"Lohengrin" was premiered in Weimar in 1850 under the direction of Franz
Liszt. The performance was a triumph for the composer, who, however, was
unable to attend: he had been exiled for taking part in the 1848 uprisings
in Dresden. The Bayreuth Festival production has many of the same haunted,
obsessive qualities that mark such Werner Herzog films as "Aguirre, The
Wrath of God" and "Fitzcarraldo". The internationally acclaimed
filmmaker's heroes (often played by the late Klaus Kinski) are generally
lonely, enigmatic men; in Lohengrin, Herzog found a truly congenial
subject. With its probing images and lavish settings by Henning von
Gierke, the production is not only intelligent, fascinating and coherent,
but also simply gorgeous. The press unanimously hailed Paul Frey's "limpid
and tender voice" and Cheryl Studer's "marvelous musicality and
transparent timbre".