Näyttämö utopioiden ja ideologioiden kohtaamispaikkana : Richard Wagnerin Lohengrin-oopperan esitys- ja vaikutushistoriasta Saksassa ja Neuvosto-Venäjällä

The study analyses the performance history and Wirkungsgeschichte of Richard Wagner s Lohengrin (premiered 1850) in Germany and Russia in the 20th century. In Wagner s opera the mysterious knight arrives in medieval Brabant, where the people receive him as their redeemer . Lohengrin became one of Adolf Hitler s favourite operas. Through analysis of Lohengrin s influence, the study casts light on a broad and complex theme: how did Wagner s ideas and art become intertwined with Nazi ideology? Or how were they received in the context of other radical societal experiments, namely Soviet and East German socialism? This examination of different interpretations of the same text (Lohengrin) on stage and through its reception will reveal prevailing societal attitudes, taboos, values and hopes. Case study I discusses the reception of a few nationalist themes in Lohengrin. Specifically, the focus is on ultra-nationalist projections onto Lohengrin, which emerged during the resurgence of late 19th-century German Hurrah-patriotism and Nazi ideology. The focus of Case study II is on Heinz Tietjen s direction of Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival during the Third Reich (1936). The study demonstrates how Tietjen embedded Nazi ideology in his reading. Case study III takes another look at Lohengrin s influence on Soviet and East German socialism. The study scrutinises the ambivalent role of Lohengrin in the context of a dogmatic communist cultural policy that valued (socialist) realism. Another theme discussed is the problematic relationship of Lohengrin to the German Democratic Republic and its anti-fascism. Case study IV analyses Peter Konwitschny s innovative direction of Lohengrin in 1998. Characteristic of the deconstructive style of German director s theatre , the opera was set in a school classroom before the outbreak of the First World War. Konwitschny s interpretation offers an excellent case for analysing strategies by which a modern direction can take up the challenge of ideologically ambivalent opera. The study challenges the commonly oversimplified narrative that presents Wagner as a forerunner of Hitler and Nazism. Although there was irrational potential in Lohengrin, which became topical in the Third Reich, the relationship between Wagner s opera and National Socialism is much more complex, including the fact that Wagner s utopian ideas in Lohengrin also inspired the left. The main primary sources consist of German archival material, newspapers and journals.

Author dc:creator

• von Boehm, Jukka

Statement dc:rights

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Language dc:language.iso

fin

Identifier URI

URN:ISBN:978-951-51-1415-0

OAI record oai:identifier

https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Ahelda.helsinki.fi%3A10138%2F155674