Sunday Classics: Presenting the patron saint of the banksters c 2009: Fafner the dragon sits atop his hoard of gold

Patron saint of the banksters: The giant Fafner, having transformed himself into a dragon, does nothing but sleep and sit on his hard-won treasure.

by Ken

When I think of the banksters -- what they did to the economy with their crooked deal-making, and what they're doing to the economy by refusing to behave like bankers -- I think of Fafner the Dragon sitting on his hoard of gold.

We're going to look at how the giant brothers Fasolt and Fafner came into possession of the Nibelung gold hoard, including the "Ring of the Nibelung," the potentially all-powerful ring fashioned by the dwarf Alberich from the Rhinegold, and the Tarnhelm, the magic helmet forged by Alberich's Nibelung brother Mime, which enables the wearer to transform himself into any life form. For now we need to know that after taking possession of the hoard, in the final scene of Das Rheingold, the "prologue" to the Ring cycle, Fafner murdered his brother and took treasure for himself.

Having taken violent possession of these immeasurable riches, what did he do with them? He more or less literally sat on them, just like the banksters have been doing with all that cash we've been shoveling on them, imagining that they would begin lending it and thereby help get the economy moving again. But no, they seem to be emulating the model of Fafner, who decamped to the secluded eastern forest and holed up in a cave, transformed (thanks to the magic of the Tarnhelm) into a giant dragon to guard his hoard. And guard it is about all he does, along with eating and drinking and sleeping. He seems to do a lot of sleeping. Twice in Act II of Siegfried he is awakened.

Because we have two substantial scenes from the Ring cycle to look at and listen to, and I'm not going to put you through them without texts, and just the English texts will eat up large chunks of space, you'll be relieved to hear that I'm not going to comment much on the proceedings. I think in any event the key to understanding Wagner is just listening, hearing how the music works and beginning to recognize for yourself the play of the musical leitmotifs, which enable Wagner to create a musical dramatization of the interplay of characters, objects, and ideas. Good listening also opens you the staggering imagination underlying the music, and the staggering beauty of the finished product.

And for once, glory be, we've got pretty decent performances of both our scenes!

* * * * * * * * * *

Young Siegfried wakes the sleeping giant Fafner
(Siegfried, Act II)

Since Das Rheingold, the grasping Mime -- a small-time operator who nevertheless has big dreams -- has abandoned the traditional home of the Nibelungs, Nibelheim, and in the very same forest where Fafner has taken up residence has assumed custody of the newborn Siegfried following his mother's death in childbirth. In another cave in the forest Mime has raised Siegfried singlehandedly, claiming to be the boy's mother as well as father, intending to use the young hero to wrest control of the Ring and the Tarnhelm from Fafner. (The crucial thing to remember about Siegfried is how totally innocent he is of most everything in the world. He literally knows nothing except what he has been told by Mime, which he has the good sense to distrust, and what he has been able to observe growing up in the natural environment of the forest.)

In Act II of Siegfried, perhaps the eeriest and most eerily delicious act Wagner ever imagined, the whole world seems to converge on Fafner's cave: first the god Wotan (now presenting himself as a "Wanderer") and his Nibelung nemesis Alberich, then Mime and Siegfried. The act is mostly a series of shadowy confrontations, lightened only by Siegfried's brief enjoyment of the natural beauty of the forest (including the famous orchestral "Forest Murmurs").

The stage representation of Fafner is always a problem for designers and directors. Wagner actually made a detailed drawing of how he imagined the stage dragon to be built (I tried to find it online but couldn't). In the Met production, still in use through this past season, designer Günther Schneider-Siemssen' and director Otto Schenk made him mostly part of the scenery.

SIEGFRIED ROUSTS THE SLEEPING GIANT

Siegfried (tenor Siegfried Jerusalem), left alone for once to enjoy the natural beauty of the forest, has tried and failed to improvise an instrument that will enable him to reply to the sound of the forest bird that has so delighted him. As our clip begins, in frustration he resorts to his trusty horn, sounding what's known for obvious reasons as "Siegfried's horn call." In this April 1990 Metropolitan Opera performance it's played -- very nicely indeed -- by longtime Met horn principal Howard T. Howard, who retired just recently, after the 2006-07 season. In this clip from the Met video Ring (see the audio and video "Quick Hits" below), bass Matti Salminen sings Fafner, and James Levine conducts.

