Success with Wagner's imposing Nordic good has a possible downside that singers before Howard have had to face: given the shortage of great
Wotans, will he be typecast?
Critic Edward Seckerson reckons Bryn, who has already proved himself to be a great Wagnerian and
Wotan, is showing all the signs of becoming a legendary one.
She fails and
Wotan imprisons the Valkyrie on a rock surrounded by flame.'
The opera ends with some of the most moving music ever composed, as
Wotan intones his farewell to BrE-nnhilde.
Inset: Bryn as
Wotan - a role he will perform in Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera House this autumn
Wotan's only concession to his beloved daughter is that this man will be something special, having fought his way through a ring of fire for her love (the 'To be continued' aspect of this section of the story).
The Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel sang
Wotan beautifully, as he always does.
In Rheingold, the god
Wotan's motives in taking the Ring from Alberich are far from simple.
Instead of the usual rock,
Wotan beds Brunnhilde on one of the washing tables, a prosaic finale.
Foster seems to believe that the presence of narrative is itself an epic feature, and he complains about the repetition involved in narrations in the Ring which go over past incidents which the audience has seen; this is to ignore the compelling power and deep meaning of the music in, for example,
Wotan's or Waltraute's narratives (56).
With: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birol Unel, Anna Bederke, Pheline Roggan, Lucas Gregorowicz, Dorka Gryllus,
Wotan Wilke Moehring, Demir Gokgol, Monica Bleibtreu, Udo Kier, Marc Hosemann, Cem Akin, Catrin Striebeck, Jan Fedder, Julia Wachsmann, Markus Imboden, Gudrun Egner.
But is it Allah, The White Goddess,
Wotan, Krishna, or Yahweh who provides the best way forward when creating a numerical framework for interpreting quantum entanglement, quantum tunneling, or wave-particle duality?