Re: Who is the greater RING villain - Wotan oder Alberich?

"Silverfin" <silverfin9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:20118156-24eb-4d19-a927-d4dcda7c499d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Feb 24, 4:59 pm, El Klauso <Klau...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
As virtually every character on the Ring stage is a subdivision of
Wagner himself - his background, his circumstances, his personality or
his fears about the above - I'd say they're equally villainous.
Perhaps Wotan has a slight edge, as he adds hypocrisy to the mix, in
addition to the less savory traits of the shorter, sneezing Rhine
diver.


Pretty much all the characters can be made to seem more or less
sympathetic depending on how they are played. For example, in some
productions Siegfried can be quite endearing, if dim; in others, he's
a repulsive little ****. I find it particularly interesting when
performers bring out aspects which take an unexpected angle on a well-
known (and frequently 2-dimensional) fictional or historic character.

Having a soft spot for (fictional) villains, I tend to feel quite
sympathetic towards Alberich and Hagen. Wotan is intrinsically no
better or worse than Alberich, just different. Probably largely due to
their different backgrounds and positions in the social hierarchy.

Silverfin


* original meaning, not bad swear word

If a singer or director presents Siegfried as "a bit dim" or a "little
***" then they have no conception of this character at all. One must
realize with Siegfried is, that when we meet him for the first time in
Siegfried, he is a person who has had no previous relationships with human
beings save that he received from years in the depths of the forest with
Mime. So the singer or director SHOULD remove from the characterization any
actions or actions which would depend on normal childhood relationships. eg.
with father or mother or any kind of experience at all with the opposite
sex. When you realize this combined with his probable age at which we meet
him (16 or 17) then his actions as we see them make perfect sense. Even the
famous line "Das ist kein Mann" which often causes laughter from the
audience, should actually provoke compassion or even a bit of pity for the
charcter at that moment. Richard


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