There has been a conspicuous absence of chat on Parterre about this year’s Bayreuther Festspiele, save for a few comments on the usual Skandals du jour (abruptly-departing conductor and soprano, to name two).  So with today’s 140th anniversary of the first festival, let’s instead visit a kinder, gentler place: the past. 

With the cancellation of the opening day red carpet and all VIP receptions out of respect for the victims, survivors, and family members of Friday’s lethal attacks in München, as well as the prohibition of the much-needed ass-protecting pillows to cushion the Festspielhaus’ barely-upholstered seats and generally heightened security, this might be a good year to stay home.

As much as I love the magic of Bayreuth during the festival season, I am not attending for the first time in 14 years.  I will, however, go to my first-ever HD cinema broadcast (your alte Jungfer, a devotée of DVDs, has to be dragged into the Kino) of Uwe Eric Laufenberg’s new production of Parsifal this afternoon (it is being shown only in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland).

Since I can’t take you all with me, I invite you to relive Die Walküre as it was heard in the Neue Bayreuth of 1952, still finding its post-war footing under the new management of the Brothers Wagner, Wieland and Wolfgang.

Wieland’s ground-breaking 1951 Ring Cycle ushered-in a new style of opera production, as revolutionary as the virtual invention of Regietheater by Patrice Chéreau with his centennial Ring in 1976.  Keeping with the Festspielhaus’ design and practices which focus all attention on the music, sets were downright ephemeral with a heightened use of lighting effects, and movement stylized and often slow or static.

Leonie Rysanek disliked appearing as Elsa in Wieland’s production of Lohengrin (which premiered at Bayreuth in 1958 and was rethought for the Met in 1966 where it opened just weeks after his premature death), as it was just not her nature as an actress to stand still for so long.

But Wieland did let her get away with the now-legendary “Sieglinde scream” in 1951, an effect not repeated the following year when Inge Borkh, a radiant young German soprano heard only in a handful of Met performances between 1958 and 1971 including a 10-year break, took over the role.

Returning to the production were the 34-year-old Astrid Varnay, in blazing vocal form as Brünnhilde, and Günther Treptow, an at-best-adequate Siegmund and the weak link in this performance.  Also featured are the intense, noble Wotan of Hans Hotter, Ruth Siewert as Fricka, and Josef Greindl as Hunding.  Joseph Keilberth’s conducting is red-hot, knocking off almost a half-hour from Hans Knappertsbusch’s performance the year before.

Although Treptow is occasionally a chore, do hang in there for Act Three, especially if you are not familiar with Borkh: her “O hehrstes Wunder” is simply ravishing, and we don’t get to revel in that glorious “redemption through love” Leitmotiv again until the final pages of Götterdämmerung.

Richard Wagner: Die Walküre
Bayreuther Festspiele
Joseph Keilberth, conductor
13 August 1952

Brünnhilde: Astrid Varnay
Wotan: Hans Hotter
Siegmund: Günther Treptow
Sieglinde: Inge Borkh
Fricka: Ruth Siewert
Hunding: Josef Greindl
Gerhilde: Irmgard Meinig
Ortlinde: Paula Brivkalne
Waltraute: Hanna Ludwig
Schwertleite: Ruth Siewert
Helmwige: Liselotte Thomamüller
Siegrune: Hertha Töpper
Grimgerde: Melanie Bugarinovic
Roßweiße: Trude Roesler