The Wagner Theater in Riga

On September 8, our board member Federico Ginzburg Natalucci, representing our association, visited the ongoing renovation works at the Wagner Theater in Riga and conducted an interview with Māris Gailis, president of the Wagner Society of

Riga, about one of the most important Wagnerian projects carried out by a Wagner society in recent years.

The project, carried out together with his wife, Architect Zaiga Gaile, aims to definitively rebuild the theater where a young Wagner once served as Kapellmeister.

F: How different will this theater be from the Festspielhaus? Many people say it could become the second Wagner Theater in the world, so we would like to know in what ways it will differ.

M: Well, of course, very different! This theater will not resemble the Festspielhaus, since the old theater itself was already distinct. What we are doing now is remodeling to restore the old theater that Wagner knew in his times. But despite some fundamental differences, this theater was a great inspiration for Wagner when he planned and built his Festspielhaus.

To give you some context: The theater, originally simple and modestly constructed, had undergone a renovation shortly before Wagner’s arrival in 1837. The theater hall revealed few elements that Wagner experienced as profoundly significant. It is all written in his diary, and also in the works of scholars who studied Wagner’s life. They mention that these ideas came precisely from Riga. In fact, there are four main ideas that Wagner took from this theater:

The amphitheater. This was already a concept from Roman times, but Wagner decided that when he would build a theater in Bayreuth, the parkett should also follow the amphitheater form, like the Riga Theater had.

The lighting. The local rulers, who were very greedy, didn’t use candles in the auditorium—only on stage. Normally in Europe at that time, the hall was lit so people could admire how nicely everyone was dressed. But here the audience had to concentrate only on the stage. Wagner thought: “This is a very good feature, and I would like to have it.”

The depth of the orchestra pit. In Baroque theaters it was not very deep—you stayed half outside. This meant that the conductor often turned partly toward the audience, especially where the high-ranking persons were, because he didn’t want to show his back. But when the pit is lower, the conductor can turn fully toward the musicians. However, for Wagner the low pit was more about creating the orchestra a mysterious, disembodied sound source supporting the drama rather than a distracting visual element. Wagner found this idea very important. 

The subordination of sound. Half of the pit was already under the stage. In Bayreuth, Wagner developed this even further with the famous cover of the pit. But the principle was already here.

Of course, today things are different. To build a pit deep enough we must hydro-isolate very carefully—we actually go eight meters down. The acousticians from Nagata Acoustics advised going as deep as possible, explaining that the greater the height between stage and ceiling, the better the acoustics. But compromises are always necessary. We cannot make the pit larger, because we are working inside an old frame. We managed to go a bit deeper, but that is all we can do. So the orchestra pit remains small—big enough for 24, maybe 30 players.

F: Therefore, based on the size of the orchestra pit, there would be no possibility to perform Wagner’s great operas like Tristan und Isolde. Are you thinking about making some musical arrangements or leading a project to perform Wagner’s operas in a reduced version in this theater?

M: You know, on this stage The Flying Dutchman was performed for the second time in the world, after the premiere. This happened during Wagner’s lifetime. But, of course, this theater will not be for the grand Wagner operas.

What matters is that this is the theater where Wagner began his work, and we are very proud of these ideas. He came to Riga, then started to write Rienzi. He composed the first act and later finished it elsewhere.

We always say he was “born” here as a modern composer. Before that, he had written two or three operas in the old style, like Die Hochzeit or others.

F: Exactly. So the theater will have a normal season, not especially focused on Wagner because of these limitations?

M: No, I think this is a project theater. The decision about future seasons will depend on the direction and on the internal projects of the theater.

F: So, when could the theater finally open its doors? Do you have any project planned for the opening?

M: The plan is to open the theater in autumn 2028. By then, the opera should be ready—perhaps this year or next. Last year’s Richard Wagner Stipendienstiftung stipendiat, Krists Auznieks, a young composer who graduated as a Doctor of Composition from Yale and is now a professor at the Academy of Music, has been chosen to write it. He is considered a very promising and interesting composer.

The work will be in two acts, each about an hour long, with two female and two male soloist singers. The orchestra will be accompanied by the excellent Latvian Radio Choir—24 singers, considered one of the best choirs in the world. 

