Questions, Questions: Michael Fuller is stimulated by the issues raised in two productions of ‘Lohengrin’

Reviews of Lohengrin, directed Holten, conducted Kober, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2016; Lohengrin, directed Guth, conducted Jordan, Opéra Bastille, Paris, 2016.

July 2017, Volume 11, Number 2, 69–71.

Lohengrin is a story that hinges on a hero being asked questions. It is therefore appropriate that these two very different productions of Wagner’s Romantische Oper both, in their different ways, seek to ask questions about the work itself, particularly with regard to the origins and outcomes of the concept of heroism.