There’s one big problem with Wagner’s Siegfried, and the clue’s in the name. None of Wagner’s mature works hangs so completely upon a single individual. The character himself isn’t really the issue either, however troublesome he might superficially appear (a ‘randy overgrown schoolboy’, if you believe the misguided programme note for this Usher Hall performance). As so often, confusion falls away once you assume that Wagner — who, after all, wasn’t a complete amateur — knew what he was doing, and take Siegfried as the life-force his creator intended.
Someone’s still got to sing the damn role, though, and that’s an Olympian challenge. ‘Most people have never heard a really fine Siegfried in the flesh — probably only a couple have ever existed,’ suggests Michael Tanner, and I wish I could have heard his thoughts on Simon O’Neill’s performance. Anyone who can sing Siegfried deserves respect, and it’s possible that I’ve simply never caught O’Neill on a good day.
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