Intro

Der Ring des Nibelungen / Das Rheingold

Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)

From 13/06/2006 in Ghent

• Musical direction: Ivan Törzs
• Director: Ivo van Hove
• Wotan: Egils Silins
• Fricka: Anne Mason
• Loge: Peter Bronder
• Alberich: Werner Van Mechelen

The ‘Vorabend’ of Der Ring des Nibelungen presents the general framework of the four music dramas. We are submerged in a mythical world composed of various regions: Walhalla, the elevated abode of the gods; the world of the giants, the Rhine with its Rhine Daughters; and the subterranean Nibelheim where the dwarf Alberich, portrayed with very human features, tyrannises his fellow Nibelungs.

By stealing the Rhine gold and forging a ring that bestows unlimited power on its wearer, Alberich undermines the social order ordained by the supreme god, Wotan. However, he himself craftily circumvents the laws and treaties with which Wotan has subdued a formerly violent society. However much Alberich’s blind terror and Wotan’s culture of treaties would seem antithetical to one another, the ambitions of those at the top and at the bottom of the power pyramid are very similar. At the end of Das Rheingold, when the gods enter Walhalla, Wotan’s power structure is already falling apart.

Team

• Musical direction
  Ivan Törzs
• Director
  Ivo van Hove
• Set design
  Jan Versweyveld
• Costumes
  Lies Van Assche
• Lightning
  Jan Versweyveld
• Dramaturgy
  Janine Brogt
• Video
  Tal Yarden
• Patricia Fox
• Music dramaturgy
  Piet De Volder
•  
• Wotan
  Egils Silins
• Fricka
  Anne Mason
• Loge
  Peter Bronder
• Alberich
  Werner Van Mechelen
• Mime
  Torsten Hofmann
• Fasolt
  Kurt Gysen
• Fafner
  Andreas Macco
• Freia
  Anja Van Engeland
• Erda
  Elzbieta Ardam
• Donner
  Julian Tovey
• Froh
  Wolfgang Schwaninger
• Woglinde
  Hendrickje Van Kerckhove
• Wellgunde
  Xenia Konsek
• Flosshilde
  Corinne Romijn