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Wotan, the Incestuous Monster! Bayreuth
Festspielhaus
07/27/2025 - & August 16, 2025
Richard Wagner: Die Walküre
Tomasz Konieczny (Wotan), Jennifer Holloway (Sieglinde), Michael Spyres (Siegmund), Christa Mayer (Fricka, Schwertleite), Vitalij Kowaljow (Hunding), Catherine Foster (Brünnhilde), Margaret Plummer (Waltraute), Catherine Woodward (Gerhilde), Dorothea Herbert (Helmwige), Brit‑Tone Müllertz (Ortlinde), Alexandra Ionis (Siegrune), Marie Henriette Reinhold (Grimgerde), Noa Beinart (Rossweisse), Igor Schwab (Grane)
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Simone Young (conductor)
Valentin Schwarz (Stage Director), Andrea Cozzi (Sets), Andy Besuch (Costumes), Reinhard Taub, Nicol Hungsberg (Lighting), Luis August Krawen (Videography), Konrad Kuhn (Dramaturgy)
T. Konieczny, C. Foster (© Enrico Nawrath)
I was eagerly awaiting this, the second episode of the family saga dreamt up by Austrian director Valentin Schwarz. Despite several troubling aspects inherent in transporting a story of Norse gods to fit the foibles of present‑day family feuds, one felt compassion for the lives of these dysfunctional characters. In Das Rheingold, seen the previous day, making the Nibelungen the trailer‑park wing of the family seemed like a valid device to explain visceral animosities and hatreds. Masonic symbolism introduced through a luminescent pyramid in a glass box in lieu of Walhalla was both absurd and disturbing. Most disturbing is that incest and pedophilia seemed to be the norm for Wotan and his corrupt, criminal nouveau riche family. The incestuous relationship between siblings Siegmund and Sieglinde is an important part of the original story, but they are demigods and not mere mortals which is somewhat less offensive. Moreover, the few sexual trysts by Wotan, god of gods, in the original story, are all too pervasive in Schwarz’s staging, and they’re all incestuous.
The first act opens in Sieglinde and Hunding’s home that is either a sloppy dwelling of Appalachian hillbillies or a modest home seriously damaged by some climatic catastrophe. Siegmund enters seeking shelter and encounters Sieglinde, who is already pregnant. In the original story, she elopes with her long lost brother Siegmund and becomes pregnant by him. We will later conclude that the father of her baby is none other than her father, Wotan!
Strangely enough, as Sieglinde prepares her suitcase to run away, she also grabs the luminescent Masonic pyramid. Why redneck Hunding would be the guardian of such a precious object remains an unsolved mystery. Siegmund and Sieglinde hit it off and eventually figure out they are long lost siblings.
As we go into the passage “Winterstürme,” the pair channel the mysterious pyramid’s energy and the sets change to Wotan’s stately home and the adjacent spotless rooms of the two siblings when they were children, a welcome change from Hunding’s repellent dwelling.
The second act opens in Wotan’s living room, elegantly furnished with Poltrona Frau and B&B Italia high‑end furniture. The wake of Freia takes place with sobbing members of the clan paying homage. Later in the act, eight young girls, representing a future generation of Valkyries, also come to mourn Freia. It is is to be noted that Freia does not die in the original story. Here the trauma of her capture by Fafner and Fasolt must have taken a toll that caused her death or suicide. After the scene between Fricka and Wotan, Fricka remains during part of the scene between Wotan and Brünnhilde. The latter arrives with an assistant/ boy toy in lieu of her horse Grane. In this updated version, horses are obsolete but sexy young men are not.
Hunding is present in Wotan’s living room during Fricka’s reprimanding of Wotan, a valid modification, as he and Fricka are on the same wavelength. He is treated by Fricka with the contempt typical of the nouveaux riches toward their poorer relations. Fricka pours plenty of sugar in his coffee, as this is how the lower classes drink theirs. Siegmund is murdered by his own father Wotan rather than Hunding. No spear is used, but in its place a pistol, a befitting update for the gangster family. Unlike the usual ending of Act II, Hunding is not killed by Wotan but merely dismissed.
In Act III, the Valkyries are at a cosmetic surgery clinic. All eight have bandages indicating recent procedures. Like Brünnhilde, in lieu of steeds they have studs, handsome gigolos. As most of the singers were rather large and some tall, with faces partially covered by bandages, they resembled transvestites at a drag meet. This was dramatically ineffective, but welcome comic relief. Having attended scores of Die Walküres, this was the first time I laughed during this usually riveting scene. In addition to cosmetic surgery and gigolos, these Valkyries are avid shoppers of shoes, watches, jewelry and electronic gadgets. Given that gangster nouveau riche Wotan is their progenitor, their trashy behaviour comes as no surprise.
