Götterdämmerung Is the April 27, 2019, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: Götterdämmerung is the April 27, 2019, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast, numbering as 22nd of 24 in the 2018-2019 season’s schedule.

Götterdämmerung airs as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season's 22nd Saturday matinee radio broadcast and completes Wagner's set of four epic music dramas as the Ring's fourth and final cycle: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018

Götterdämmerung is the April 27, 2019, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast, airing as 22nd of 24 scheduled Saturday matinee radio broadcasts during the 2018-2019 Met Opera season.

German composer and librettist Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883) wrote the libretto and composed the musical score for Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods). Götterdämmerung comprises the last of four epic music dramas in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). Germanic and Scandinavian folk tales and myths are the inspiration for Wagner’s Ring cycle.

Götterdämmerung premiered Aug. 17, 1876, at Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which Wagner designed and built in northern Bavaria, southeastern Germany. Götterdämmerung’s premiere occurred as part of the first complete performance of Wagner’s Ring cycle. Presentation of the Ring’s four cycles began with Das Rheingold, on the opera house’s inauguration date, Aug. 13, and closed with Götterdämmerung’s premiere.

The Metropolitan Opera hosted the United States premiere of Götterdämmerung on Jan. 25, 1888. In the 1887-1888 season, Götterdämmerung received seven performances.

The United States premiere of Götterdämmerung followed the opera house’s hosting of the United States premiere of the Ring’s third cycle, Siegfried, by about two and one-half months. Siegfried’s U.S. premiere took place Nov. 9, 1887, at the Metropolitan Opera.

The United States premiere of Götterdämmerung occurred almost three years after the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Die Walküre, the Ring’s second cycle. Die Walküre’s premiere at Met Opera took place Jan. 30, 1885.

The United States premiere of Götterdämmerung preceded the opera house’s hosting of the U.S. premiere of Das Rheingold, the Ring’s first cycle, by 11 and one-third months. Das Rheingold’s United States premiere took place Jan. 4, 1889, at the Metropolitan Opera.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season offers three spring performances of Götterdämmerung. The Ring’s final cycle opens Saturday, April 27, at 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. April’s performance airs as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s 22nd Saturday matinee radio broadcast.

The opera’s two additional performances take place in May. The month’s first performance is slated for Saturday, May 4. Siegfried’s closing performance is set for Saturday, May 11.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s Siegfried has an estimated run time of 5 hours 6 minutes. Act I spans 82 minutes. An intermission of 37 minutes follows. Act II runs for 73 minutes. An intermission of 35 minutes precedes Act III, which is estimated at 79 minutes.

Philippe Jordan appears as the production’s conductor. The Swiss conductor’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Dec. 19, 2002, in the opera house’s 196th performance of Die Fledermaus by Austrian light music composer Johann Strauss II (Oct. 25, 1825-June 3, 1899). During the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Philippe Jordan conducts the entire Ring cycle.

Christine Goerke appears as Brünnhilde, who arranges for the Rhinemaidens to reclaim the curse-free ring from her ashes. The American dramatic soprano’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened April 3, 1995, in the ensemble role of Woman with Baby in the opera house’s eighth performance of The Ghosts of Versailles by American classical composer John Corigliano (born Feb. 16, 1938). In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Christine Goerke also appears as Brünnhilde in the Ring’s second and third cycles, Die Walküre and Siegfried.

Edith Haller appears as Gutrune, who fails in schemes with Gunther, lord of the Gibichungs, for her marriage to Siegfried and Gunther’s to Brünnhilde. The Italian soprano makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in the role of Gutrune.

Michaela Schuster appears as Waltraute, a Valkyrie who unsuccessfully tries to convince Brünnhilde to return the ring of power to the Rhinemaidens. The German operatic mezzo-soprano’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened March 1, 2018, as Klytämnestra in the opera house’s 109th performance of Elektra by German late Romantic and early modern composer Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949). In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Michaela Schuster also appears as Fricka in the Ring's second cycle, Die Walküre.

Andreas Schager appears in the first two performances (April 27; May 4) as Siegfried, whose drinking of Gutrune’s love potion causes him temporary forgetfulness of his love for Brünnhilde and whose refusal to return the ring to the Rhinemaidens seals his fate. The Austrian operatic tenor’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened as Siegfried in the season’s opening night April 27, 2019, performance of Götterdämmerung. During the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Andreas Schager also appears in the title role of the Ring’s third cycle, Siegfried.

