Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Concert @ Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Photos courtesy of Dallas Symphony Orchestra

—Wayne Lee Gay

In 2024, does the world—and, for that matter, Dallas—need a fifteen-hour-long opera including gods, dwarfs, dragons, magic rings, magic potions, and magic swords? And, incidentally, one that calls for a larger-than-normal orchestra and a cast of thirty-three singers, all required to have wider-than usual ranges in terms of both pitch and volume? 

For enthusiasts of the music of nineteenth-century German composer Richard Wagner, and his monumental four-part operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, the answer is yes. And, for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Fabio Luisi, the answer also is yes. Over the past six months, the Dallas Symphony  (and an impressive international cast of singers) have performed the four segments of The Ring in performances—adding up to two complete performances of the entire work. Those four segments are, by the way, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried,  and Götterdämmerung. (Translation: The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods.) 

Attending a complete staged performance of the Ring at Bayreuth or anywhere else has never been on my bucket list. However, decades as a classical music critic and reporter in the North Texas region have brought  the opportunity to see each of the separate segments at least once in staged versions by the Dallas Opera and in concert versions by the Dallas Symphony.

So, with some enthusiasm—and considerable trepidation—I made plans to sit, listen, and watch the four segments of the Ring Cycle in sequence over a period of eight days on October 13-20, 2024. 

Here’s what I experienced: 

1) A superb musical performance It was, indeed, amazing to even realize there are that many fine Wagnerian singers in the world today (largely European, with a respectable smattering of Americans). Conductor Luisi impressively channeled Wagner’s vision. The orchestra itself was 99.9 per cent on target, with a few very rare and very slight mishaps. Lise Lindstrom as Brünnhilde the Valkyrie (who appears in three of the four segments) gave an unforgettable performance of her role. Mark Delavan  as Wotan, the boss god (another almost impossible role) was the one singer whose volume level did not quite come up to the other singers. And among the smaller roles, Tamara Mumford as Erda the earth goddess and Štefan Margot as Loki, the demigod of fire, took full advantage of roles that leave memorable impressions.

2) A solidly conceived concert version: No costumes, no sets; no metal-clad, spear-toting lady wearing horns appeared. The singers wore standard formal concert attire—gorgeous formal dresses on the women, all-black quasi-tuxedoes on the men, all individually suitable for each singer.  Krista Billings’ lighting design and Alberto Triola’s stage direction made subtle use of the space for some frankly thrilling effects. (The pipes of the Meyerson’s grand organ made a convincing stand-in for Valhalla.) Indeed, given the actual impossibilities of Wagner’s stage instructions, a concert version of this sort allows each audience member to create fantastic scenery in his or her own mind. 

3) An amazing score: Wagner was a bona fide genius in terms of musical invention and striking orchestration; he knew how to thrill with music alone. All classical music after Wagner may, indeed, be viewed in terms of either reaction against Wagner or continuation of what he started. However, brevity and musical efficiency were not among his strengths: for Wagner, enough was never enough, and passages that could have ended with greater impact often go on too far. Listening to his lush, passionate music for hours on end can sometimes feel like swimming in whipped cream.

4) A flawed work of drama: Wagner was a musical genius, but he was most definitely not in the front rank of poets or dramatists. There is, admittedly, an underlying profundity concerning the nature of power and love as incompatible forces in The Ring Cycle, but Wagner’s view of gender roles (albeit universal in nineteenth-century culture) and violent heroism are at times on the level of the fantasies of an imaginative adolescent boy.

Interestingly, Dallas Opera’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata played at the same time next door at the Winspear Opera House; a visit to that production reenforced, by contrast, the dramatic skills of Verdi and his librettists, next to Wagner’s sometimes amateurish handling of action. Wagner, who wrote his own libretto, all too often lapses into boring and expository dialogue; Verdi and other skilled dramatists show us what’s going on and makes sure we know what motivates and what went before, without having to spell it out. 

4) A complicated story-line:  Wagner based his concept on Norse mythology, but borrowed heavily from Graeco-Roman myths, traditional Christian concepts, Nietzschian philosophy, and even bits of Islam. The result may be regarded, depending on one’s taste and viewpoints, as either brilliant…or a hodge podge. 

One might observe that J.R.R. Tolkien used much of the same material, and probably borrowed consciously from Wagner, but with skillfully drawn characters and a constantly momentous sense of drama and forward motion. 

5) A thoroughly worthwhile project for the Dallas Symphony:  Whether one adores Wagner or simply admires his remarkable genius with some reservation, the experience of a live (albeit basically unstaged) version of a landmark operatic work was, for this audience member, an ultimately meaningful experience. 

And it represents a major and laudable accomplishment for the Dallas Symphony and for music director Fabio Luisi. Under Luisi’s artistic leadership the DSO has presented a wealth of contemporary works, as well as revivals of seldom-heard works from the past such as Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals. Luisi has done more to expand the creative and artistic reach of the Dallas Symphony than any music director since Antal Dorati in the late 1940s, and this production of a complete Ring cycle is another star in his crown.

WHAT: Wagner’s Ring Cycle in concert 
WHERE: Morton Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas
WHEN: October 13-20, 2024