Singing and acting are of a very high standard, with Sir Donald McIntyre bringing all his wise experience to the anguished, desperate
Wotan, Annemarie Sand a properly enchanting Sieglinde and Jenny Miller a fiery Brunnhilde.
As the company was about to embark on a new Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2007, directed by the brilliant Scotsman, David McVicar, it was in need of a
Wotan for Das Rhein-gold.
Wotan has already been indulging in some horseplay with his spirited favourite daughter Brunnhilde (Lisa Gasteen) whose defiance of her father will ultimately dictate the rest of the Ring's action.
Bill remembered reading about the Valkyries: they were
Wotan's illegitimate daughters, all with ridiculous names.
The other was the arrival of the foremen giants and their workers in orange overalls at the construction site of
Wotan's palace.
The opera has notable cast, including tenor Stuart Skelton and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek playing the incestuous twins Siegmund and Sieglinde while Greer Grimsley sings
Wotan and Philippe Jordan conducts.
It includes Stephen Gould as Siegmund, who was awarded the title of Osterreichischer Kammersanger by the Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture Austria in 2015; Albert Dohmen as Hunding; brass baritone Egils Silins as
Wotan; and soprano Catherine Foster, who has played Brunnhilde for six consecutive years.
Wotan slipped up when he did his deal with the builder-giants, offering them his sister-in-law, Freia, as payment.
Some connections are just proclaimed without presenting a convincing argument: In the last chapter, "Hunding's Horns,
Wotan's Storms, Sieglinde's Nightmare," Syer states that Wagner's depiction of the goddess Artemis, which he inserted into his adaptation of Gluck's Iphigenia en Aulis "initially influenced the basic concept of
Wotan's stormy presence in Siegfried's Tod" (p.
Jo Pohlheim's definitive Alberich and Mats Almgren's cavernous bass as Fafner have comparatively little to do in Siegfried, but Bela Perencz's authoritative Wanderer (
Wotan) illuminates all three acts.
woTan He made his debut as
Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle in 2004 at the Royal Opera House, prompting many to describe the singer as "fulfilling his destiny".