Das Rheingold II - finale

Der Ring des Nibelungen, a famous production from Bayreuth 1976, recorded 1980. Heinz Zednik as Loge, Donald McIntyre as Wotan, Siegfried Jerusalem is also seen as Froh. Conducted by Pierre Boulez, directed by Patrice Chéreau.

[@henryquick724]

When I was little and getting to know music with our first record player, my dear old dad often played a vinyl LP of Wagner pieces. I loved the music then and still do 70 years later. I cannot stop playing this particular version…..it is stunning.

[@karloslargeros]

C'est quand même grandiose qu'un esprit humain ait pu concevoir toutes ces merveilles.

[@telephilia]

The full brass at the end gets one every time - you almost don't want it to end!

[@hermanzoon]

McIntyre is a great Wotan. Such wonderful singing from him. This entire production video might be the best musically of any we have today.

[@Albertino56]

Une représentation incroyable qui rend justice aux événements de cette journée !

[@georgiskanderbeg6923]

My favorite version , compelling ......my wife and I watched it after our 50th anniversary remembering 0ur years in BAVARIA

[@tmc359]

This is my favorite Loge, great singing and slightly idiosyncratic dramatic acting on top. Wonderful.

[@ric55]

I love this unusual production of the Ring. Zednik's Loge is a characterisation for all time. Loge-the only intellectual amongst the characters, with his ironic comments on Wotan's actions. What an incredible work of art, and what an achievement against all the odds for Richard Wagner.

[@ericdew2021]

Heinz definitely blows everyone out of the water. Not just the singing, but the portrayal.

[@AnonYmous-ry2jn]

I don't know the story too well, but the persona is that of a creepy but super shrewd lawyer who overpowers all around him (even those who are seemingly of superhuman heroic stature) by sheer cunning and craft with language and mastery of the others' vanity and psychological buttons). Like a corporate attorney who can simply toy with inventive creators and titans of industry alike by sheer prowess with the law. Is this what Loge represents as he banishes (by hoodwinking them) the gods to valhalla, and depriving the nymphs of their power by keeping their gold? That's the impression I have, not really knowing the story.

[@targetround3739]

'Rhinegold! If but your gleam still glittered in the deep!' They could be singing of so many things.

[@krischan67]

IMO the Rhinegold opera is the best part of the whole cycle. I absolutely love the mind-blowing ouverture and the finale I just can't hear the Rhinegold finale often enough, in particular the first and the last 2 minutes of this. Apart from that, Ride of the Valkyries and (the most epic part of music I know) Siegfried's funeral march. It's the superb acting and the awesome sceneries which made the Jahrhundertring grand. A flawless musical performance is mandatory for any performance, of course.

[@Nibelungenfrau]

so wonderful and great - I love the Rheingold - with Rheingold I started knowing Wagner. I love this part. Listening the fire's coming. Loge.

[@susannevollmer2347]

Die Aesthetic dieses Rings ist unangefochten unübertroffen bis heute!

[@WotansSpeer]

Great Heinz Zednik! Unbelievable!

[@ironwhistle3]

The best Loge indeed, and Mime as well.

[@clarequilty4962]

My favorite "Rheingold." Okay, Chéreau didn't have to make Loge an ugly hunchback, but Zednik's singing makes up for it. Did anyone notice the homage to Ingmar Bergman's "Seventh Seal" as the gods wretchedly march to Valhalla?

[@LibbySingsMezzo]

I loved Loge in this one.

[@matejhones3562]

Amazing

[@MarkyMarc78]

Patrice Chéreau indeed thought of Riff Raff when concepting "his" Loge!

[@MrTifossi83]

Extraordinaria Tetralogia, sin duda alguna, una de las mejores de los ultimos tiempos

[@CincyDude5]

The gods going up to Valhalla by going down into the stage. Sweet!

[@krischan67]

What a wonderful scene! Mind-blowing. Epic! Someone is not yet done with the gods!

[@neuIlaryRheinKlange]

Zednik is an outstanding Loge.

[@evangelion53]

This is so much faster than I'm used to. But my favourite part (the Rheintöchter) sounds transcendent.

[@RheingoldxxL]

Eine sehr schöne Inszenierung ... danke für das Video!

[@FranciscoFerrerGaliana1930]

Absolutamente maravilloso.¡¡¡

[@wotan20]

I agree Chrshonore. The music is of course majestic. In fact, it's the pinnacle of musical accomplisments in the 19th century. The singers' are richly deserve praise also. The rest of the production should follow their example, by providing a dignified authentic appearance.

[@cwingate438]

Interesting to hear Jerusalem before he became everyone's favorite Heldentenor.

[@rudolfsmolej9495]

Better here

[@Maddy4Me]

Thank God, someone agrees with me! You're totally right.

