Wotan’s spear doesn’t break at the intended point, of all things in the premiere. That’s how it is sometimes with the tricky thing symbols that are needed for Richard Wagner’s “Ring des Nibelungen”. With others, director Peter Konwitschny doesn’t even rely on illusion when he stages the third part, “Siegfried”, at the Dortmund Opera. For the horn call in Act II, the horn player Jan Golebiowski simply steps out of the orchestra pit and engages in a comical duel with the Siegfried actor until the audience claps into the middle of the scene. Just Konwitschny, the anti-illusionist, the humorist, the old master, highly decorated especially for his Wagner productions.
Wagner’s “Siegfried” in Dortmund – Culture
