Clemens Risi, Wagner and German ‘Regietheater’: In Search of New Analytical Approaches

At least since the time of the debates surrounding Wieland Wagner’s productions of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1956 and 1963, Richard Wagner’s works have been the repeated focus of questions concerning the possibilities, limits and necessity of the director’s role in opera productions, especially in Germany.

In terms of its performance practice, opera at present appears to be moving in three different directions.