[@henearg]

Straordinario

[@krischan67]

4:02 - If it lives on victorious, it will make its meaning plain, that's the key of it all. Might is right, that's what it's all about, not just among deities. Loge is brilliant!

[@StCorentin]

Zednick is an awesome Loge.

[@AnonYmous-ry2jn]

What law firm does Lege work at?

[@Horichdaslicht1858]

In the light of subsequent productions, it looks almost conservative now!

[@CzarDodon]

This production was just a year after the film, and Zednik looks like RiffRaff anyhow, it was no coincidence and it fits perfectly.. good thing he didn't have Wotan in drag though :-)))

[@antoninomarullo8468]

bellissima

[@onceltom]

definitive!!!

[@richiedrr]

Wow. Love Boulez on this. What people do now would make Chereau seem conservative.

[@StCorentin]

@oriola26 Yes and at the last performance of this production in 1980. one hou and half of applause.

[@Chrysothemis]

@treefallingup Yes and no. The thing is, while Tolkien always maintained that Wagner was no influence on him, many of the central concepts of LOTR are clearly original to Wagner, rather than just being shared source material. That was my point, and I admit I put it very poorly.

[@ddk4506]

🎄

[@nosferatu101]

I believe it's a production that started in '76... but it was finally recorded in '80.

[@andywolfff4677]

Like Thomas Mann wrote who can a man so evil write such beauty

[@Trisolde]

Great, thanks for posting! May you post it here as a video response?

[@blechmusik]

That´s a good one from hoogestefan, isn´t it? Was haben wir gelacht! ;-)

[@jpstenino]

Deepfuge...i think you are right on the mark...also, my favorite take on this question has always been that Loge's ENTIRE self is twisted.

[@eulerleibniz1707]

Un pur joyau musicalement parlant. A mon avis, le plus soutenu des finale de Wagner et surement du répertoire , j'en ressens l'ivresse que procure cette musique en guise d'apothéose. Wagner est un génie, les superlatifs sont encore à inventer tant ce finale est grandiose. A l'instar du finale de Rienzi il donnerait la force, le courage au plus pusillanime d'entre nous. Je préfère taire par pudeur les idées que génère le tutti finale de Das Rheingold !

[@jgesselberty]

@2251813 The visual production has been placed ahead of the music in many newer performances. Every new production wants to make an almost anime-like production out ot it. Duh! It's all about the music.

[@2251813]

@bonanzagrade One can look deeper, perhaps one can write libraries and historicize the composer: but Wagner thought it was about Norse legend. Anyway I'm enough simply-minded to think that when they sing about Wahlhalla the audience would be grateful for seeing a Wahlhalla.

[@musikfanat]

I guess you'll be looking to be one of the Herrenvolk next...

[@jeremyruygrok9700]

Our Time is Coming 🗿

[@jgesselberty]

@platero55 Ha ha. Because the intelligent people who gave it catcalls just gave up.

[@CountAxel]

who let Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Show in here? LOL

[@Trisolde]

Calm down, please and do not use caps lock.

[@windstorm1000]

how one longs for traditional productions that actually honor the 2000 yr old mythos that forms basis of Wagner's incredible drama. but no, egotists like Chereau feel they had to reinvent the wheel and make this sublime myth into a Victorian drama--that's a beyond ridiculous concept--e Chereau's original production spread like a Hydra to other opera houses--especially, ironically, at Bayreuth which have become Ring freak shows--industrialist, bizarre, plastic, lasers, you name it--and to what purpose? does not enlighten the drama or the music one whit more! give me Otto Scheunk (MET prod--fabulous)--that man understood this story.

[@jgesselberty]

Wagner had such forward thinking ideas about theater, that I often wonder what a production, true to his instructions would look like. After all, we now have the ability, and more, to bring his dream to life. That, my friends, would be a production to be seen, and not the comical ones to which we have become accustomed. While the singing has improved, the productions have not.

[@loge10]

I love this production - but it may have set the way for Eurotrash productions which I mostly hate. I think this was well thought out and is very meaningful - not just a gimmick, unlike most of the new productions these days (like the Machine in the current Met ring). But then, I'm generally gloomy about most of the arts today...

[@blechmusik]

Like Kafka? Interesting....

[@FabioSpelta]

@gpfoster1966 LOL

[@andywolfff4677]

I just made a comment. You want a war vote Republican. I apologize for setting this off. But even my misquote asks how genius exists in evil. I'm not a scholar like you but the thought has haunted me for years. Again if I upset anyone I apologize.

[@andywolfff4677]

Don't do grad stuff in that so out foot note me. The point is a brilliant performance. Try Ibid and be nice. You do Mann? I don't. Just enjoyed it here without abuse; sorry. Loge draws the curtain. Do not respond. Do me a favor. You think you sleep with Mann? Get a life and a date.

