Featured by Deutschlandfunk
There is a public debate going on in Riga about the legacy of Richard Wagner and his importance for the capital of Latvia. He came to the German Theatre in Riga in 1837 as a 24-year-old, largely unknown Kapellmeister. In 2017, the house where Wagner conducted French and Italian operas 180 years ago is now empty. It is in need of renovation and is threatened with complete decay. But those against it have long since formed ranks.
Actually, people in Riga are proud that the great Richard Wagner once stayed here. Gunda Vaivode is the director of the public Radio Klasika of Latvia. For her, Wagner is of great importance for the cultural identity of the city.
Gunda Vaivode: “I think cultural people are familiar with Richard Wagner, at least in Riga. They know that we have Wagner Street, in Old Riga, they know that Richard Wagner lived and conducted here for a few years, and that he had a big black Newfoundland, and of course they know the music, too. Because we have a close connection with the creation of Wagner operas. In 1918, the first premiere was in our National Opera, at that time called the Latvian Opera, and the first performance was the Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner.”
The centenary next year will also be celebrated with the Flying Dutchman. In 2013, they even performed the complete Ring of the Nibelung. This bond makes it all the more astonishing that the site where Wagner conducted from 1837 to 1839 is empty and decaying.
Background noise: Indoors
Riharda Vagnera iela 4 where the German Theatre was housed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Old, historic rooms with huge, long cracks on the ceilings and walls. Slowly, dust trickles down, autumn leaves have somehow gotten in and large stains reveal extensive water damage. Even the larger-than-life bust of Richard Wagner in the elegant stairwell looks dismayed. Maybe he knows exactly what is obvious in here: There is not much time left.
It’s time to save the place where Richard Wagner worked.
EWP: “You have to go through an endless series of rooms. It makes you feel like you’re in a Stanley Kubrick movie, it’s hard to understand – you go up the stairs, then there’s another room, then the Wagner Hall, then the ballroom and a tea room – a fascinating building. Nothing was done for ten years; you can’t just leave it that way!”
Eva Wagner-Pasquier has come especially to the Latvian capital. She is the great-granddaughter of the conductor and she supports the movement that calls for restoration of the house. They plan to establish a Wagner Museum, and to reconstruct the hall in which Wagner conducted operas true to the original. There was a “Wagner Hall” here before, albeit in a different room. After the Second World War, during Soviet occupation, it was opened, a concert hall for chamber, piano and choral concerts. In the end, plaster began trickling down from the ceiling on musicians and audiences. Ten years ago it had to be closed.
What is the problem? The state is the owner. And it lacks money because the construction of a modern concert hall for large symphonies has been discussed in Riga for decades, and that project is given the priority.
One man has realised the seriousness of the situation.
Maris Gailis: “My name is Maris Gailis, I am chairman of the Riga Richard Wagner Society.”
Maris Gailis is 68 years old, a pensioner and chairman of the local Wagner Society. From 1994 to 1995 he was Prime Minister in Latvia and later an entrepreneur. Now he is trying to use his experience to finally bring Wagner back to life in Riga.
Maris Gailis: “I think that it has very big cultural touristic potential. I know a lot of touristic groups, from Germany, from other places ask, ‘Where is the Wagner place?’ But they can only stop at the front of the façade of this house and that’s it.”
For the work of the composer, his stay on the Daugava is of some importance. In the two years he stayed here he was artistically an unknown, and he left the city suddenly, over-indebted and in dispute. But here he wrote, for example, parts of Rienzi.
And the concert hall also plays a major role in Wagner’s biography. At that time it was unusual: the orchestra sometimes played below the stage, the lights were dimmed during the performances and the auditorium rose up like an amphitheatre. Wagner liked these details and later used them as a model for the festival theatre in Bayreuth.
Maris Gailis: “I was in Bayreuth for the first time two years ago, and at the museum I tried to find Riga. Where is Riga mentioned? I didn’t find anything. It only said that during these years, the years of his youth, Wagner worked as a conductor in few small German cities. That’s it. He-he-he. That’s it about Riga. That means we have to talk about it from here!”
The former Prime Minister wants to talk the current Latvian government into a public-private partnership. The house would be renovated and opened using private money and only then would the state have to pay annually. The property would remain in state ownership. A classic win-win situation: the state only has to agree, and everyone who has a say in the matter has sent positive signals, says Gailis.
The catch: In Latvia, this model has never existed at the state level. Hence the hesitation. But Gailis knows what he needs to do to increase the pressure.
Background noise: Old town/Flash mob
The cathedral square in the old town. It looks like an ordinary autumn Tuesday, after work, light rain, many people moving about. Suddenly: (vocals) More than 400 singers have come to this planned flash mob, conductor-icon Maris Simais leads the brass band playing the pilgrims’ chorus from Tannhäuser. Eva Wagner-Pasquier is here, too, passing out buttons to bystanders and passers-by.
Eva Wagner-Pasquier: “I was, of course, enthusiastic and accepted the proposal immediately. That’s why I (...) walk(ed) with the pilgrim’s choir from the cathedral to Wagner Street.”
After the flash mob, Wagner’s former presence in Riga is more apparent than ever. Half the city is talking of nothing else. Behind the scenes, Eva Wagner-Pasquier has apparently put out the name of Yasuhisa Toyota for the renovations. He designed the acoustics in the Elbphilharmonie – and after all, he is also a Wagner fan. The euphoria is palpable.
Even the former Prime Minister is satisfied. He has generated a lot of attention for the topic, and because he has been telling everywhere that the government actually likes his idea of a renovation, expectations are high. The public will that was revealed by the flash mob is a powerful tool, says Gailis. However, the government has not yet commented on how things will proceed with the historic concert hall on Richard Wagner Street number 4.
Maris Gailis: No, but everybody knows, everybody knows. We are not Italians, we mostly keep silence, you know.
Author: But they cannot say no?
Maris Gailis: I think it’s difficult for them – but again, as I said all, are for it. The prime minister is very positive. (...) The public is asking for it. It’s a very powerful thing.”
Outro