(English translation mostly from this Wagner website)

Eventually [1:59] FAFNER awakens and emerges from his cave in the form of a monstrous dragon, emerges from the cave

SIEGFRIED [2:28]: Ha ha! So my strains
have roused something lovely!
You'd make me a pretty playmate!

FAFNER [2:38]: What's that there?

SIEGFRIED [2:43]: Well, if you're a beast
that knows how to speak,
perhaps there's something I can learn from you?
Here is someone
who does not know fear;
can he come to know it from you?

FAFNER [2:53]: Is this bravado?

SIEGFRIED [2:58]: Bravery or bravado -
how do I know?
But I'll cut you to shreds
if you don't teach me fear.

FAFNER [3:07]: I wanted a drink:
now I've also found food!

SIEGFRIED [3:21]: A delicious maw
you display,
trrth laughing
in a dainty muzzle!
It would be good to close your gullet:
your jaws gape too wide!

FAFNER [3:33]: They are not suited
to idle chatter,
but my throat is well made
to gulp you down.

SIEGFRIED [3:48]: Ho ho! You grim,
gruesome knave!
I've no desire
to be digested by you;
but it seems right and proper
that you should die the death without delay.

FAFNER [4:00]: Bah! Come on,
braggart boy!

SIEGFRIED [405]: On your guard, growler!
Here comes the braggart!
[4:08] He draws his sword, springs towards Fafner and [4:54] plunges the sword in him up to the hilt.]
[5:01] Lie there, murderous beast:
you have Notung through your heart!

FAFNER [5:21]: Who are you, bold boy,
that have pierced my heart?
Who kindled your childish courage
to this deadly deed?
Your brain did not conceive
what you have carried out.

SIEGFRIED [6:07]: There is much I still don't know,
not even who I am.
You yourself goaded me
to engage you in mortal combat.

FAFNER [6:27]: You bright-eyed boy,
who do not know yourself,
I will tell you
whom you have nurdered.
[7:00] Of the towering race of giants,
the brothers Fasolt and Fafner
both now are dead.
[7:30] For the accursed gold
gained from the gods
I dealt death to Fasolt.
He who defended the hoard
as a dragon,
Fafner, last of the giants,
has fallen to a fresh-faced hero.
[8:13] Keep a sharp watch,
jubilant boy;
he who prompted you in your blindness to this deed
is now, after your triumph, plotting your death.
[8:51] Mark how it will end!
Heed my words!

SIEGFRIED [9:15]: Then tell me
where I came from:
in your death, dragon,
you seem wise.
You will know from my name:
I am called Siegfried.

FAFNER [9:43]: Siegfried...!
[He dies.]

SIEGFRIED [10:06]: The dead can tell no tales.
Then lead me,
my living sword!
[Siegfried pulls his sword out of Fafner's chest, and his hand is wet with blood.]
Its blood burns like fire!

* * * * * * * * * *

The giants Fasolt and Fafner claim their contractual payment for building Valhalla
(Das Rheingold, Scene 2)

We're backing up now to Das Rheingold, the "prologue" to the three "days" of The Ring.

As our clip begins, the first of a series of marital battles between the gods Wotan and Fricka is interrupted by the arrival of the giants Fasolt and Fafner, a pair of brothers -- I think family relationships are important in The Ring, and are worth noting and keeping track of -- who may sound vaguely ominous in their lumbering deep-bass representation, both in the orchestra and in their voice placement: a pair of deep basses, but who have merely come to conclude a piece of business.

Wotan has engaged the giants to build the gods a glorious new castle, Valhalla, befitting the superior races he imagines his kind to be. This contract is so important that it is engraved on the wooden spear (carved from the glorious World Ash tree, which killed the tree -- but that's another story), which is the symbol of Wotan's power. The promised payment is Fricka's sister Freia, the goddess of beauty and youth, and already Wotan is in trouble, because it's a payment he has never intended to make, which means that the deal carved into the spear was bogus from the beginning, not exactly a promising foundation on which to build the glorious reign Wotan has in mind.

