Last night we watched Die Walküre at Staatstheater in Nurenberg, conviently located on Richard Wagner platz. What a treat to watch a Wagner opera in this jewel box of a Theater!
Wagner’s music was, of course, mesmerizing, but the theater aspect of the opera was impressive as well. We were curious about the experience of watching a quintessentially German opera in situ. Many aspects that may have seen corny or overdone in the US, like an industrial landscape and a beer-swilling Hunding, made perfect sense in Nurenberg. Oh there was stage blood! There was dry ice smoke! Frika was a ballbuster who shops at Louis Vuitton. Woton was majorly pussy-whipped. The Walkure were amazons with plexiglass shields. And when Siegmund pulled Nohung, Siegfried’s sword, out of the rock, it was extraordinarily phallic.
How we got to Nuremberg: bus and train from Speyer. (Okay so actually we missed the bus to the train station because it stopped on the opposite side of the street we were waiting for it and we had to take a €20 taxi to catch the train).
Where we slept: ibis Hotel Nürnberg Altstadt. Price: €55 for a double. Recommended: yes.
Picnic at the Cathedral 
Glad you liked the Walküre in Nürnberg. I know two of the singers who were in that production: Vincent Wolfsteiner, who sang Siegfried, and Judita Nagyová, who was Schwertleite. Both are now in the Frankfurt ensemble, and both have come as guests to my opera courses.
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You’re so lucky to know these talented performers!
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Opps, I meant to say that Vincent sang Siegmund, not Siegfried.
Siegfried is conceived in this opera, but doesn’t actually appear until the next one.
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