Der Ring des Nibelungen - wikipedia Der Ring des Nibelungen This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2017 ) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( April 2017 ) Der Ring des Nibelungen Music dramas by Richard Wagner Scene 1 of Das Rheingold from the first Bayreuth Festival production of the Bühnenfestspiel in 1876 Translation The Ring of the Nibelung Librettist Wagner Language German Premiere As a cycle : 13 August 1876 ( 1876 - 08 - 13 ) Das Rheingold ( previously performed separately in 1869 ) 14 August 1876 Die Walküre ( previously performed separately in 1870 ) 16 August 1876 Siegfried 17 August 1876 Götterdämmerung Bayreuth Festspielhaus Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung ), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German - language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied. The composer termed the cycle a `` Bühnenfestspiel '' ( stage festival play ), structured in three days preceded by a Vorabend ( `` preliminary evening '' ). It is often referred to as the Ring Cycle, Wagner 's Ring, or simply The Ring. Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty - six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four parts that constitute the Ring cycle are, in sequence : Das Rheingold ( The Rhinegold ) Die Walküre ( The Valkyrie ) Siegfried Götterdämmerung ( Twilight of the Gods ) Although individual works of the sequence have occasionally been performed separately, Wagner intended them to be performed in series. The first performance as a cycle opened the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, beginning with Das Rheingold on 13 August and ending with Götterdämmerung on 17 August. Opera stage director Anthony Freud stated that Der Ring des Nibelungen `` marks the high - water mark of our art form, the most massive challenge any opera company can undertake. '' Contents 1 Title 2 Content 3 List of characters 4 Story 5 Concept 6 Music 6.1 Leitmotifs 6.2 Instrumentation 6.3 Tonality 7 Composition of the Ring cycle 7.1 The text 7.2 The music 8 Performances 8.1 First productions 8.2 Notable modern productions 9 Recordings of the Ring cycle 10 Other treatments of the Ring cycle 11 Books cited 12 References and notes 13 Further reading 14 External links Title Wagner 's title is most literally rendered in English as The Ring of the Nibelung. The Nibelung of the title is the dwarf Alberich, and the ring in question is the one he fashions from the Rhine Gold. The title therefore denotes `` Alberich 's Ring ''. The `` - en '' suffix in `` Nibelungen '' can occur in a genitive singular, accusative singular, dative singular, or a plural in any case ( in weak masculine German nouns ), but the article `` des '' immediately preceding makes it clear that the genitive singular is intended here. `` Nibelungen '' is occasionally mistaken as a plural, but the Ring of the Nibelungs ( in German Der Ring der Nibelungen ) is incorrect. Content This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( September 2012 ) The cycle is a work of extraordinary scale. Perhaps the most outstanding facet of the monumental work is its sheer length : a full performance of the cycle takes place over four nights at the opera, with a total playing time of about 15 hours, depending on the conductor 's pacing. The first and shortest work, Das Rheingold, typically lasts two and a half hours, while the final and longest, Götterdämmerung, takes up to five hours, excluding intervals. The cycle is modelled after ancient Greek dramas that were presented as three tragedies and one satyr play. The Ring proper begins with Die Walküre and ends with Götterdämmerung, with Rheingold as a prelude. Wagner called Das Rheingold a Vorabend or `` Preliminary Evening '', and Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung were subtitled First Day, Second Day and Third Day, respectively, of the trilogy proper. The scale and scope of the story is epic. It follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and several mythical creatures over the eponymous magic ring that grants domination over the entire world. The drama and intrigue continue through three generations of protagonists, until the final cataclysm at the end of Götterdämmerung. The music of the cycle is thick and richly textured, and grows in complexity as the cycle proceeds. Wagner wrote for an orchestra of gargantuan proportions, including a greatly enlarged brass section with new instruments such as the Wagner tuba, bass trumpet and contrabass