Curtain, gong, steam: Wagnerian technologies of nineteenth-century opera

Abstract

Two famous images from the fi rst production of Wagner ’ s Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth in 1876 are often reproduced side by side. One is an engraving after Josef Ho ff mann ’ s idealised design for the opening scene of Das Rheingold , showing the watery Rhinemaidens merging fl uidly with their surroundings, whilst the dwarf Alberich leers at them from a rock. The second depicts the reality of the scene seen from backstage, in which the less-than-sylph-like singers are strapped uncomfortably atop crude trollies being trundled around by stage hands. The two images exemplify Wagner ’ s frustration with the gap between his ideal image of his music dramas and what was practically achievable in the theatre of his day, despite the fact that he had built his own theatre, customised to ful fi l his dream, at Bayreuth. grease , ’ famous the ‘ mystic gulf ’ Wagner ’ s vision when, scene the music drama, with its sequence of unrealisable actions (Brünnhilde leaping into Siegfried ’ s funeral pyre on her horse, the Rhine submerging the stage, and the fi nal con fl agration of the gods in Valhalla), Konwitschny brought the front curtain down, and Wagner ’ s wordy instructions for the representation of fi nal Armageddon were instead projected onto the curtain, scrolling up as the music depicted the absent catastrophe – an act