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RICHARD WAGNER, K O FRITZ LANG, O AND THE NIBELUNGEN B - E The Dramaturgy of Disavowal S S E David J. Levin R P Y T I S R E V I N U N O T E C N I R P A 9 t l C H A RD W A G N ER F R I TZ L A NG A ND T HE PRINCETON STUDIES IN OPERA CAROLYN ABBATE AND ROGER PARKER IIfSi .:; 5-' Series Editors Reading Opera edited by Arthur Groos and Roger Parker Puccini's Turandot: The End of the Great Tradition by William Ashbrook and Harold Powers Unsung Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century by Carolyn Abbate Wagner Androgyne: A Study in Interpretation by Jean-Jacques Nattiez, translated by Stewart Spencer Music in the Theater: Essays on Verdi and Other Composers by Pierluigi Petrobelli, with translations by Roger Parker Leonora's Last Act: Essays in Verdian Discourse by Roger Parker Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen: The Dramaturgy of Disavowal by David J. Levin R I C H A R D W A G N E R Φ FRITZ LANG Φ AND T H E N I B E L U N G E N The Dramaturgy of Disavowal DAVID J. LEVIN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS · PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright © 1998 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-m-Publication Data Levin, David J, 1960- Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen the dramaturgy of disavowal / David J Levm p cm — (Princeton series m opera) Includes bibliographical references (p | and index ISBN 0 691-02621-1 (alk paper] 1 Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883 Ring des Nibelungen 2 Lang, Fritz, 1890-1976—Cirticism and interpretation 3 Music and society—Germany 4 Motion pictures— Social aspects—German 5 Germany—Civilization— 19th century 6 Germany—Civilization—20th century I Title II Series ML410 W22L48 1997 782 1'092—dc21 97-27022 This book has been composed m Trump Medieval Photo on title-page spread Siegfried speared From Fritz Lang's film Die Nibelungen (1924) Photo courtesy of the Film Stills Archive, The Museum of Modern Art, New York Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources http //pup pnnceton edu Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 [ontents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii PREFACE ix cr:~(lpter Dne Representation's Bad Object: The Nibelungen, Aggression, and Aesthetics 3 cr:~(lpter ~o Where Narration Was, There Darstellung Shall Be: Wagner and the Scene of Narration 30 cr:~(lpter ~~ree Viewing with a Vengeance: The Dramaturgy of Appearances in Fritz Lang's Siegfried 96 'Postscript Disavowal and Figuration: The Nibelungen after the Third Reich 141 NOTES 151 WORKS CITED 189 INDEX 199 Sfet of 3llugtration3 FIGURE I . The Nibelungen encounter Hollywood. 2 FIGURE 2. An image of who Siegfried is not. 102 FIGURE 3. Siegfried arrives at Gunther's court and makes his desires known. 105 FIGURE 4. Kriemhild as good object. 108 FIGURE 5. Siegfried helps Gunther shatter Brunhild's shield. 111 FIGURE 6. Hagen convinces Siegfried to alter his appearance and tame Brunhild. 113 FIGURE 7. X marks the spot of Siegfried's vulnerability. 115 FIGURE 8. Siegfried wrestles his invisible assailant to the ground. 118 FIGURE 9. Alberich suddenly materializes in Siegfried's hands. 118 FIGURE 10. Alberich limps along, ushering Siegfried to the subterranean treasure. 119 FIGURE Ι I . Alberich illuminates the wall with his crystal ball, much to Siegfried's amazement. 120 FIGURE 12. Siegfried enjoys a quiet moment with Balmung amid the just-calcified Nibelungen. 129 cPteface PROJECT originated in a question posed during a meeting of dramaturge at the Frankfurt Opera. Dramaturgy is a wonder fully German institution—essentially a conceptual director, a dramaturg is responsible for developing a reading of a work and then, during rehearsals, lobbying the director on its behalf, attempting to insure that the production remains true to that reading. The dramaturg's task is in variably contentious and often thankless, but it affords literary and cul tural theorists a rare opportunity to put their ideas to some real-life use. It is comical but true: the theater, for some literary scholars, is about as close to real life as we get when it comes to professional engagement. And in my case, at least, it has been an enormously interesting engage ment—as demanding as the classroom and of an entirely different order. For one thing, the dramaturg is not accorded any immediate respect in the rehearsal process. With the rug of institutional authority pulled out from under me, I had to struggle to be heard and my ideas had to persuade on merit. (In this sense, it is useful to come to German dramaturgy from the United States, where professors are not accorded all that much re spect anyway—in any case, not nearly as much respect as their German colleagues.) On the other hand, there is, in certain German theaters— and, of course, not just there—a thoroughgoing commitment to the proj ect of critically rereading the classics. It is hard to express how exciting this can be. In such theaters, dramaturge and dramaturgs-cum-literary theorists are presented with a culture of rereading and a vibrant, public forum for it. Rather than simply staging the work for the umpteenth time in its familiar form, such theaters have committed themselves to producing serious rereadings of canonical works. For a decade from 1978 to 1988, the Frankfurt Opera under Michael Gielen was such a place.1 Gielen made a point of hiring some of the most interesting and innovative production teams—stage directors as well as set and costume designers—and insisted that they work together with,