Räntchen

A question for knowledgeable Wagnerians. Could one of you explain to me, please, the origin of the deeply irritating and misleading "woman in horns" image which, along with caricatures of Luciano Pavarotti, seems long to have been the stock illustration — verbal and visual — of opera. Who is she, and who gave her horns?

I mean, I assume she's meant to be Brünnhilde, but as far as I can see, Brünnhilde's helmet has wings, not horns. After all, she's a Valkyrie, not a Viking I stand corrected — an email from somebody who, unlike me, actually knows (a lot) about these things points out that Valkyries are, in fact, Vikings. I guess what I meant was that she's not one a cartoon Viking warrior; anyway, Vikings apparently didn't go about it horned helmets either. Every time I come across an instance of this — especially from a source which ought to know better — I want to scream. The "woman in horns" exemplifies all that apparently drives people away from opera, so why oh why do I see it on products (books, CDs, etc.) apparently designed to draw more people in? Why not a photo of Anna Netrebko in her Salzburg Traviata dress? Maybe not exactly that, but you know what I mean — if you're trying to convince people to abandon their preconceptions, stop perpetuating the damn things. Surprise them. Say yes, this is opera too and it's not nearly so laughable or so disconcerting as that creature in the horns.

I've been troubled by this for a while. Well, forever really. I bring it up today because I've seen a newly published book by Brian Castles-Onion titled Losing the Plot in Opera. A (very) quick flick suggests it may actually be quite readable and not infested with myths and clichés — the first page I opened to at random mentioned Anna Moffo, which is a reasonably good sign — but the cover caused me (and this isn't poetic license — I was unobserved at the time) to stomp my feet like a two year old and seethe. I don't blame Mr Castles-Onion for the cover. I do blame Exisle. Look, I understand that it's a very recognisable image. A large woman in a cheap Viking costume makes people think opera even before they read the title. It doesn't follow, however, that this is a happy state of affairs. Time for a change — it has to start somewhere.

Update: As the above-mentioned email and comments below indicate, the whole question of horns, both on Vikings and on Wagnerian characters, is evidently far more complex (and downright interesting) than I had imagined. Not at all a simple case of black-and-white anachronisms or error. But the other half of this rant remains unclouded; however complex her horns might be, the woman wearing them still ain't a fair or useful representation of the infinite variety of opera.

Comments

[Thomasina]

My suspicion is that Hoffnung is to blame for this enduring image. Will investigate.

[Thomasina]

A dubiously plausible account from the Straight Dope suggests that a Swedish illustrator Gustav Malmström may have been the first to give Vikings horns in the 19th century, influenced by reports of horned helmets in ceremonial usage.

Wagner gets a mention with (I was surprised to learn) *Tristan* as a possible cuplrit: "…Wagner had also used a horned helmet in the original production of Tristan und Isolde in 1865. This is even further from Vikings, because the story is a Celtic, not a Germanic, legend." [Indeed.]

Furthermore "the only major figure in the whole [Ring] cycle who wore a horned helmet in the early productions was Hunding. …Wagner and his costume and set designer Carl Emil Doepler probably borrowed the idea not from the few scattered images of Vikings wearing horned helmets, but from the costumes in stage plays about ancient pre-Viking Germans."

By the way, Doepler's costume design for Hundig can be seen on this Danish website here: http://tinyurl.com/6kuysb

And on this German site (http://tinyurl.com/58yefl) there is towards the bottom a picture of three characters from the original Siegfried who are most definitely wearing horned helmets. Same page, Hagen's helmet accessories defy description.

But of course, these are all *male* characters (presumably in Tristan also). In my rapid search of historical pictures I have yet to find a female Wagner character with horns, only wings.

Gerard Hoffnung, working in the 50s, probably wasn't the first to depict a fat lady in a horned helmet as the archetypal opera singer, but may have been drawing on a rich tradition of caricature dating back to Wagner's time. Personally, I'm quite fond of Hoffnung's male opera singer, with knobs for "sob", "wobble" etc. affixed to his vest.

[Sarah]

Now that's what I call an answer! Very very interesting. At least there is some kind of precedent for Wagner=Horns, even if not on women.
I guess I can't be mad at Hoffnung, since he is wonderful. If only the image had persisted in the same kind of spirit.

[Hamish (Youtube: "Operaphile")]

I *love* how the blurb for the book lumps the worlds of Wagner and Glibert & Sullivan together as an example of "specialised" hehehee

[Margaret]

Stereotypes are just something we have to live with and once fixed, very hard to change. (I should know, I'm a librarian - just love Rachel Weisz in The Mummy.) I seem to remember seeing photos of Anna Russell long ago in horned helmet, but the image was probably already established then.
I haven't seen the book yet, but my favourite opera book is Denis Forman's Good Opera Guide. Loads of information about individual operas and opera in general and hilarious plot summaries.