trombone. Remarkably, he uses a chorus only relatively briefly, in acts 2 and 3 of Götterdämmerung, and then mostly of men with just a few women. He eventually had a purpose - built theatre constructed, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, in which to perform this work. The theatre has a special stage that blends the huge orchestra with the singers ' voices, allowing them to sing at a natural volume. The result was that the singers did not have to strain themselves vocally during the long performances. List of characters This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2017 ) Gods Mortals Valkyries Rhinemaidens, Giants & Nibelungs Other characters Wotan, King of the Gods ( god of light, air, and wind ) ( bass - baritone ) Fricka, Wotan 's wife, goddess of marriage ( mezzo - soprano ) Freia, Fricka 's sister, goddess of love, youth, and beauty ( soprano ) Donner, Fricka 's brother, god of thunder ( baritone ) Froh, Fricka 's brother, god of spring / happiness ( tenor ) Erda, goddess of wisdom / fate / Earth ( contralto ) Loge, demigod of fire ( tenor ) The Norns, the weavers of fate, daughters of Erda ( contralto, mezzo - soprano, soprano ) Wälsungs Siegmund, mortal son of Wotan ( tenor ) Sieglinde, his twin sister ( soprano ) Siegfried, their son ( tenor ) Neidings Hunding, Sieglinde 's husband, chief of the Neidings ( bass ) Gibichungs Gunther, King of the Gibichungs ( baritone ) Gutrune, his sister ( soprano ) Hagen, their half - brother, and Alberich 's son ( bass ) A male choir of Gibichung vassals and a small female choir of Gibichung women Brünnhilde ( soprano ) Waltraute ( mezzo - soprano ) Helmwige ( soprano ) Gerhilde ( soprano ) Siegrune ( mezzo - soprano ) Schwertleite ( mezzo - soprano ) Ortlinde ( soprano ) Grimgerde ( mezzo - soprano ) Rossweisse ( mezzo - soprano ) Rhinemaidens Woglinde ( soprano ) Wellgunde ( soprano ) Flosshilde ( mezzo - soprano ) Giants Fasolt ( bass - baritone / high bass ) Fafner, his brother, later turned into a dragon ( bass ) Nibelungs Alberich ( bass - baritone ) Mime, his brother, and Siegfried 's foster father ( tenor ) The Voice of a Woodbird ( soprano ) Story This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2017 ) Further information : Der Ring des Nibelungen : Composition of the poem, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung Illustration of Brünnhilde by Odilon Redon, 1885 The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens in the river Rhine. The Ring itself as described by Wagner is a Rune - magic taufr ( `` tine '', or `` talisman '' ) intended to rule the feminine multiplicative power by a fearful magical act termed as ' denial of love ' ( `` Liebesverzicht '' ). With the assistance of the god Loge, Wotan -- the chief of the gods -- steals the ring from Alberich, but is forced to hand it over to the giants, Fafner and Fasolt in payment for building the home of the gods, Valhalla, or they will take Freia, who provides the gods with the golden apples that keep them young. Wotan 's schemes to regain the ring, spanning generations, drive much of the action in the story. His grandson, the mortal Siegfried, wins the ring by slaying Fafner ( who slew Fasolt for the ring ) -- as Wotan intended -- but is eventually betrayed and slain as a result of the intrigues of Alberich 's son Hagen, who wants the ring for himself. Finally, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde -- Siegfried 's lover and Wotan 's daughter who lost her immortality for defying her father in an attempt to save Siegfried 's father Sigmund -- returns the ring to the Rhine maidens as she commits suicide on Siegfried 's funeral pyre. Hagen is drowned as he attempts to recover the ring. In the process, the gods and Valhalla are destroyed. Details of the storylines can be found in the articles on each music drama. Wagner created the story of the Ring by fusing elements from many German and Scandinavian myths and folk tales. The Old Norse Edda supplied much of the material for Das Rheingold, while Die Walküre was largely based on the Völsunga saga. Siegfried contains elements from the Eddur, the Völsunga saga and Thidrekssaga. The final Götterdämmerung, draws from the 12th - century German poem, the Nibelungenlied, which appears to have been the original inspiration for the Ring. The Ring has been the subject of myriad interpretations. For example, George Bernard Shaw, in The Perfect Wagnerite, argues for a view of The Ring as an essentially socialist critique of industrial society and its abuses. Robert