The beginning of our clip is actually an exceedingly interesting place to begin, because I've found that one of the crucial points in most Ring lovers' journey into the inner life of the drama is the discovery that the giants have individual personalities, personalities that are quite detailed and striking. And like many pairs of brothers, they could hardly be more different.

The first thing to note, and it could hardly be more obvious, is that at first it's Fasolt who does all the talking for the giants. And the second thing to note is how astonishingly beautiful his music is. Fasolt is a grand exponent of the dignity of labor. He knows he's not much more than a plodder, and his expectations in turn are hardly exorbitant: honest payment for honestly performed work, and in there somewhere he hopes to find a home with female warmth and companionship and a touch of beauty. Listen, as he reminds Wotan of the payment specified in the contract [1:40], to his achingly beautiful evocation of "Freia die holde, Holda die freie. (Like many characters in The Ring, Freia is known by more than one name, both Freia and Holda.)

It's possible that Fasolt is the most entirely sympathetic character, or at any rate the most untarnished, in the whole of The Ring, and it would be hard to imagine a voice "too beautiful" for the part. (In our clip, Karl Ridderbusch sings very nicely indeed.) It's nice to have Fafner sung beautifully too, but it's vocal beauty of a very different kind serving a very different human purpose. When Fafner finally enters the discussion, it's after Wotan has made clear that he has, and never had, any intention of honoring their contract. Fasolt [2:22} is shocked; Fafner [2:37], in unctuous, insinuating, almost slithery tones, mocks his brother for ever having trusted this bunch of con artists.

And when it comes to contract enforcement, it's Fafner who knows how to hit the gods where it hurts. I"ve always found it one of the most immediately arresting musical passages in The Ring, Fafner's evocation of the "golden apples" [5:55] that keep the gods from growing old, which only Freia knows how to grow. Her beauty and gentleness and all that romantic rot hold no interest for him, but to deprive the gods of her would also mean depriving them of the golden apples. This is the sort of thing Fafner can warm to. In our clip, bass Louis Hendrikx is one of the better Fafners I've heard.

THE GIANTS COME TO COLLECT

The brothers Fasolt (sung by bass Karl Ridderbusch, acted by bass Gerd Nienstedt) and Fafner (bass Louis Hendrikx) come to claim from Wotan (baritone Thomas Stewart) the agreed-upon fee for building Valhalla: the goddess Freia (soprano Jeannine Altmeyer). Rushing to her defense are her brothers Froh (tenor Hermin Esser) and Donner (sung by baritone Leif Roar, acted by Vladimir de Kanel). (Seen but not heard: mezzo Brigitte Fassbaender as Fricka.) This 1978-ish film (the Alberich, Zoltan Kelemen, died in May 1979), available on DVD, lip-synched to a prerecorded soundtrack, was directed as well as conducted by Herbert von Karajan, with the Berlin Philharmonic.

(English translation mostly from this Wagner website)

FASOLT [0:27]: Sleep softly
sealed your eyes
while we two, unsleeping,
built the fort.
Toiling mightily
yet untiting,
we heaped up
massive stones;
a lofty tower,
door and gate
guard and enclose
the hall of the fine fortress.
[1:04, pointing to the castle]
There stands
what we raised,
brightly shining
in the light of day:
now pass in
and pay us our fee!

WOTAN [1:33]: Name your fee, my men:
what do you think of asking?

FASOLT [1:40]: We asked what
seemed to us fair;
is your memory so weak?
[1:48] Freia the fair,
Holda the free,
it was agreed
we should take home.

WOTAN [2:04]: Has this contract
sent you off your heads?
Think of some other fee:
I cannot sell Freia.

FASOLT [2:22]: What say you? Ha,
are you planning treachery?
Betray our bond?
The marks of solemn compact
that your spear shows,
are they but sport to you?

FAFNER [2:37]: Most trusty brother!
Simpleton, do you now see the swindle?

FASOLT [2:45]: Son of light,
easily swayed,
hearken and beware:
hold firm to your bond!
What you are,
you are only by contracts:
limited and well defined is your power.
You have more wisdom
than we have wits;
you bound us, who were free,
to keep peace:
[318] I will curse all your wisdom
and flee from your peace
if openly,
honourably and freely
you do not know to keep faith in your bond!
[3:38] A simple giant
thus counsels you:
wise one, weigh his words!