[@diehgo_sp]

wtf

[@windstorm1000]

I just know there are millions of Wagnerites that feel the same way I do of frankenstein directors ignorning the composer's INTENTIONS and doing whatever the f--- they want in the name of their warped artistic nightmares. Why do they foist their s--- on helpless audience members who have to sit through 14 hours of their drivel (NOT the music mind you). Please write your U.S opera co.s people and tell them you DONT want Chereau flavored sets infecting Wagner. We, as viewers have rights too.

[@operacat1]

I don't think Chereau ignored the composer's intentions at all, I think he carriera them out faithfully. Zednik's Loge, what a brilliant portrayal!!

[@redabdab]

What an abysmal pantomime version this is. Loge trips over Wotan's spear, the playing in the Rainbow Bridge section is an uncoordinated mess of mixed tempi, and there are frequent reminders of Morecambe and Wise Christmas shows of the 80s complete with glittery costumes and shoulder pads. The music and the singing are excellent and interesting to see Siegfried Jerusalem's debut in a minor role (Froh) before he went on to much greater things. Just a pity the producers let the musicians down so badly. Wagner's original creative achievement was wonderful indeed but this is an embarrassing and unintentionally hilarious pastiche. Best avoided.

[@kahlmeyermertens]

The performance of Heinz Zednick is impeccable! He dominates the scene!

[@jdheather1]

I stayed up half the night for a week in '76 to see this stupendous performance through to it's amazing finale. First time I had ever watched Wagner. Worth every bloody minute too!

[@Damian-ni2jy]

thats so cringe

[@KosmosHorology]

@@Damian-ni2jy why?

[@Damian-ni2jy]

@@KosmosHorology who would stay up all night just to see this lame play? Find a girl or something

[@KosmosHorology]

@@Damian-ni2jy Cringe is when someone does something universally embarrassing or awkward. Maybe he’s just passionate about music, nothing you or I need to worry about.

[@stillstanding6031]

The Boulez orchestra in this production of the Ring shimmers like no other I've heard. Very well done. RIP Maestro.

[@operacat1]

So good to see it again after so many years!!

[@MartinL.A.]

Great ending! I love this finale of das Rheingold. This is surely one of the better productions.

[@unclealand]

This is a splendid Ring, musically and conceptually. End of 35-year argument. It even gives a nice nod to Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" the way the gods desperately link their arms on their way to Valhalla and their doom.

[@Houdi2]

A most interesting interpretation...Fricka's and the god's reluctance to follow Wotan to Valhalla. I guess that after the 'bad real estate deal' he made with the Giants the rest of the family doesn't have much faith in his leadership.

[@leofcpm]

Houdi2 It would be interesting if it made but a tiny bit of sense with the actual story of Der Ring.

[@SuperVincero]

Heinz Zednik ist für mich der beste Loge aller Zeiten 🔥🔥🔥 Ich durfte ihn erleben 🙏

[@ericdew2021]

Heinz Zednik would do a great Riff Raff if there is ever a Rocky Horror Picture Show opera.

[@Cephalopoda]

I wonder if there was some inspiration in the reverse direction actually.

[@yankeehatinactor]

I just stepped outside the Fordham Law Library (located across 62nd from Lincoln Center) and heard part of the opening night of the Met's new staging of Das Rheingold. Awesome.

[@geo3573]

Something I pass on to my granduaghters,

[@sabineb.5616]

Heinz Zednik's Loge looks and moves like Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show 😊 Patrice Chereau did this deliberately. Heinz Zednik is the best Loge ever!

[@ncbtube]

Fantastic. Also the Loge reminds me of Gene Wilder...

[@AnonYmous-ry2jn]

Bravo. Loge is essentially the modern hero--- a kind of uber-nerd lawyer, who is exactly in the same mold as the "Producers" accountant. I think that accountant is the point of the opera, the passing of authority and power from supernatural deities (Wotan etc.) and pantheistic nature gods (Rhine-maidens), whom the artist-lawyer Loge pits against each other (as a lawyer would, for his own benefit, while feigning to be a humble servant) so he can come out on top. He is supposed to be a a nerd who hunches over his desk and papers while less brainy "heroes," thinking themselves in charge, merely do his bidding and go to their own destruction by the disenchantment of the world he effects. A Gene Wilder accountant is a perfect image for this, except without that character's weakness. Loge by his brains likewise dominates brawny Siegfried types, and the overall dynamic in the most tragic ways imaginable was played out in Germany in the 1930s-1945, when Hitler and Goebbels and company tried to execute the Loge scheme in real life, banishing morality and religious authority, replacing it with their own barbarous, yet very cunning in its psychology and totalitarian methods, fascist cultural scheme. The German military (wehrmacht) aesthetic was modeled on "helden" Siegried; toughness, physical brawn and courage.

