I’m sitting with my bass in the bowels of the orchestra pit. The house lights dim to total blackness. The only thing I can see is the pen-light the conductor starts waving.  I play a low Eb and count 136 bars as the orchestra gradually builds.  I turn the page. The world of Richard Wagner’s immense “Ring of the Nibelung” has begun.  How did I get here?

 

West Palm Beach, Florida – Spring 1996.  I’m driving on I-95 to a performance of “The Merry Window” by Franz Lemar with the Palm Beach Opera where I work as principle bass.   I really loath this opera which represents to me the decline of western musical taste.  On my car radio I hear an ad for Arizona Opera’s production of the “Ring”.  “God”, I think, “I could do that!”  Something with real artistic depth and meaning.  Maybe I’ll call them and ask if they need a bass player. If I tell I auditioned for Maestro Guadagno for my job here they might hire me.  You don’t get hired by Guadagno unless you’re really good, they just might go for it.

 

So, I call Arizona Opera and talk to one of the top guys, Dean Ryan.  “So Guadagno hired you as principle bass huh?  You must be really good.  So do you want the job?”  I started to panic because I’ll have to turn down work at the Burt Reynold’s Dinner Theater and a really good gig on a luxury cruise ship.  Both of these jobs pay more than the “Ring”.  I ask my wife Nancy what I should do.  “Well MIK, what do you want to do?”  “Uh, I want to play the Ring.”  “So go play the Ring! I wouldn’t want to live with you always regretting that you never played it.” 

 

I get ready to drive to Arizona.  The opera sends me the four operas that comprise the 16 hour cycle (no cuts!).  I buy a 1953 recording and start to work.  The bass is the power behind the great and terrible engine that drives the ring and it takes a lot of preparation.  Lots of heavy licks and technical difficulties.  It takes a lot of time.

 

I drive from West Palm Beach to Phoenix where we have a week of orchestra rehearsals.  The conductor is Stephan Minde, a German guy who knows the “Ring” inside and out and speaks with a funny German accent.  The orchestra is not as good as any of the recordings I’ve heard but there are some very strong players.  The first time the horn player does Siegfried’s Horn all the orchestra cheers.  There is a full complement of Wagner tubas and six harps, all out of tune, but they get better. 

 

On my time off I train for my assault on the Grand Canyon doing baby hikes around Phoenix.  The “Ring” and the Grand Canyon have a lot in common.  They are both immense and deep and to fully experience them preparation is required.  Lots of people hear the Ring without studying it, just like those people who go to the Grand Canyon and just walk around the rim.  I was determined to plumb the depths of both the Ring and the Canyon. 

 

I read Owen Lee’s great introduction to the Ring a dozen times trying to get a grip on it.  I looked for what Thomas Mann calls “A presentient complex of mother-fixation, sexual desire and angst” in the bass part.  I drink German beer to further my understanding of German culture. Anything for art.  A friend gives me a comic book on the Ring that follows the libretto almost literally.  After work I go to a club called “The Jungle”.  The stage the dancers use has a waterfall and the girls cavort under it while I drink my German beer and watch the “Rhinemaidens” at play.  A deep understanding off the Ring begins to glow within me as I watch and drink.

 

Finally, we move the orchestra to Flagstaff where we will perform.  I get up at 4:30 to tackle the canyon.  I carry 5 liters of water and high-energy food as I start down the South Kaibab Trail.  There are warning signs not to attempt a trip to the bottom and back in one day, which what I’m planning.   I see “Wotan’s Throne”, a huge formation that is surreal in its majesty and grandeur.  In a few hours I’m looking up at it instead of down.  I have descended a vertical mile into the depths of the gorge.  “Wow!  This is just like the Ring, really deep and really awesome and really tough!”  I have lunch at Phantom Ranch and start my trip out on the “Bright Angel” trail.  As I plod my way out, I’m surrounded by primordial formations from the beginning of the world.  Truly an environment worth of the Gods that Wagner has brought to life.  I’m inspired by the power of the Ring and I huff and puff my way out of the Great and Terrible Canyon.  I made it!

 

I attended every technical rehearsal of the Ring so I can see what is happening on stage.  A huge screen has hundreds of different slides projected on it to set the mood.  Hi-tech “cyber-lights” add to the effect.  The “Rhinemaidens” aren’t as cute as the ones at the club in Phoenix, but they sing very well indeed.  The Dragon is scary; I learn that there are 5 crew people inside making him move and breath fire. The singers, mostly American, make me proud of them.  I am the only orchestra member at these rehearsals and I feel blessed to be there.  During the day I go to the library and try to read some of the arcane books about the Ring. I don’t understand most of it but I’m sure none of these authors has ever played the bass part to the Ring.  So how much can they “really” know? 

 

Finally, the performances begin. These are the longest shows I’ve ever played.  “Gotterdammerung” is 5 ½ hours!  I concentrate heavily and when I have a few bars out I get to look at the super-titles to see what the singers are singing about.  Lots of passionate love stuff that makes me crazy.  Most of the time I’m too busy playing my monster-licks to think about the psychological aspects of the myth being played out onstage. But I’m definitely not just playing notes.  Something of the meaning of life and love and true power is coming out in my little bass part.  I’m happy that I never hack at it, and actually proud of my meager contribution to the project.

 

I’ve been touched by the power of the Ring and the Canyon and my soul has been seared by both.  I’ll carry the psychic energy of the hundreds of musical motives along with powerful images of the glorious Grand Canyon within me forever.  I’m glad I took the job!