WOTAN [3:52]: How cunning to take in earnest
what was agreed only in jest!
The lovely goddess,
bright and light,
of what use is her charm to you louts?

FASOLT [4:08]: Do you mock us?
Ha, how unjust!
You who rule by beauty,
radiant, august race,
how foolishly you strive
for towers of stone,
and place in pledge woman's beauty
for fortress and hall!
[4:40] We dullards toil away,
sweating, with our horny hands,
[4:49] to win a woman
who, winsome and gentle,
will live with us poor creatures:
and do you now upset our bargain?

FAFNER [5:22]: Cease your idle chatter,
we'll get no gain from this.
Custody of Freia serves
little purpose;
but to carry her off from the gods
is worth much.
[5:35] Golden apples
grow in her garden;
only she
knows how to tend them!
By eating the fruit,
her kindred
are endowed with eternal,
never-ageing youth;
sick and wan,
their bloom will wane;
old and weak,
they will waste away
if they are forced to forego Freia.
[6:14] So let her be taken from their midst!

WOTAN [6:20]: Loge delays too long!

FASOLT [6:22]: Straight give your answer!

WOTAN [6:25]: Think of another fee!

FASOLT [6:27]: No other: only Freia!

FAFNER [6:31]: You there, follow us!
[FASOLT and FAFNER grab Freia. FROH and DONNER rush in.]

FREIA [6:34]: Help! Help from these ruffians!

FROH [6:42] [taking hold of Freia] To me, Freia!
[to Fafner] Let her be, rascal!
Froh will protect the fair one.

DONNER [6:54]: Fasolt and Fafner,
have you yet felt
my hammer's heavy blow?

FAFNER [7:00]: Why do you threaten?

FASOLT [7:02]: Why do you rush upon us?
We sought no strife
and only want our wages.

DONNER [7:13]: Many a time have I paid
giants their due.
Come on, the size of the payment
I'll weigh in full measure!
[He swings his hammer.]

WOTAN [7:24] [thrusting his spear between the combatants]:
Hold, hothead!
Violence avails naught!
My spearshaft
protects bonds:
spare your hammer's haft.

QUICK HITS: THE RING ON HOME AUDIO AND VIDEO

We really can't get into this now, can we? Let me just say that if I were starting out, I would still want to start with either the Karajan/DG or the Solti/Decca Ring. Karajan is certainly the more imaginative conductor (this Ring, all in all, seems to me one of his most durable recorded accomplishments), and draws richer and more varied sounds from the Berlin Philharmonic; it would have been interesting to hear what a more imaginative, less pushy conductor than the Solti of this period might have asked from the luscious Vienna Philharmonic. But the Vienna Phil certainly plays beautifully, and Birgit Nilsson's Brünnhilde hasn't been matched since, and the rest of the cast is generally solid -- especially so in the culminating opera, Götterdämmerung. But then, Karajan's Götterdämmerung is at least as strongly cast, and his overall cast balances out pretty evenly.

We really can't begin to consider the options, but I have to at least mention the 1953 Furtwängler/Rome Radio cycle, despite its radio-studio mono sound and a cast that is generally more combat-ready than vocally ingratiating, as a demonstration of the depths a great conductor can plumb in this endlessly absorbing music.

On video, the safest recommendation seems to me the Met cycle, despite the merely adequate conducting of James Levine and the make-do casting -- it has some pleasing ups, but also some disturbing downs, among which I would have to include Hildegard Behrens's well-meant but hard-to-listen-to Brünnhilde. As our Siegfried clip suggests, Otto Schenk's staging and Günther Schneider-Siemssen's sets tend to the solidly traditional, and tell us a lot more about The Ring than the video competition.

On both audio and video, Daniel Barenboim's Bayreuth recording still offers what seems to me the most compelling recorded representation of the orchestral part of The Ring, and the cast balances out competitively with the more recent versions -- some ups, some downs. On video, Harry Kupfer's futuristic staging tends to be merely distracting.


CLASSICAL MUSIC POSTS

Here is the updated list.

Note: I haven't forgotten that we have unfinished business with Brahms. Probably next week -- though then again, maybe not.

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