Siegfried in Bayreuth 2022: The unlikely adventure of the drunken antihero and his shady caretaker

Andreas Schager's antihero Siegfried and Arnold Bezuyen's Mime made quite an explosive pair as they infiltrated the old, rich, and dying Fafner (Wilhelm Schwinghammer). Tomasz Konieczny returned as Wotan, and Daniela Köhler portrayed a heartfelt yet fiery Brünnhilde in the closing scene. 

 

Schwarz's Ring continued its experiment with the plot and the commonplaces of the Wagnerian myth, this time with Siegfried as an anti-hero. The opera began in the shabby backyard of Hunding's house (from the first act of Die Walküre), and the weathering made us think that years had passed and the place had since then suffered abandonment. Mime wanders around the house dressed as a magician after having prepared a shabby birthday party for Siegfried. A "happy birthday" banner hangs over the garage, the dolls in the middle of the scene, and the brash yellowish white-blue light would have been more adequate in a horror movie than an opera that is supposed to begin deep in an idyllic forest. 

Andreas Schager's Siegfried was all but the Siegfried we know. The battle cry with which he entered the scene with was not that of a proud hero, but a drunken man's gloating. There was no glorious hero, rather a long-haired, shabbily-dressed man wearing a loose T-shirt under a bulletproof vest, dark blue trainers, and military boots. We are not used to this Siegfried, but Schager's brilliant, warm timbre and carefree singing brought the character to life with a nice combination of passion and humor. Then there was Arnold Bezuyen's Mime, whose dramatic posture hovered between being Siegfried's shady friend and the victim of his bullying. The brightness of his voice was capable of a rich spectrum of expressivity, and his singing was natural, flowing from lyrical density to shrills to monstruous laughter. They were both quite an explosive duo: two blue-collar people chained together by mutual misery and mutual abuse. There were indeed moments in this act where things that seemed random, as if they were played on stage only to fill in the time (at times, it even felt strange that there was no sword where the forging theme was—and I do not usually protest about such issues), but the duo managed to sail through these occasional absurdities. 

The adventure of the two, far from a destined trip of the "chosen one", was rather something coincidental. How they reached Fafner's luxurious villa was a mystery in itself. Fafner (Wilhelm Schwinghammer) was not a dragon, but a rich, old, dying man. Nevertheless, he was not less intimidating despite lying on the bed, due without a doubt to his robust, dark timbre and the solidity of his singing. Next to his bed sat the young Hagen (actor Branko Buchberger). The Waldvogel (Alexandra Steiner), here one of the caretakers, hated Fafner with her guts because he kept trying to grab her. (She was more than happy when the old jerk finally died.) During the trio with Siegfried and Mime, her pure, cristalline timbre gave a nice counterweight and glow.

Cast from L to R: Wilhelm Schwinghammer (Fafner), Alexandra Steiner (Waldvogel), Arnold Bezuyen (Mime), Olafur Sigurdarson (Alberich), Tomasz Konieczny (Wotan), actor Branko Buchberger (young Hagen), Andreas Schager (Siegfried). 

Wotan (Tomasz Konieczny) and Alberich (Olafur Sigurdarson) were not quite opponents, but rather a tag team in disrupting Fafner's sleep. Wotan and Alberich's confrontation was a delight to watch: both had impressive stage presence, and their darker timbres with complementing textures. In fact, it was one of the most exciting moments in the whole drama, which at times fell apart because of the confusion created by an overload of supplementary details; the most annoying ones being Notung hidden in a walking stick and having no real significance, and Brünnhilde jumping around with a hat and a gun during the love duet. 

However, the representation of the love duet with a little distance and sense of humor was much appreciated. Other than the absurdity with the hat and the gun, however, the duet was totally enjoyable, and Grane (theatre actor Igor Schwab)’s presence added an interesting outer, challenging, and observing perspective to a what supposed to be an intimate, closed-in-itself dramatic episode. Daniela Köhler was dignified in her bearing and her vocal prowess, complementing Schager’s bravura very well in terms of warmth, energy, and freeness. I liked how human they both were, and also the realistic representation of being two strangers suspicious of each other. It was refreshing take of these two, which made them in turns very human. Cornelius Meister underlined the dramatic moments with a good understanding of the momentums. The energetic, syncopated moments of heat and the lyrical moments were brought together thoughtfully and organically in the sound mass. 

Siegfried in Bayreuth 2022. Closing salute, from L to R: Theatre actor Igor Schwab (Grane), Okka von der Damerau (Erda), Andreas Schager (Siegfried), Daniela Köhler (Brünnhilde), Tomasz Konieczny (Wotan), actor Branko Buchberger (young Hagen).