In 1907 the teenage Adolf Hitler was present at a production of Richard Wagner’s Rienzi in Linz. Some 25 years later he would go on to explain the significance of its plot and music: “it isn’t by chance that I have the party rallies open with the overture to Rienzi. At the age of 24 this man, an innkeeper’s son, persuaded the Roman people to drive out the corrupt Senate by reminding them of the magnificent past of the Roman Empire. I had the vision in uniting the German Empire and making it great once more”. Hitler further declared that “at that hour it all began”. So wedded to the opera was he that the original score was given to him for his 50th birthday and is believed to have later perished in the Führerbunker in April 1945. Others say it was lost, stolen or as Justin Fleming’s play suggests destroyed in the Allied Forces bombings of Dresden in February 1945, causing a destructive firestorm and 25,000 deaths. The razing of this Baroque architectural gem remains controversial, with some saying it should be deemed a war crime. The psychological impact it had on the German people can be viewed as equal to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, be them all officially sanctioned acts to dramatically shorten WWII.
Residing in Dresden by 1842 Wagner’s Rienzi premiered there with great success. Although securing work as a royal conductor he and his first wife Minna would continue to struggle financially through the years due in part to his political involvement resulting in exile. During this time he develops his ideas of opera as “music drama” and as Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). He declaims “I, poor artist, [swear] an eternal fidelity to my German fatherland”. Just before writing his greatest operas he pens the infamous essay Judaism in Music (1850) its inherent antisemitism being picked up the Nazis 75 years later. On his return to Germany in the 1860s and with his marriage to Cosima, Wagner’s fortunes will change.
It is against this background that Justin Fleming has set his play, the action spliced with the burgeoning career and ultimate demise of Adolf Hitler. So masterful is Fleming’s writing and the playing by its lead actors – Yalin Ozecelik (Adolf) and Jeremy Waters (Richard) that the ideology within the music expressed within the text of the play, albeit controversial, is captivating and very compelling. Fine support is given by the other four actors, with Thomas Campbell and Dorje Swallow in particular excelling in their various roles. Production values marry together the whole thing beautifully with set design by Patrick Howe, sound design Max Lambert and lighting design Benjamin Brockman. Under the baton and seemingly ever watchful eye of director Suzanne Millar this unmissable 75 minute production sweeps by. It is pitch perfect, rhythmically paced and bordering on utter brilliance.
Wagner was long dead by the time Hitler created a sensation at the Munich Putsch and during his dictatorship over the following two decades, nevertheless this play imagines the meeting (of minds at least) of these two bastions of Teutonic superiority. Had they lived concurrently what would have Wagner composed? How different today would his musical standing be? Richard Strauss and Carl Orff had muddy connections with Nazism though seem to have escaped sullied reputations, and in The Soviet Union Prokofiev and Shostakovich were in and out of favour with Stalin, while the ex-patriot Stravinsky, professed a mad devotion to Mussolini. Artists!! Be wary of patronage, it can be too close for comfort. Be it a Murdoch, a monarch, McDonald’s or even your mother – the artist must always challenge, judiciously comply, all the while absolutely maintaining ownership of their work’s meaning and intention. What happens to one’s output under the influence of future generations may be somewhat beyond their control. Many a composer has been lost in the mists of time, Salieri for instance, though thanks to Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus he has been curiously rediscovered. It is paramount to me that the artist should diligently record that which is intrinsic and authentic. Only then can interpretation of their work be truly appreciated.
Mark G Nagle – Theatre Now
