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Rating: It's easy today to talk about cursed artists.
I think about what the newspapers have written these days about Amy Winehouse, for example; while respecting the mourning of fans and London drug dealers, I can't help but give a compassionate smile.
My thoughts go to someone who was truly cursed, Riccardino Wagner: to the face of all the unlucky sex, drugs, and rock and roll guys who thought they were so cool in the '60s and '70s of the last century (but apparently still do today).
The Twilight of the Gods is the fourth and final part of the Ring of the Nibelung tetralogy. For those intending to purchase the said tetralogy, I recommend the version on Deutsche Grammophon with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert Von Karajan, totaling 14 CDs plus librettos of the various operas; a purchase recommended exclusively for those who have already finished paying off the mortgage on their house or are eagerly awaiting their great-aunt to pass away to inherit the villa.
So, in "Siegfried," we last saw Wotan (who would then be none other than the Germanic name of Odin, I write it immediately to please all the metalheads of DeBaser) at the peak of his power; the Götterdämmerung begins with a prologue where the Norns, daughters of Erda, gather on Brünnhilde's rock to weave the threads of fate; they foresee the fall of the gods by Wotan's will, yet the thread breaks and the Norns, unable to engage in crochet anymore (the main activity of any respectable female human or divine being), disappear in despair.
Brünnhilde bids farewell to the blonde Siegfried (a kind of Maurizio Merli ante litteram but with a sword instead of a gun) as he is about to depart on a new adventure, and he leaves her the ring taken from the dragon Fafner as a token of love.
The first act begins with Gunther, lord of the Gibichungs (an ancient people who lived on the banks of the Rhine devoted to pastoralism and the worship of Manowar). Gunther had a somewhat bastard half-brother, Hagen, determined to stir up trouble who advises him to marry and have his sister Gutrune get married, and for his purpose, he obviously suggests the names of Brünnhilde and Siegfried. From here start the misfortunes of the two lovers among magical love potions (like those sold by Vanna Marchi and the wizard Do Nascimento by mail order, only that back then there was no courier and cash on delivery option, so they had to work under penalty of impalement), evil sovereigns, bothersome Valkyries and nymphs, and the contested ring, the cause of all evils, which continues to pass from hand to hand bringing misfortune to everyone.
I won't tell you how the story goes on because it's very long and complicated but if you've followed that junk of Lost you can easily figure this out too.
In the end, everyone dies (but we already knew that); Siegfried's funeral march is one of the peaks not only of the opera but of all Wagnerian art.
Siegfried is burned on the pyre and Brünnhilde, feeling guilty, leaps onto her horse Grane and throws herself into the flames as well. It is said that Wagner removed from the final libretto the last words of Grane which went something like: "There's no respect for horses anymore."
The fire spreads, the Rhine overflows, the ring falls into the water and Hagen (who evidently wasn't Esther Williams), in an attempt to retrieve it, drowns.
The ring is recovered and saved by the nymphs while the fire also invades Valhalla, causing the destruction of all the gods, who curse themselves for not having brought even a damn fire extinguisher to Valhalla.
After nearly 5 hours, if you have reached the end physically intact (with the CDs it’s not difficult but in the theater, I recommend drinking little and if you have a weak bladder, wearing a senior diaper to avoid making the whole row stand up each time) and mentally alert enough, you have probably managed to grasp the moral and message of the opera: if you are leaving and want your woman not to cheat on you with the first one that comes along, as a token of love give her a pair of earrings.
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