Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

He knelt, removed her knee and leg guards, the pointed breast plates, opened her cuirass.The audience watched breathlessly. What did the Iron Woman wear underneath her armor? Well, of course, a simple,flowing blue and white dress gathered by a golden belt and across her voluminous breasts the two lions of theHofbräuhaus with knotted tails.The black King removed her helmet and a coy maiden emerged, flushed purple from the heat, her blond hair parted inthe center into thick long braids.The orchestra played another piece from Wagner’s Nibelungen. Brunhilde disarmed and charmed by the black snakemanunfastened her golden belt and handed it to Orpheus.The audience roared.Led by King Orpheus and his Teutonic Bride the entire stage—Brazilians, Italians, Germans, and extras—descended intothe audience.The orchestra played a slow South American dance. Patiently Orpheus taught Bavaria the new steps, while on thedarkened stage Bavaria’s armor and the barga were pushed into the wings. Suddenly the Brazilian court caughtthemselves partners from the audience. A chaotic, free for all erupted, great merriment, everyone tried the new dancesteps.In the general confusion Konrad was picked up by a masked, dark-haired Italian beauty. The taciturn lady smiledenigmatically. A strange feeling made him shiver. The memory of New Year’s Eve with Alexandra at the Artist’s Clubappeared from the past. The taciturn, unknown-woman danced wonderfully. Before he could speak to her, shedisappeared in the crowd, and he found himself in the arms of another dancer. Confused Konrad stepped on his newpartner’s toes.The Herald announced the second part of the evening’s presentation:Resurrection, Redemption, and Apotheosis.A search light focused on a tombstone lying at center stage. Clouds of swirling fog. Everyone craned their necks.Resurrection: slowly the tombstone lifted and a man in a Jacobean cap, long hair, and a green, velveteen great-cloakemerged from the grave. Now everyone could see the tombstone’s inscription clearly:RICHARD WAGNER1813–1883Fog enshrouded, accompanied by the strains of the orchestra, Wagner raised his hands and began to sing with anunexpectedly beautiful bass voice."Mein Gott!" Konrad exclaimed, "Parsifal, Act Three, Gurnemanz in the Good Friday Scene!"As the fog abated, the stage became bathed in warm light and from the rafters a fountain descended, Kundry sitting onits rim.Incongruously Kundry wore a Bavarian dirndl.Kundry and Wagner joined in a duet.Konrad could now see Kundry clearly. She was not the usual witch-mother-temptress of the opera, but a beautiful,young, Raphaelite Madonna, with large, slightly protruding Italian eyes and chestnut-brown hair above a long neck. Aresonant contralto voice added to her mystery.But why her dirndl costume? And where was Parsifal?A gasp went through the spectators. Above their heads a man suspended from a rope in the ceiling came flying in abillowing coat across the entire house. Frantic applause. He landed on stage with an elegant flourish.While Wagner needed a tombstone inscription to identify him, everyone recognized the newcomer by his erminetrimmed,royal blue coat: "Bravo, Ludwig!" The ‘mad king’, the builder of extravagant, theatrical castles, the romantic,mythical darling of Bavaria. Ludwig bowed, the ovations became shouts, "Bravo!" and turned into rhythmic chanting. "Wewant our King Ludwig back!"Wagner’s Easter Scene took an unforeseeable turn.As King Ludwig sang to Kundry, the composer receded into the background.Suddenly the orchestra stopped and Ludwig exclaimed in a hallucinating voice: "Sissy, bist Du es, meine Angebetete?"Sissy, is that you, my adored Love?Sissy—because of whom Ludwig had drowned himself—walked towards him. He took off his coat to reveal a Tyroliancostume of leather shorts, knee socks, and mountain boots. He kicked up a Schuhplattler, his nailed heels pounding thestage.Ludwig began to yodel, Sissy his echo.To thunderous applause Sissy put her arms around him. With a bang a cannon snowed confetti from above. Embracingeach other still yodeling, the two floated upwards into a snow-clouded heaven.Redemption and Apotheosis.The orchestra intoned a Strauss waltz, with renewed fervor the obsessed crowd drowned itself in its narcissistic101