Massimo Mila on Wagner's Bayreuth: The Deep Realism of Myth

An article by Cesare Galla and Anita Romanello on doppiozero.com revisits a 1980 essay by Italian music critic Massimo Mila, originally published in the journal Cultura e scuola and later included in his book Brahms e Wagner (Einaudi, 1994). In the essay, Mila reflects on the challenge of penetrating the smoky metaphors of Wagnerian myth to discover that Siegfried and his companions are people like us. He argues that once one recognizes the profound realism beneath the veil of myth, Wagner's Ring becomes an ideal and eternal story of humanity, a mirror of our lives. Mila cites Patrice Chéreau's controversial 1976 Bayreuth production, which set the opera in modern times with Fricka in evening dress and Wotan as a dapper fifty-year-old adventurer, as an example that, far from being senseless, reveals the timeless relevance of the work. The article discusses the enduring significance of the Bayreuth Festival as a sanctuary for Wagner's art.