Key To My Mind: The "Ring" by Wagner

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« Elaine Meinel Supkis My father wanted to name me 'Brünnhilda' but my mother didn't allow him to do this. But when I was less than five, I discovered the famous Arthur Rackham illustrated books of the liberetto. I opened it up and suddenly saw my future selves. Even the pet ravens, I had those as the years went by! Like Brünnhilda, I love to fight. I wanted to be a beautiful lady but instead ended up a fighting woman. Instead of innocence, I had to live a life of periodic violence. It was very strange, this attraction to Wagner's huge opera complex. The first recordings of the entire series of all four operas was first done by the London Symphony from the mid 1950's to the mid 1960s. When I was only nine, my father bought me 'Das Rheingold.' During the following year, I memorized the music from the first opera. I wanted badly to be a Rhine maiden. Since I love swimming, I would splash around in the sea, pretending to torment dwarves and show off my sexual attractiveness. Only due to being raped when terribly young, I was very defensive, too. Simultaneously. This was all rather psychotic. I then discovered another world: history. Namely, my father's past was tied up within this opera. In many strange ways. My father would never play any Richard Strauss or Wagner but he allowed me to collect and play their music. Independently, I discovered Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' at this same time. and the two became strangely intertwined within my own world. Somehow, I knew there was some family secret involved here and the music was a possible bridge. One day, when I was temporarily living in my father's office, I found some pictures of him at the Nüremberg trials. This surprised me a great deal but when I asked, there was tremendous revulsion on his part. Solving this riddle directed my life: I decided to learn German, go to Germany and find out the truth. This mission was quite successful. Too successful. I learned all about the darker magical side of the Nazis and how this all dovetailed in my own fate. The fatalism of the German romantics and how this got twisted into the mythical/magical Teutonic darkness haunted my youth and when I stood in the death chamber at Dachau, it all came into focus. The curse of the Ring of Doom, the Ring of Power, far from being ended by the victory in Europe, infected us in turn as we took the Ring and now use it to gain wealth and power. Only we lost love. At the Gates of Death, I realized that nothing, not one bit of power, not so much as a penny of wealth, passes through. All these things are brutally stripped from the soul as it passes from the living world to death. There is only one thing: love. The power of this empherial inner feeling is one of the little bits that is carried past the Guardians at the Gates. That and guilt. For they are twins, coupled forever to each other. This is why the machinations of the powerful dismay me. The dreams of domination and wealth, pushing helpless populations, driving them into destruction just so one can be rich and powerful, is all in vain for Death gets everyone, there is no exceptions. Hitler's mad dreams tore apart my Meinel side of the family. One relative ran the notorious Stalag VIIA just as my father, in the secret service seeking rockets, blundered into several concentration camps. My father is a romantic, a 19th century scientist living in this century. These encountered nearly destroyed him. He was unprepared for man's madness and inhumanity. He got the rockets, he got the scientists in the secret caves to join him and come to America. And these rockets were used to set up a Gôtterdämmerun for the entire planet, setting nuclear bombs on thousands of rockets set to take off in an eyeblink and thus, destroy humanity! And mad with power of the Ring, we menace the world while crying, we are saving humanity. And as we kill and as we pollute and devour this precious world, we claim we are saving it! The irony of all this has been deeply impressed upon my mind thanks to memorizing all these operas. The genius of Wagner is, he could see this future yet he was a tool of the worst evil to inflict humanity. For he wanted power, he wanted glory, he wanted everything for himself and his grand designs. Tolkien's Ring was taken from Wagner's Ring. Only it took the power of the Tarnhelm that makes one invisible or hidden under a disguise, and put them together in the Ring of Mordor. It never ceases to amaze me how rightwingers cling to these books, the Lord of the Rings, totally misunderstanding even the simplest basics of the story's morals. The mistake of Tolkien was to have heroes. He was right to have Frodo weaken and fail in the end but all the other heroes spoiled it all, for the victory didn't come from the People understanding their fate and working to wrest it from the despots but rather, a King saving them from themselves. Tolkien was correct to show Frodo putting on the Ring and declaring war on all humanity. His salvation was quite accidental. But this subtlety passes right over the heads of the right wing Americans dreaming of domination. I used to talk on the phone frequently with Hastert's press secretary. We talked about Tolkien a lot and I urged him to try to understand the point of the stories. He couldn't see it at all. It was a huge blind spot for him. When the election of 2000 failed and the votes weren't counted, he and I had a big fight in DC. He thought it was just fine, not counting the votes because his side 'won'. My attempts at trying to get him to understand, this attitude would cause great evil failed. The right wing loves these stories. The love the idea that one can use magic to gain power. They really do want the power of these magic rings! They think they can use them to 'save' humanity only their idea of salvation is murder. And this is why it pays to learn the myths, to see the stories they tell each other. Even evil people can deliver important messages. Tolkien and Wagner loved royalty and both created art that on the surface, celebrates royalty but in reality, are warnings about kings and rulers. This is why the Hobbits tolerate no kings or wizards ruling over them. This is why the world of the Gods of Valhalla burns. When Wagner died, all the emperors and kings went to war in Europe. And his wife and sons celebrated the Nazis in a vain atttempt at gaining power and glory. And the kings and despots nearly destroyed civilization. And now, today, we face the same harsh choices. The desire to gain the gold, to have our own way, is destroying us. Even facing defeat, America still dreams of victory. We think, if we kill everyone, even the smallest baby, we will be victorious and our rule will succeed because we can hide ourselves behind a veil of words, hollow promises and delusional dreams of fixing everything we break. All this is false and makes things worse. This is why I am sharing this excellent synopsis of the Wagner operas tonight: it has some interesting points. It is also a window into my own mind. It is the bridge I used to find Shadowlands, the secret undercover world of our government, the dark continent where we commit crimes in the name of democracy, and there, in the center, is a group of satanists, practicing black magic. Thanks to the Skull and Bones. http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/01098.htm

Comments

[JSmith]

Not being particularly German Romantic by nature, I find Wagner difficult to sit through (with the exception of Die Walkure.) As for Tolkein's Trilogy - I tried it once, and didn't get to page 15.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

I had memorized the entire opera cycle by the time I was 16. It is a bellweather even if one hates music.

There are many layers to reality and the arts are like frosting between the cakes.

[D. F. Facti]

very cool.

I am listening to the synopsis right now.

I loved Tolkien, too. "The road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began ..."

My favorite music at approx age 14 was the Liebestod. Best performance of it I have seen was Leontyne Price at Carnegie Hall w/ Chgo Symphony/Solti. Kind of an Hegelian outcome - or something - given Wagner's Aryan proclivities. She was magnificent. It was lyrical and beautiful, not merely powerful which can be a problem for Wagnerian sopranos.

The only way the triumphalists ever get it is if they suffer a personal tragedy - otherwise, their "winning" affirms everything they believe about themselves and the world.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

You were so lucky. In Germany, I heard all the greatest Wagnerian singers in 1968. Went to the entire summer Ring Der Nibelungen festival. With George Solti conducting. Whooo. Was fabulous.

[JSmith]

"I had memorized the entire opera cycle by the time I was 16. It is a bellweather even if one hates music."

I don't "hate music". Wagner just isn't my thing, for the most part. I go for the Big Bs (Bach, Brahms, Beethoven), and some more modern stuff like Stravinski.