Wagner's Lohengrin meets modernity

Carlos Wagner, right, speaks during the press conference, Monday. / Courtesy of Korea National Opera

By Yun Suh-young

Richard Wagner's opera "Lohengrin" will be premiering in its original German for the first time in Korea.

Lohengrin is a story based on the Knight of the Swan legend that comes from several medieval sources. Lohengrin first appears as a supporting character in Wolfram von Eschenbach's "Parzival" as the son of Parzival, which was expanded into the story of Lohengrin by Wagner. The opera "Lohengrin" premiered in Germany in 1850.

Lohengrin is a knight of the Holy Grail who comes to save a troubled maiden, Elsa, who is accused of murdering her brother to inherit her father's principality. However, Elsa is forbidden to ask Lohengrin's name or identity if she were to receive help from him. If she violates this condition, Lohengrin will be forced to leave her. In the end, Elsa could not resist asking this question and Lohengrin leaves her and the town. The core of the story is this theme of the "forbidden question" and of faith and doubt. The plot creates a contrast between Lohengrin's godly world and Elsa's earthly realm, which also represents Christianity and paganism.

A miniature replica of the "Lohengrin" opera stage / Courtesy of Korea National Opera

For the Korean premiere, Venezuelan director Carlos Wagner took the helm.

"Lohengrin is one of our new productions,” said Kim Hak-min, artistic director of Korea National Opera (KNO), during a press conference Monday. “When we have a new design, set, singers, costumes, lights, visuals and choreography; we call this a new production. We have been looking for a concept for this opera and requested that Carlos Wagner direct it after seeing his previous work. We thought his style and interpretation was exactly what we were looking for.

"We hoped to create ‘Lohengrin’ as a piece that can reflect the lives of 21st century modern-day people. It reflects political situations across the world, a world full of confusion. We are reenacting the piece in a congress/parliament setting to reflect the confusion in real life -- in politics, society and culture. Whereas Richard Wagner wrote this piece in a religious setting, our director Carlos Wagner reinterprets this in a sociopolitical frame where the people are looking for someone to solve this chaos."

When Elsa is accused of murder, Lohengrin arrives and says he will fight for her to prove she's not guilty and that he'll also fight for the people.

"But no one asks for him to take this role," said Carlos Wagner.

"Elsa symbolizes the voice of the people. She's saying, 'If you're going to guide us, we have to know who you are.' People want to verify his background before following him as their leader.

"History has shown us that if we give our faith to one person, it becomes a catastrophe. I'm a deep democrat and I believe that people should solve problems together."

Wagner decided to turn the opera into a modern-day drama.

"I tried to move away from the intangible part of this opera to make it more human,” he said. “So the setting is in a parliament, in which the king is like a president. So in other words, you have two choices -- you can either tell a fairytale or reveal a real political situation. I chose to do the latter.

"Lohengrin is a difficult opera for a director to stage nowadays. Wagner had a completely different viewpoint from us. He was frustrated about the politics in Germany. He thought that if an artist took over, all problems would be solved. So he's presenting his version of utopia where somebody who's designated by God comes to solve the problems."

Stage and costume director Conor Murphy said he took this realism into the visual setting.

"It's a concrete reality, not a fantasy,” he said. “There's a contrast between the concrete world and the dream. With the design, what I've tried to do is combine the modern realistic space with space that can be magical as well -- using light. Light is crucial in that it creates contrast between light and dark, good and bad, yin and yang.

"We started with the idea of a community in crisis, danger and to convey that, we basically filled the space with security lights, with police in control. Out of the danger comes the magical arrival of Lohengrin. Through the revolving stage, the audience can see the same world in different perspectives."

Tenor Charles Kim takes the role of Lohengrin.

"Wagner's opera is one of my personal favorites,” Kim said. “I've studied Wagner for 14 years and I noticed that his pieces address social issues and always pose a question about how to solve them.

"The original piece by Richard Wagner has a religious context. When the medieval European society was dominated by Christianity, paganism symbolized by Ortrud (who turns Elsa's brother into a swan as a curse) tries to conquer Europe and uses tricks to do this. In order to prevent that, Christianity, represented by Lohengrin, tries to protect against the pagan overturn.

"The key words of the story are doubt and belief. Once you start doubting the identity of Lohengrin, as Jesus, he cannot protect humanity. But the curious humans question him. A point to focus on while watching the opera is the question of 'Why shall not we ask?'"