Exploring ‘Rienzi’s Fascism: Jan Philipp Sprick wonders whether the fascist imagery in Berlin’s new ‘Rienzi’ risks stating the obvious

Review of Rienzi, directed Stölzl, conducted Lang-Lessing, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2010 (Unitel in co-operation with ZDF/Arte and Classica, 2 DVDs).

March 2011, Volume 5, Number 1, 97–9.

Performances of Rienzi are rare indeed. The last German production before Philipp Stölzl’s Berlin version was that directed by Wolfgang Wagner’s daughter, and current Bayreuth director, Katharina Wagner. It took place in Bremen in 2008. Katharina tried to justify the production through ‘deconstruction’ along with the use of caustic irony and drastic, bloody imagery. At that time she openly addressed the question of whether Rienzi should return to the canon of works performed in Bayreuth, but opted instead to play it only outside the Festspielhaus. Bearing this in mind, it seems ironic that the Deutsche Oper dedicated the Rienzi performance on 11 April 2010 to Wolfgang Wagner (who had died three weeks earlier and whose official memorial ceremony in Bayreuth took place earlier that same day).