocally the cast represented a challenge. Peter Konwitschny raises his head with joy when applauded by an audience seduced in spite of being slightly shocked.
