Wagner Project

The set of the new production of Wagner's Ring at Staatsoper Berlin "is the ESCHE laboratory (a pun on the Welt-Esche, or ash tree, from which Wotan carves his spear), where Wotan and his staff are running a series of elaborate experiments on human behaviour. There is a “Stresslabor” and a “Schlaflabor” (sleep lab), and an entire floor filled with caged rabbits (approved by animal welfare organisations). The set looks like a million euros, which is what it is rumoured to have cost. Room after room is exposed as the set slides, rotates and rises or sinks. All of the renovated Staatsoper’s state-of-the-art stage machinery is tested to its limits. The outcome is breathtaking.

"And Tcherniakov is right — the story of the Ring is also the story of one gigantic and doomed social experiment. Do you really need the magic elements to tell the tale? Tcherniakov does away with almost all of them. Wotan has no spear; Siegfried neither horn nor sword; Froh’s rainbow bridge is a magic trick with handkerchiefs; there is no Rheingold. Brünnhilde draws her own fire with chalk on the backs of chairs from the conference room before dozing off in the sleep lab. Her horse, Grane, is a plastic My Little Pony with a red mane; the Waldvogel (wood-bird) seems to have come from the same branch of Toys “R” Us, and is wielded by one of Wotan’s many white-coated underlings. There is neither love potion nor truth serum to account for Siegfried’s infidelity and confession."

Q: Why bother? Why stage the Ring in a way that makes the entirety of the lyrics nonsensical? If production after production seeks some sort of edginess by putting the cast in modern street clothes, isn't that choice itself clichéd and tired? If the producers have such incredible disdain for Wagner's work, why not simply hire a living composer to write something more to their obviously strong preferences?

Full review: https://www.ft.com/content/a5f68968-67cf-4f04-8259-b8fd3996b87f

TYR'S JUKEBOX
Wagner's 15-hour Ring Cycle in 2.5 minutes

Opera houses are closed all over the world, so this week's music feature gives you a concentrated opera fix by condensing Richard Wagner's 15-hour, 4-opera "Ring of the Nibelung" into under 3 minutes.

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/AgzZ_nLOJJE

For more mythic music, movies, and TV, subscribe to NorseTube: The Norse Mythology YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NorseTube

Happy May 1 to all!

FREYA NIGHT LIGHTS
"What's Opera, Doc?" (1957)

Years ago, The Norse Mythology page had weekly features including Tyr's Jukebox (music videos) on Tuesdays and Freya Night Lights (movies and TV) on Fridays. May 1 seems like a good time to bring this back!

We begin with the timeless tale of a tragic love affair between a noble hunter with spear and magic helmet (magic helmet? magic helmet!) and an achingly beautiful Valkyrie rabbit (in drag).

Watch it here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x35sg3h