Siegfried in the Gustaf Adolf Church in Eurajoki, the 15th of July, 2022

The organ version of Richard Wagner’s Ring at Eurajoki Bel Canto -festival has reached the second but last opera, that is Siegfried. The person behind the organ adaption was as usual Ilpo Laspas, but this time there were a few glimpses of some other instruments, too (a cello, a horn, a fortepiano and percussions). The singers have before been all Finns, but this time there was one singer from Austria – bass Christoph Seidl sang the role of Fafner.

The stories of Wagner’s Ring are not exactly simple, since in principle you need to know all the operas to understand the storyline and there are plenty of people involved. But I will give here a greatly simplified description of what happens in Siegfried.

Siegfried has been brought up by Mime but has now started to ask questions about his real parents. Since Mime is not able to repair Siegfried’s father’s sword Notung, Siegfried repairs it himself. Mime wants Siegfried to help him return the stolen treasure (though he says that he wants Siegfried to learn to know fear) and leads him to Fafner, who guards the treasure. Siegfried kills Fafner and finds the treasure, after which he also kills the deceitful Mime. The Woodbird tells Siegfried about a woman behind fire – Brünnhilde, who would make a fine wife for him. Siegfried seeks Brünnhilde and they fall in love.   

Once again, I have to say that Ring by organs is rather chattering an experience. And when the festival had managed to find good singers for the roles, the opera was – despite its length – never numbing. This time I had two favourites among the soloists. Jyrki Anttila made fabulous work as Siegfried. His voice is in excellent form and his interpretation was also impressive. The role is extremely heavy, but Anttila’s voice lasted till the end without problems. The second fantastic singer was the winner of the previous (2015) Merikanto singing contest soprano Hannakaisa Nyrönen. She has an unbelievably strong voice that absolutely filled the church. I really would like to hear her in some Wagner role, where she would have more to sing than in Siegfried.