Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

The introduction of Richard
Wagner’s music dramas in
Stockholm
The reception of Die Meistersinger and Die Walküre
Joakim Tillman
195
There were several phases in the Swedish reception of Richard Wagner’s
works. The first period was roughly between 1857 and 1884 (described in
Percy 1936, Gademan 1996 and Salmi 2005). It began with concert performances
of the Tannhäuser overture, and continued with the introduction of
Wagner’s operas at The Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> (Kungliga <strong>Opera</strong>n): Rienzi
(1865), Der fliegende Holländer (1872) Lohengrin (1874), and Tannhäuser (in
1876 as a special performance at Mindre Teatern [The Smaller Theatre],
and in 1878 at the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong>). The second period began in 1884
with a performance of Andreas Hallén’s (1846-1925) Harald der Wiking (at
the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong>, translated into Swedish as Harald Viking), the
first Swedish opera more substantially influenced by Wagner. This work
paved the way for Wagner’s music dramas in Stockholm: Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg (1887), Die Walküre (1895), Das Rheingold (1901), Siegfried
(1905), Götterdämmerung (1907) and Tristan und Isolde (1910). Parsifal was