[@derSpuk]

zednik is the best loge ever!

[@bonanzagrade]

@2251813 , 18th century is about right. Surely you don't think this is about Norse legend. Wagner was a political radical. How about "Twilight of the Aristocracy". Marx was writing about the same time. Look deeper and you will like it more...promise.

[@theonewhoknocks6353]

I never liked this staging because it has no correlation whatsoever with the actual story.

[@ssbraga]

The pinnacle of Western music.

[@bronxbearbud272]

Sérgio Braga I have an open mind, so can you please provide some supporting statements to back up this rather hyperbolically claim?

[@leofcpm]

He doesn't have to provide anything at all. You can just feel the music and take your own conclusions.

[@punkheadHB]

Jawel, `wij´!

[@IrishClaudius]

@krischan67 You have Boulez and Chereau to thank for the quality and foresight - wall street valhala must fall.

[@jepcorp]

The trombones on this piece are THE pivotal instruments---with the horns carrying the melody beneath---truly composed by a master. AMAZING!

[@stillstanding6031]

I agree. With lots of help from Solti to be sure.

[@jcons114]

Why does Loge look like a cross between Laurence Olivier and the hunchback from Rocky Horror Picture Show?

[@sabineb.5616]

jcons, Loge looks indeed like Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Picture 😊 Patrice Chereau did this deliberately in order to underline that Loge is a trickster who doesn't belong to the rest of the gang.

[@cinziavidali411]

Magnifica rappresentazione

[@karldschultz]

Rheingold is in one act. This is the finale to scene four.

[@Brunnhilda]

I love wagner, I love Chereau!

[@benschroth7717]

Finest Ring ever.

[@MilikUrdap]

With all due respect, to me, Schönberg is a derivated of Wagner's theories... Even if there are differences between both composers's works...

[@2251813]

@bonanzagrade I was not offended, thank you for your comment. But I think that Rheingold IS an action story: perhaps there is more in it, but that comes AFTER. Too many directors try to go 'beyond' the story, and as a result the action is poor or uncomprehensible, costumes bizarre, scenes totally arbitrary and so on. Last week here in Milan I attended a Rheingold with a mimic ballet !!!!! Help! Save Wagner from eggheads!!!

[@Chrshonore]

I dislike the modernist setting and costumes of this production; in my opinion, the Ring is best performed in a truly mythological/historical setting, complete with real Viking armor and the like

[@deepfugue]

Wasn't Hephaestus (Vulcan in Roman mythology) labeled the lame smith? I read that Wagner's ring was a mixture of Greek and Roman mythology. As well, Loge is certainly burdened by Wotan's demands...too many arduous tasks could make a hunchback. This Loge is rather mimesque...fire and smth. But I talk too much, perhaps someone else will answer your good question to both our satisfaction.

[@DomesticImplications]

No they are not going up to Valhalla because they are on the bridge that leads to its gates. So they are merely going into Valhalla not up to it.

[@jgesselberty]

@windstorm1000 I completely agree. It was my understanding that Chereau had never even heard the operas prior to being engaged to do the staging. Makes sense. His staging shows he knows absolutely nothing of Wagner's vision. Why this and even more modern productions think they have to outguess the composer is beyond me. Better to stage it as a concert performance and let the music tell the story than to produce the ugly spawn of some clueless director.

[@2251813]

Ridiculous costumes, we're not in XVIII century. And where is the rainbow bridge, where is the Wahlhall they're speaking about?

[@musikfanat]

I guess you will be happy to meet Anton Drexler and Dietrich Eckhart...

[@donde2k]

Looks like a very cool production. Too bad we couldn't have had this for LA Opera's first Ring, instead of Achim Freyer's flimsy puppet show.

[@atomicmrpelly]

@platero55 It's probably because it's such a vast piece that conceiving a consistent artistic vision would probably represent damn near a lifetime's work!!!

[@Chrysothemis]

@doodeloo Kind of, yeah. Or rather, the Lord of the Rings is the Ring of the Niebelung in English.

[@Trisolde]

Of course it is - Deutsche Grammophon, use Amazon (Boulez, Chéreau, Ring).

[@andywolfff4677]

not very intelligent but i try! i prefer the solti ring but this was great.

[@blechmusik]

@hoogestefan: Mahler war Tscheche? Kann jemand diesen Blödsinn löschen?

[@Maddy4Me]

In terms of accompanying melody, it's my favourite line in opera. The modulation on "Pfad" brings me to tears!

[@nbeausejour]

one of the most glorious and powerful works ever. regardless of who Wagner was, this work is incredible.