Siegfried is the third

opera

in Richard Wagner's giant Nibelungen ring and a difficult stumbling block.

The first, Rhenguldet, is an exciting fairy tale with mermaids, giants and gods but at the same time an allegory of predation and power.

The second part, Valkyrian, is the most popular;

a family drama with hits and characters to live in. The fourth and final is the really operatic one, with large choirs ending with a bang - Ragnarök.

Men, Siegfried.

More than two of the opera's four hours have passed before a singer appears.

Before that, men who quarrel, old men who play boring quiz games, men who kill.

Only in the last half hour does the hero soprano Brünnhilde arrive and in the very last minutes he unites in an ecstatic duet with the hero tenor Siegfried.

The Gothenburg Opera's ring began

tentatively in 2018 with an ugly staging of Rhenguldet using cardboard boxes.

The idea was a sustainable Ring, a completely recycled opera building.

Organic Nibelungenring is now nothing new;

in the very Wagnerian city of Bayreuth, one did so thirty years ago.

In this Siegfried, the predatory drive on nature has left behind a single large scrap yard, where the dragon Fafner incubates the treasure with the magic ring.

In the filmed stream version, which here replaces the production missed in November, one gets advantageously close to the worst hero Siegfried and his dysfunctional family situation.

An exemplary modernized translation helps keep interest up during Wagner's long expositions and traditional quizzes.

For the vocal highlights are few.

But all the better taken advantage

of the Gothenburg Opera's distinguished cast with the fine American tenor Daniel Brenna in the lead.

Finnish Dan Karlström, Icelandic Ólafur Sigurdarson and Norwegian Hege Høisæter nicely match his youthful Siegfried figure.

Fredrik Zetterström and Anders Lorentzson share the role of the idol Wotan;

here a ruler hard on dekis, degraded to malate rag collectors.

The only beauty on stage, fresh as a rosehip, is Ingela Brimberg's Brünnhilde in extremely well-sounding form.

Like the Gothenburg Opera's orchestra with its inspiring Nibelungen conductor Evan Rogister.

Only minus is due to virus: the corona has reduced the herd in the ditch.

But a plus is that the show can be seen for free until March 31.