Robert Sollich, Staging Wagner – and its History: ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’ on a Contemporary Stage

To start with a commonplace, there is hardly an artist of the 19th century who, to this day, provokes such polarised reactions as Richard Wagner. Where else does enthusiastic acclaim meet brusque rejection, or blind adoration harsh ideological critique? On the one hand there is certainly no other composer who attracts so much media attention, gathering supporters’ clubs worldwide; no composer whose works are embedded more deeply in the international repertoire of opera than the ten pieces of the Bayreuth canon. This is a continuing upward trend: with Wagner’s forthcoming anniversary in 2013, one need not be a prophet to predict an unprecedented flood of Flying Dutchmen, Lohengrins and, perhaps above all, productions of the Ring all over the globe.