The singers requested that this homage to war victims be added in the final performance of Twilight of the Gods.
Siegfried’s shroud was blue and yellow. The Teatro Real in Madrid has changed its staging for the final performance of Richard Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods, the fourth opera in the Tetralogy, on Sunday evening, echoing the current conflict. Siegfried, the everlasting hero symbol of freedom and youth, is the victim of Hagen’s plan at the close of the third act, after four hours of opera. The motionless body of Siegfried, played here by Austrian singer Andreas Schager, is taken away by a funeral procession made up of soldiers after the dastardly assassination, before being impaled on a stake. On Sunday, however, the corpse was covered in the Ukrainian flag, unlike prior depictions.
Symbol of human degeneration
The act, which has a lot of weight, is a memorial to the war victims sought by Vladimir Putin. According to Teatro Real, which was referenced by The Spanish, the initiative stems from the distribution itself. “The most moving scene is when Siegfried, the world’s hope, is deceived and assassinated behind his back.” And it’s for this reason that we wanted to convey a message of solidarity to our Ukrainian brothers and sisters at this critical juncture, when emotions are running high,” says tenor Andreas Schager to the Austrian press.
This Wagnerian opera, which tells the story of gods and humanity fighting their fate, has been reimagined by director Robert Carsen for a modern audience. This political and power allegory is much more relevant today. “The work speaks of mankind, of its ability for destruction and redemption, of how we may give the best of ourselves, but also, sadly, more often than not, the worst,” Robert Carsen said during the premiere of L’Or du Rhin, which marked the beginning of the Ring of the Nibelung cycle. “Human greed, ambition, and brutality are wreaking havoc on the world today more than ever.” The director never ceases “creating familiar individuals, not sci-fi fantasy” to get his message across. The recent upsurge in dramatic Ukrainian news has further added to this desire.
In Madrid, tributes and rallies in favor of the Ukrainian people are increasing. Like actor Javier Bardem, who was spotted last week protesting in front of the Russian Embassy. “I am here to express my condemnation of the Russian Federation’s belligerent acts against Ukraine,” he told Reuters, fearful that the war would result in a massive migration catastrophe.