Issue #69
Last Update October 31, 2010
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Arts The Rheingold Curse by David Katz March 1, 2010 Sequentia, the Paris-based Early Music group, has created an awe-inspiring and eery work in its concert and CD set The Rheingold Curse: A Germanic Saga of Greed and Vengeance from the Medieval Icelandic Edda. Performed in New York at the Morgan Library as part of the Library's “Boston Early Music Festival”, The Rheingold Curse tells the story of the Rheingold, which Wagner used to such great effect, but is based on an earlier version of the myth told in the Iceland Eddas, the great Old Norse mythic poems. Since no written music of this period survives, Benjamin Bagby, Sequentia's Director, has created a work using other musical survivals from a slightly later period and whatever is known of the musical practices of the day. Combined with superb singing and a fascinating collection of period instruments, this resulted in a performance of great interest, historical value, and above all, musical quality.
The story is cobbled together from snippets of the Eddas to form a coherent narrative. A seeress tells of the beginning of he world; in the Lay of Regin, we meet the golden ring which forms the backbone of the narrative; the Lay of Fafnir tells of Sigurd, the hero of the myth, fatally stabbing the dragon Fafnir, who has been hoarding the gold, and understanding the speech of birds when a drop of Fafnir's blood got in his tongue; the Lay of Brynhild, where Sigurd first meets the Valkyrie; in the Lay of Sigurd, the plot is launched to make Sigurd forget Brynhilde so that he can marry Gudrun, Sigurd is slain, and the gold passes to Gunnar (brother of Gudrun) and his kin; various characters then die, some regretting their deeds, others not; and finally, the seeress returns to sing of the end of days.
The performance is done on a darkened stage, with only the soloists spotlighted. Instruments include swan's bone flute, made from the hollowed out wing bone of a swan, a caribou skin frame drum, wooden flutes, six-string lyres, and four-string medieval fiddles. The voices, not characterized in the program into soprano, alto tenor or bass, often have a weird, shamanistic quality that slides between registers. In fact, the entire performance has a pagan religious feel to it.
The music is unforgettable, the visual appearance is eery and powerful. Sequentia has created a unique audience experience.
New York Stringer is published by NYStringer.com. For all communications, contact David Katz, Editor and Publisher, at david@nystringer.com