This opera is directly connected to Wagner. The composer will create a libretto using only Wagner’s own words—not only from librettos but also from essays and articles. The central idea recalls Wagner’s dramatic escape from Riga in 1839 on the ship Tethis, together with his wife Minna, his dog Robber, and nine crew members. During the storm, something like a time lapse occurs: Wagner’s future heroes appear, events unfold, and in the end, love triumphs, bringing them safely to London.

The music may also include Wagnerian motifs—though this will depend on the composer’s choices. What is certain is that he is already internationally recognized, with commissions and works performed abroad, and is seen as a very talented young artist.

For the production itself, we are waiting before deciding on other artists.

F:  One thing that will be very important for us is to know better the Wagner Society here in Riga. The main work of this society is focused on the theater, right?

M: Yes. It’s what we do. Actually, we started it already ten years ago. But the history of The Riga City Theatre started  almost 250 years ago when it was opened on 1782 as the first capital theatre building in Riga. 

For almost a century, this theatre, which housed drama, opera and ballet companies and troupes, was the centre of Riga’s cultural life.. Already in the first decades of its existence, it kept pace with the best theatres in Europe, especially those of Germany, and countless European virtuosos had given concerts there. The real flourishing of opera began in Riga in the second half of the 1830s, when in 1837– 1839, the young Richard Wagner was taking post as conductor there.

Theatre performances in the building were stopped in 1863, with the construction of the present National Opera House. The former theatre hall has been redesigned and rebuilt several times and did not survive till today. Much later, in 1988, the upper floor of the building, where the German Society of Riga “Musse” had been housed until the Second World War, was restored and the ballroom adapted for chamber music concerts.

The Wagner House (or Wagner Hall – Wagnersaal) – this historical house of Riga has been known by this name in the period from 1988 to 2007, when it housed an active concert hall on its top floor. However, the deterioration of the technical condition of the building led to the suspension of concerts in 2007.

When it was closed, musicians worried and wrote to the government: “Do something, it’s collapsing”, But the government never found money.

Then my wife told me, “Start to deal with it.” I investigated. I was not a Wagnerian then, I just liked music. I played violin in my childhood. With some friends—Latvia is a small community, we know each other in artistic and music circles—I invited Egils Siliņš, a very well-known Wagner singer, bass-baritone. He came, and some former politicians too. We organized, and then I realized that the Wagner Society did not exist here.

I needed some legal entity to start. The first idea was to ask the government to rent the house for 30 years, a private-public partnership. That way we could borrow money and pay it back. Everyone promised me, but governments changed, and I didn’t manage. Finally, I got angry, went to the Minister of Finance, and said, “What are you doing? It will collapse. It’s a shame.”

In the end, Parliament passed a special law: the house was given free of charge to our society, with the precondition that we had to find money and rebuild it, but only for cultural purposes—not a hotel, not a business.

So in our statutes, the primary mission is to re-educate about Wagner’s role in Riga and his connection with this theater, and therefore the ultimate expression of this mission is the rebuilding of the Wagner theater. I am not a musician, I am a developer and builder. When we finish, somebody else will come, an artistic director, to manage the theater on a high level and make it at least self-sufficient.

From the beginning we worked with Germany. We were introduced to Eva Wagner-Pasquier, and later invited her to be a patron. We now have three patrons, including presidents from Latvia and Germany. Through contacts, we got 5.2 million from Germany. Then, with that as co-financing, we got 15 million from Latvia. Together, 20 million.

But construction costs grew. Now the project is close to 50 million. We need private donations. We already got 300,000 from a cement producer, 700,000 from Messerschmitt Stiftung in Munich for restoring the stairs, and we are selling theater chairs with different prices depending on location. We also hope to receive more from companies like Roche.

And Wagner Societies in Germany help too—sometimes giving 10,000, sometimes 100,000. It all helps us continue.

F: It is truly fascinating the work you are doing, and I believe this represents one of the, if not the, largest projects currently being carried out by a Wagner society.

It has been a pleasure to share this interview with you, Maris. From our side, as the RWV Avellino, we are delighted to help spread this wonderful and ambitious project throughout Italy and the world. We hope that our associations can grow closer and lead to more collaborations in the future.

M: I thank you. We are very happy that our work is being shared in other parts of Italy, especially since we recently presented the theater model in Venice, and we hope to continue collaborating between our associations.