Die Nibelungen: (Rolf Wilhelm) One of the greatest
legends and myths in the history of Germany has been the story of
Siegfried the Warrior and the Nibelungen (or Nibelungs), a royal family
maintaining a wealth of cursed magic gold. Dating back to the 13th
Century, the epic combines pagan symbols with the courtly protocol of a
Christian world, mostly dedicated to the notion of loyalty, fate,
betrayal, and leadership. On film, the story has been produced a few
times by German studios, including its most famous adaptation in the
late 1960's. The time was right in the 60's for epics on film, and the
German production of
Die Nibelungen was so massive that it was
divided into two separate pictures. While many of the large-scale sets,
costume design, and musical score would mimic the styles of Hollywood's
established norms for biblical productions, this Nordic tale also has
some fantasy elements that would fit into early 1980's cinema, including
dragons and sorcery. For American viewers, not many will recognize the
cast or production crew, nor for that matter will they likely grasp the
significance of the tale to the region. But one element that crosses all
cultures is a classic epic score, and collectors around the world would
be impressed by the dynamic range of Rolf Wilhelm's vast recording for
the first film in the series,
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried. Born in
Bavaria in the 1920's, Wilhelm's career began in 1954 and ended in 1992,
never straying too far from German cinema, and concentrating on mostly
television scores in the 1980's and 1990's. His music does not get much
recognition outside of Germany, though film score collectors in that
nation will recognize him as one of the foremost artists the nation has
ever produced in the genre. His scores for the two
Die Nibelungen
films would differ due to budgetary constraints, with the first score
receiving the benefit of a full, 80-member symphonic ensemble and an
accompanying choir. Wilhelm's epic style doesn't differ much from the
Hollywood studio masters, maintaining the same melodramatic fanfares and
lush themes typical to the genre.
No fewer than four primary thematic ideas exist in the
first
Die Nibelungen, and while the primary theme shares a
high-class brass nobility with the theme for Siegfried, it's really
Siegfried's ultra-heroic theme that stays in the memory. The
rhythmically bouncing title theme, as well as segments of Siegfried's
theme, are retained in the second film,
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds
Rache, though Siegfried's tragic death at the end of the first film
would limit Wilhelm's ability to carry this strength over to the second
picture. Also of note are a lovely string theme for the courtly love, as
well as a more dissonant representation for the dragon Fafner. The
opening suite arrangement on the 1991 album contains many of Wilhelm's
major ideas, and will rival scores such as
The Vikings in
compilations. Included in that opening, incidentally, is the CCC studio
fanfare written by German composer Martin Boettcher. The use of the
choir is perhaps a tad disappointing, given that its two or three
appearances in the score are not mixed with the orchestra. By the time
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache would be produced in 1967, the
budget for the franchise had dwindled and Wilhelm was forced to cut the
string section of his recordings for the film. While this does detract
from much of the romanticism in the score (the second is far more
militaristic), Wilhelm did transfer some of the recordings from the
first score into the second film. On album, the first CD of music from
either
Die Nibelungen film was released on a limited German album
in 1991. With only 500 copies pressed, this item was in high demand for
several years, until the German Cobra Records label released both scores
in one set in 2001. Stereo tapes were still available for
Siegfried, and the score is split into smaller, more distinct
cues. Only 38 minutes of
Kriemhilds Rache were still available on
Wilhelm's older second generation tapes, yielding sound quality issues
with that score on the set. Both the 1991 album and the 2001 complete
set feature strong documentation about the scores, and as for the music
itself, the 1991 album features the best presentation of music from
either film.
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Both albums' insert include extensive information about the scores and films,
including commentary by Wilhelm on each track.
