So, I went to see Siegfried...

I didn't post any updates last weekend. Why was that? I went to the opera, and then I caught another bad cold. So, this weekend, I'm going to try and get back on track by explaining how going to the opera consumed most of my weekend.

The San Francisco Opera is currently presenting Richard Wagner's epic The Ring of the Nibelung, and last Sunday, The Ring Summer 2011 festival opened with a stand alone performance of Siegfried, the third of the four operas that comprise the tetralogy. 

Neither my mother nor I had ever before attended a Wagnerian opera, which was why we decided to get tickets this time around. We spent five hours on Saturday listening to an audio summary of The Ring and then another five hours on Sunday at the performance of Siegfried.

The S.F. Opera's presentation of The Ring cycle begins in Gold Rush era California with Das Rheingold, and by the time it gets to Siegfried, the story takes place in a trailer park in the modern era. The scenery is reminiscent of a Mad Max movie, except during set changes, when images of garbage, toxic fumes, power plants and such float across the stage.
 

Of course, one of the best parts of the opera is the scene where Siegfried battles the dragon. I, naively, was expecting to see a dragon, but instead, this Transformer thing came out.

  

All in all, it was an interesting experience that I highly recommend. Did I mention that we found a  beer garden on the outdoor balcony? Well, we discovered that too late, but we look forward to checking it out when we return this week to see Gotterdammerung, the fourth opera of the cycle.

The next day was a holiday, Memorial Day, but by that time I had another bad cold, and I couldn't post  updates. Some nasty springtime colds are going around, and they all seem to be finding me.

Now, I'm trying to catch up.

So, that's what happened when I went to see Siegfried last weekend...

All the best,

Christine

Here is the 3 minute version of Siegfried.

For more info about the San Francisco Opera's presentation of The Ring of Nibelung visit their website, SFOpera.com/Ring