Even so, it's still a matter of opinion whether they are works of complexly wrought artistic structure or something more akin to a drug. The operas in general spawned a huge wave of adulation throughout Europe in the second half of the 19th century and beyond. The Wagnerites were a social phenomenon in themselves, drunk on the composer's storming of the very heights of dramatic tradition and, according to Nietzsche (who had reason to know what he was talking about) reinstating the rituals of Dionysus from which ancient Greek drama evolved. These four Ring operas are myths turned into ritual if anything is.
The argument for opera-as-myth is elaborated in Peter Conrad's book A Song of Love and Death: The Meaning of Opera (1989). Here the celebrated critic claims that opera as an art form originated in a specific attempt, by a group of Florentine intellectuals called the Camerata, to re-introduce the worship of the pagan gods of ancient Greece and Rome into early 17th-century Italy. Ever since, opera has represented a sustained opposition to Christianity, championing every virtue except meekness, selflessness and piety. Its status as effectively an alternative religion was most clearly recognized by Wagner, he argues, and he constructed his Ring cycle, not as four conventional “operas,” but as “a stage festival play for three days and a preliminary evening.”
That “preliminary evening” is Das Rheingold, to be presented in Taipei next Friday at 7.30pm. The three massive main works follow, Die Walkure on Saturday Sept. 16, starting at 5pm, Siegfried on Friday Sept. 22, starting at 6pm, and Gotterdammerung (The Twilight of the Gods) on Sunday Sept. 24, starting at 3pm.
Central to the much-anticipated production will be the appearance of Linda Watson in the lead female role of Brunnhilde. One of the world's leading Wagnerians, she has just completed her debut season in the same role at Bayreuth, the theater Wagner himself built for the production of his music dramas and which remains the high temple of all modern Wagnerites.
At the time of writing there were approximately 200 tickets left unsold for each Taipei performance, at prices ranging from NT$900 to NT$2,000. For more information visit www.artsticket.com.tw, or call (02) 3393-9888.
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