Brünnhilde arrives with Sieglinde and her baby, seeking her sister’s help. As the baby is not Siegmund’s but conceived earlier, it’s already been delivered (unlike in the original story). It becomes clear that the disgusting Wotan is the child’s father (as well as grandfather) when he drops Sieglinde’s panties and attempts to rape her. Somebody shoot that creep please!
Given that the waiting room of a cosmetic clinic was the setting of the intense final scene between Wotan and Brünnhilde, much of the mood was disturbed. Despite wonderful singing by Tomasz Konieczny and Catherine Foster, this scene has rarely felt so long. Loge ignites a lighter in lieu of a magical fire to surround a sleeping Brünnhilde. After creepy Wotan gives his daughter a passionate non‑fatherly kiss, the latter simply dismisses him and leaves with her handsome beau (aka Grane).
Schwarz’s best idea came at the very end of the opera: as Fricka comes to celebrate her victory with a bottle of an excellent vintage. A reluctant Wotan pours his glass on the floor, takes off his wedding ring and puts it in the glass, giving it to Fricka. He takes a hat from the same tray, puts it on and leaves; Wotan has already become the Wanderer.
Had it not been for the excellent singing and orchestra, it would have been hard to survive this sordid family drama. As Schwarz’s modifications became more revolting, the singing and conducting miraculously improved.
While Simone Young did not seem inspired the day before, she was on fire for this Die Walküre: no overly loud moments or routinely conducted passages here. She was perfectly paced in the opening of Act III with the Valkyries bickering in the cosmetic surgery clinic. The final scene between Wotan and Brünnhilde was a dramatic musical apotheosis, despite the unappealing visuals.
Two singers that did not impress the previous evening were at their best here, Christa Mayer as Fricka, and Tomasz Konieczny as Wotan. Both were more expressive and subtle. Mayer’s wobble was not as noticeable, and her acting, more than adequate in Das Rheingold, was more subtle. She was not only a nagging virago, but also a first-rate conniving matriarch.
Konieczny, whose role is much more substantial here, was electrifying. Despite the antics imposed by Schwarz’s incest‑driven staging, he somehow managed to be affecting. Except for a few moments in the final scene, Konieczny did not sing too loudly as he had done the day before. His Act III’s “ Wo ist Brünnhild’, wo ist die Verbrecherin?” was appropriately threatening without being too loud. In the pivotal “Leb’ wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!” in the final scene, he sang softly, beautifully and expressively.
Heard a few years back as Ramfis in Aida in Verona, Ukrainian bass Vitalij Kowaljow was a menacing Hunding, wisely avoiding excess. He behaved like a wife‑abusing scoundrel but mercifully did not bark. He perfectly acted the deferential poorer relative in his appearance in Act II, in Fricka’s living room.
Heard in Der fliegende Holländer in Dresden last summer, Jennifer Holloway was an incandescent Senta. Her lirico spinto soprano was also ideal for Sieglinde. Endowed with brilliant high notes, she also sports a strong middle and lower register that she uses to nuance her interpretation. Hearing her bright high notes, one can hardly conceive that the American singer started as a mezzo. In addition to her beautiful voice, Holloway is convincingly expressive and a brilliant actress. Her Sieglinde was truly moving, a perpetual victim, whether by her brutal husband Hunding or her incestuous monster of a father, Wotan. One could feel her brief joy in her Act I duet with Siegmund, “Du bist der Lenz.”
Michael Spyres was highly anticipated as Siegmund. This bel canto tenor, together with John Osborn, are the princes of French grand opéra and bel canto. As far as I know, never before has a tenor who delights as Tonio in La Fille du regiment (onstage, not in studio) sung Siegmund and this, in the holy shrine of Wagnerian singing, Bayreuth. Spyres enjoys a wide register and a masterful technique to match in this new role. He impressed with his clear phrasing, bright high notes and expressiveness. Contrary to some expectations, his voice was not too thin for Siegmund.
The star of the show is of course the title role, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, who sings during much of Acts II & III. Heard earlier this season as Barak’s wife (Die Färberin) in Die Frau ohne Schatten in Berlin, Britain’s Catherine Foster is a true dramatic soprano who faced no challenge in either demanding role. Her powerful voice was incisive, dominating the opera. Despite the role’s demands, she never sacrificed expressiveness. She was captivating in her scene with Sieglinde and devastatingly affecting in her final scene with Wotan.
Alas, Schwarz’s intentions were mostly to shock. I had welcomed the rereading of the story in Das Rheingold, but here we have blatant horror: Sieglinde’s panties and Wotan’s attempted rape of the disheveled exhausted woman (his own daughter that he had impregnated), was simply too much to bear. This monster is beyond redemption. At this juncture, one only wishes to fast‑forward and burn the place down, along with its seedy characters.
Ossama el Naggar
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