If Das Rheingold reveals certain fairy-tale elements, Siegfried is the music drama in the Ring cycle that most enchants audiences with its playfulness. No wonder, since we find ourselves in a forest, where a dwarf is raising a foundling child who has since grown into a powerfully built, boisterous and quick-tempered sword-forging proto-German adolescent. Then, of course, we meet a dragon, a mysterious old Wanderer, and even a speaking forest bird who gives our hero advice. Evil is punished, goodness is rewarded, and the lovers are united - just as in any good fairy tale.
Perhaps none of the other music dramas in the Ring entrust a single singer with so much. In order for the title role to be worthy of its name, it places heavy weights on the shoulders of its portrayer, and these weights therefore require strong shoulders - which in this case means heavy-duty vocal cords. Our Siegfried, the outstanding German heldentenor Stefan Vinke, has already won the audience's hearts at the Budapest Wagner Days before, and the memory of his previous great performance justifi...
