Wagner-Dampf: Steam in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Operatic Production

Here, Kreuzer addresses the ways in which specific visual effects may become part of operatic works. Observing the ubiquity of vapors in the libretto, score, stagings, and reception of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, she analyzes steam as both a material of and metaphor for operatic production. Through the transitory and multivalent uses and appearance of steam, she proposes, people might reread the theory and history of staging since the mid-19th century in its relation to other cultural forms as well as the many faces of modernity.