Stefan Vinke appears as Siegfried in the closing performance, May 11. The German tenor’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened April 13, 2019, in the title role during the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s opening night performance of the Ring’s third cycle, Siegfried.

Evgeny Nikitin appears as Gunther, Gibichung lord, who plots unsuccessfully to marry Brünnhilde. The Russian bass-baritone’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Feb. 14, 2002, as Lieutenant Dolokhov in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of War and Peace by Soviet composer, conductor and pianist Sergei Prokofiev (April 23, 1891-March 5, 1953).

Tomasz Konieczny appears as Alberich, the Nibelung dwarf, who plots unsuccessfully with Hagen, Gibichung chief minister, to regain the ring and thereby rule the world. The Polish bass-baritone’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened as Alberich during the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s March 14, 2019, performance of Das Rheingold. In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Tomasz Konieczny also performs as Abimélech in Samson et Dalila by French Romantic Era composer Camille Saint-Saëns (Oct. 9, 1835-Dec. 16, 1921).

Eric Owens appears as Hagen, Gibichung chief minister, who fatally stabs Siegfried and also kills Gunther but fails to regain the ring. The American operatic bass-baritone’s Metropolitan Opera debut happened Oct. 13, 2008, as General Groves in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Doctor Atomic by contemporary American composer John Coolidge Adams (born Feb. 15, 1947).

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s performances of Götterdämmerung revive staging by John Lepage. The Canadian playwright and stage director’s staging debuted as a new production Jan. 27, 2012, in the opera house’s 226th performance of Siegfried.

Robert Lepage’s production team comprises Neilson Vignola, associate director; Carl Fillion, set designer; François St-Aubin, costume designer; Etienne Boucher, lighting designer; and Lionel Arnould, video image artist. The production’s revival stage directors are J. Knighten Smit and Paula Williams.

The takeaway for Götterdämmerung as the April 27, 2019, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that the Ring’s fourth cycle airs as 22nd of the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s Saturday matinee radio broadcasts and closes the season’s Ring cycle productions.

Waltraute, a Valkyrie, fails to persuade Brünnhilde, once a Valkyrie and now a mortal, to avert Götterdämmerung by returning the ring of power to the Rhinemaidens: Valkyrie costumes: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook March 9, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Götterdämmerung airs as the 2018-2019 Met Opera season's 22nd Saturday matinee radio broadcast and completes Wagner's set of four epic music dramas as the Ring's fourth and final cycle: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10160137122920533/

Waltraute, a Valkyrie, fails to persuade Brünnhilde, once a Valkyrie and now a mortal, to avert Götterdämmerung by returning the ring of power to the Rhinemaidens: Valkyrie costumes: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook March 9, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10160245161070533/

For further information:

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Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356901

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Marriner, Derdriu. “Das Rheingold Is the March 9, 2019, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, March 4, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/das-rheingold-is-march-9-2019-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Die Walküre Is the March 30, 2019, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, March 25, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/die-walkure-is-march-30-2019-met-opera.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/04/siegfried-is-april-13-2019-met-opera.html

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The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Christine Goerke, Soprano struck a fierce pose during yesterday's 2019 Ring Cycle photo shoot. The soprano sings Brünnhilde in Wagner's supreme operatic experience next season. Goerke currently stars in Strauss's Elektra through March 23. To purchase a full Ring cycle now visit: bit.ly/2txy8LO Photos by Jonathan Tichler/Met Opera." Facebook. March 9, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10160245161070533/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Opera's supreme experience returns to the Met for the first time in six years with a cast of magnificent Wagnerians, led by the thrilling Christine Goerke, Soprano making her Met role debut as Brünnhilde. Philippe Jordan conducts Robert Lepage's breathtaking production, which faithfully presents every detail of Wagner's immortal libretto. Learn more: http://bit.ly/2GelzGG Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera.” Facebook. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10160137122420533/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Wagner’s epic cycle concludes with acts of betrayal, murder, vengeance, and, finally, the destruction of the world. Christine Goerke, Soprano once again plays Brunnhilde, whose heroic self-sacrifice paves the way for humankind’s redemption and rebirth. Learn more: http://bit.ly/2C0VVam Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera.” Facebook. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10160137122920533/

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