The Communist Walküre: Eisenstein’s Vision for Marrying German Wagnerism with Soviet Communism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein was commissioned to produce Wagner’s Die Walküre in 1940, after the signing of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, to demonstrate Soviet loyalty to Germany during a time of hostile relations. This would be the last Ring performance in the Soviet Union before it was banished for thirty bitter years, but the politico-ideological underpinnings of this fascinating historic production have been largely overlooked. This article provides a close reading of Eisenstein’s political intentions for this production and posits that he promoted Wagner as the representative ideology of Germany, pairing it with Soviet communism in order to depict a Soviet-German union without endorsing German politics.