‘Die Heilige Linde’
was Siegfried Wagner’s 14th
opera. It was written in 1927 but only
seems to have received its premiere
in 2001 at Cologne Opera. Judging by
the libretto of this work, which Siegfried
wrote himself, his work seems to have
been rather marooned on the twilight
fringes of his father’s work. The work’s
overall plot is tricky to comprehend
as the notes provide a multilingual
libretto but not a synopsis. Unfortunately,
close reading of the libretto rather
over-exposes you to Siegfried’s overblown
rhetoric and clunky dramaturgy.
So that you can get
a feel for the opera, I summarise the
plot roughly as follows:-
Act 1: Arbogast,
King of a German tribe, has cut down
the Holy Linden tree because it is in
the way of his view, Count Ekhart protests.
Arbogast is being wooed by the Roman
Philo who wants to make him a client
Emperor of the Romans. Philo tells one
of his men to kill Ekhart. Arbogast’s
Queen, Hildegard, is less enamoured
of the Romans and their gifts. Fritigern,
a prince from a neighbouring tribe has
come secretly to try and view Siegrun,
Arbogast’s sister, who he is to marry.
The tribe celebrates
the feast of Nerthus where statue of
the goddess is taken for a bathe. As
no-one is allowed to see the goddess,
two prisoners of war do the act and
then are executed, but Arbogast decries
the whole proceedings only to be shouted
down by his wife.
The prince Fritigern
mistakes Hildegard for Siegrun and falls
in love with Hildegard, only to discover
his mistake. A woman is stoned for adultery
and the Roman Philo realises that Fritigern
is in love with Hildegard. As Arbogast
and Hildegard leave for Rome, Ekhart’s
murdered body is brought on.
Act 2: In Rome,
Philo primes his men to be sycophantic
to Arbogast. Philo is in serious debt
and his popularity is in decline so
he has arranged for a revolt to be staged
against himself.
Philo entertains
Arbogast and Hildegard but Hildegard
refuses to wear Roman costume. The mock
revolt happens and makes Philo a hero.
They all go off to the Circus, but Hildegard
refuses. Hildegard is unhappy at Arbogast’s
seduction by the Romans. At the Circus
Fritigern has rescued a Christian woman
from the lions and he comes on carrying
her and gives her to Hildegard’s women.
Philo pretends there
is a conspiracy against Arbogast and
persuades Fritigern to take Hildegard
away for safekeeping and then he tells
Arbogast that they have run off together.
He tempts Arbogard with the girl Autonoe
Act 3: Arbogast
is back in Germany with Autonoe. Antenor,
a fisherman from Autonoe’s village appears
and reminds her of their past times.
She runs away with him. Hildegard’s
father has united with Fritigern and
the two tribes are attacking Arbogast’s
tribe. Arbogast asks the Romans for
help and Philo agrees in exchange for
a substantial grant of territory; Arbogast
finally realises that Philo is deceitful.
Hildegard’s serving woman tells him
where she has hidden Arbogast and Hildegard’s
son and that the child is plagued by
visits from Hildegard’s ghost.
In the hut where
Arbogast and Hildegard’s son is hidden,
Hildegard sings to the child. The maid
lets Arbogast and the serving woman,
Gundelind in. Arbogast and Hildegard
are reconciled.
Fritigern appears
and challenges Hildegard that she loves
him not Arbogast, but she remains true
to Arbogast. A procession appears with
Arbogast’s body as he has fallen in
the battle. Fritigern swears love to
Hildegard, she tells him to wait and
sings of the newly sprouted Holy Linden
Tree, growing anew.
There is a great deal
that goes on in this opera and there
are lots of loose ends, effects without
a cause and unresolved issues (what
happens to Philo?). A great musician
might have been able to bring it off,
but then again a great musician would
probably have tried to use a better
constructed libretto. The characters
are just symbols rather than three dimensional
people. Despite the Germanic setting,
the whole plot lacks the clarity and
simplicity of Richard Wagner’s plots
and his ability to imbue his plots with
the potency of myth. Only at the end,
does Siegfried show some understanding
of the nature of myth. The funeral pyre
for Arbogast is not the nihilistic conflagration
of his father’s opera but a fire of
renewal, with a new sapling replacing
the felled Linden tree and the promise
of a new king/hero (Fritigern) to replace
the old one. Unfortunately to reach
this satisfying conclusion, Siegfried
manipulates the plot quite badly. Fritigern
is called upon to do much unheroic lurking.
And after Arbogast has drawn his sword
on Philo, both Philo and the Romans
effectively disappear. As Philo is the
most developed character in the opera
this provides a fatal lack of closure,
but also undermines the renewal of the
finale as we, the audience, know that
historically the Romans were still lurking
in the background and that there would
be no long-term renewal for the Germanic
tribes.
The problems with the
opera are compounded by Siegfried’s
apparent reliance on archetypes from
his father’s operas, even to using the
same voice type. So that Arbogast (bass
baritone) is the king whose rule relies
on doubtful treaties and advice from
a wily councillor (Wotan); Arbogast
is also the King whose wife develops
a guilty passion (King Mark). Philo
is the wily councillor peddling double-sided
advice (Loge); Fritigern is the fallible
hero falling in love unwittingly with
someone forbidden (Siegmund/Siegfried)
and Hildegard is the Isolde/Sieglinde
figure, nursing a guilty passion. You
can push these analogies too far but
given that the roles are sung by singers
more or less suitable for the archetypal
roles and this leads to problems.
Much of the drama lies
in the dialogue sections which Siegfried
sets in a sort of continuous arioso
with a rather uninteresting vocal line
accompanied by often ravishing orchestral
textures. The interest, alas, frequently
lies just in the orchestra and the voice
lines do rather maunder on. The last
act is the strongest; especially as
he uses two attractive orchestral interludes
to fill in the emotional background.
The final conflagration is musically
some distance from his father as it
is based on a stirring hymn-like melody
associated with the linden tree itself.
The cast themselves
do very well with the music and their
commitment shines through. As Arbogast,
John Wegner is dramatic but I found
his voice a little strained at times.
Arbogast comes over as a rather gullible,
reactive character; Wagner hardly allows
us into Arbogast’s inner thoughts so
Wegner does not really have much material
to work with. Thorsten Scharnke as Fritigern
makes a fine upstanding hero. When Wagner
gives him some substantial material,
such as in his Act 1 aria after he has
discovered the woman he loves is Hildegard
not Sigrun, he displays a fine, flexible
resonant voice. Dagmar Schellenberger
makes an attractive Hildegard though
the vibrato in her voice becomes rather
over-pronounced in the upper register.
Volker Horn get the most dramatic meat
as the scheming Philo and Horn makes
the most of the role, creating one of
the strongest characters in the opera.
As Autonoe, Katalin Halmai sounds a
little too matronly and cannot conjure
up the seductive tones with which to
entrance Arbogast.
This is a well made
opera and there are attractive moments,
but it never really grips you. I wondered
whether Siegfried should have been writing
opera at all. The piece opens with a
Prelude which is a remarkable 16 minutes
long. This is an attractive, well made
tone poem that goes over the ground
covered by the opera rather more succinctly
and more interestingly. Would Siegfried
have been a more successful composer
if he had had the courage to break away
from his father’s example?
The WDR Sinfonie Orchester
Köln make the most of all the opportunities
that Siegfried gives them and play beautifully,
creating some ravishing textures at
times. Werner Andreas Albert obviously
believes in this music and imbues the
performance with that quality which
is needs the most – conviction.
Robert Hugill
WDR Rundfunkchor Köln