Wagner: Götterdämmerung

Richard Wagner spent more than 25 years composing The Ring of the Nibelung cycle of four operas, with the libretto alone - as he himself stated - taking more than four years to complete. "The words float like a ship on a sea of orchestral harmony,” the composer said, and Götterdämmerung serves as the high water mark and denouement of the tetralogy, as the Leitmotivs of the previous three operas weave through the music, bestowing upon it the magical power to speak without words. Love and loathing, machinations, intrigue and Liebestod - the ring that was cursed in the first opera and caused so much anguish thereafter is returned to the water nymphs on the bed of the Rhine and the world order is restored. Valhalla, the hall of the gods, is engulfed in flames and the melody of renewal sounds from on high.
The arrival of the moment of catharsis naturally hinges on the authentic and impassioned presentation of the events leading up to it, for which a legion of world-famous singers already known to the Wagner in Budapest audience provide a cast-iron guarantee. Christian Franz, who first played Siegfried in Götterdämmerung in Bayreuth in 2003, has been a cornerstone of the Budapest production for many years now; Reinhard Hagen has collaborated with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Marek Janowski, Claudio Abbado and James Levine; Polina Pasztircsák won first prize in the Geneva International Music Competition; Erika Gál became a soloist at the Hungarian state opera in 2014/15; and Judit Németh achieved notable successes in the roles of Waltraute in the Bayreuth production of Götterdämmerung in summer 2002, as Venus in 2004, and as Kundry in 2007.

Performance in German, with Hungarian subtitles.