First and foremost they are NOT symbols or illustrations or decorations or abstractions. Actually, parallels are directly confusing! Leave parallels and interpretations to the audience! They should be gouged on a lapid in front of the Festspielhaus! Given Mr. Von Trier's demonstrated enthusiasm for depictions of women suffering cruelty and predation for the purpose of "redeeming" someone or something, it's always been my assumption that his take on Wagner would be singularly vulgar, or at best, obtuse.
The declared intention to strip symbolic or abstract resonance from The Ring's characters does little to sway me in this supposition. If The Ring would have been too much time and effort, perhaps Tannhauser or The Dutchman would be more his speed. Post a Comment. As most will know, this was supposed to be the Bayreuth Festival Ring, but Lars von Trier backed out.. Deed of Conveyance Plain as a pikestaff Having worked for two years on my now cancelled production of the Bayreuth Ring cycle I feel the urge to draw up a kind of deed of conveyance in which I describe some of what I regard as the fertile ideas and results I arrived at, partly in cooperation with Kalli Juliusson , the designer.
However, I have always had affection for Wagner: mostly for his music and the monumental aspects of his life and work; less so the singing, which I had skimmed lightly, regarding it as less accessible. I had the willpower and love, and my lack of operatic upbringing and knowledge was something I felt could be turned to advantage. To me, opera is a curiosity, whereas singing seems perfectly natural. On this point my view is probably shared by most other people who lack cultivation in this field.
It seems reasonable that we may tell stories in different ways, and that one of them is stylized, tuneful, and is known as song. But to populate the world in which a tale is set exclusively with singing individuals with no explanation given is a quantum leap.
So when faced with the Ring I was forced to draw various conclusions about opera: any stylization had to have a purpose. It was obvious that music accompanying a narrative could underline emotions and moods, and occasionally help to tell the story itself the way music is often used in films, as a rule without the provision of the slightest explanation for this abstraction ; it was thereby also obvious that the words presented by the singers could also be enriched in the same way.
