Four hours of music, and yet the most memorable figure in the Royal Opera’s Die Walküre – the second instalment of company’s new Ring cycle, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Antonio Pappano – is silent. Just as in Das Rheingold, which opened here in September 2023, we are seeing events through the conduit of Erda, the ancient Earth Mother, who dreams this world into being as she slowly spins, naked, on a turntable at the front of the stage.
It’s no detriment to a singing cast that’s very fine – and in the case of Natalya Romaniw’s role debut as Sieglinde, outstanding – to say that this Erda, played by the actor Illona Linthwaite, is mesmerising. She’s in every scene. She blesses the incestuous union of Siegmund and Sieglinde, strewing flowers like a figure from Botticelli’s Spring. And when Fricka enters in a vintage car, all fur-coat and fury, who do you think is her chauffeur? It’s almost as if Kosky is using Erda’s physical presence to add to the network of musical themes used by Wagner to represent characters and ideas.