Donington in Wagner 's Ring And Its Symbols interprets it in terms of Jungian psychology, as an account of the development of unconscious archetypes in the mind, leading towards individuation. Concept In his earlier operas ( up to and including Lohengrin ) Wagner 's style had been based, rather than on the Italian style of opera, on the German style as developed by Carl Maria von Weber, with elements of the grand opera style of Giacomo Meyerbeer. However he came to be dissatisfied with such a format as a means of artistic expression. He expressed this clearly in his essay ' A Communication to My Friends ', ( 1851 ) in which he condemned the majority of modern artists, in painting and in music, as `` feminine... the world of art close fenced from Life, in which Art plays with herself. ' Where however the impressions of Life produce an overwhelming ' poetic force ', we find the ' masculine, the generative path of Art '. Wagner unfortunately found that his audiences were not willing to follow where he led them : The public, by their enthusiastic reception of Rienzi and their cooler welcome of the Flying Dutchman, had plainly shown me what I must set before them if I sought to please. I completely undeceived their expectations ; they left the theatre, after the first performance of Tannhäuser, ( 1845 ) in a confused and discontented mood. -- The feeling of utter loneliness in which I now found myself, quite unmanned me... My Tannhäuser had appealed to a handful of intimate friends alone. Finally Wagner announces : I shall never write an Opera more. As I have no wish to invent an arbitrary title for my works, I will call them Dramas... I propose to produce my myth in three complete dramas, preceded by a lengthy Prelude ( Vorspiel )... At a specially - appointed Festival, I propose, some future time, to produce those three Dramas with their Prelude, in the course of three days and a fore - evening. The object of this production I shall consider thoroughly attained, if I and my artistic comrades, the actual performers, shall within these four evenings succeed in artistically conveying my purpose to the true Emotional ( not the Critical ) Understanding of spectators who shall have gathered together expressly to learn it. This is his first public announcement of the form of what would become the Ring cycle. In accordance with the ideas expressed in his essays of the period 1849 -- 51 ( including the `` Communication '' but also `` Opera and Drama '' and `` The Artwork of the Future '' ), the four parts of the Ring were originally conceived by Wagner to be free of the traditional operatic concepts of aria and operatic chorus. The Wagner scholar Curt von Westernhagen identified three important problems discussed in `` Opera and Drama '' which were particularly relevant to the Ring cycle : the problem of unifying verse stress with melody ; the disjunctions caused by formal arias in dramatic structure, and the way in which opera music could be organised on a different basis of organic growth and modulation ; and the function of musical motifs in linking elements of the plot whose connections might otherwise be inexplicit. This became known as the leitmotif technique ( see below ), although Wagner himself did not use this word. However, Wagner relaxed some aspects of his self - imposed restrictions somewhat as the work progressed. As George Bernard Shaw sardonically ( and slightly unfairly ) noted of the last opera Götterdämmerung : And now, O Nibelungen Spectator, pluck up ; for all allegories come to an end somewhere... The rest of what you are going to see is opera, and nothing but opera. Before many bars have been played, Siegfried and the wakened Brynhild, newly become tenor and soprano, will sing a concerted cadenza ; plunge on from that to a magnificent love duet... The work which follows, entitled Night Falls on the Gods ( Shaw 's translation of Götterdämmerung ), is a thorough grand opera. Music This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2017 ) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( April 2017 ) Leitmotifs As a significant element in the Ring and his subsequent works, Wagner adopted the use of leitmotifs, which are recurring themes or harmonic progressions. They musically denote an action, object, emotion, character, or other subject mentioned in the text or presented onstage. Wagner referred to them in `` Opera and Drama '' as `` guides - to - feeling '', describing how they could be used to inform the listener of a musical or dramatic subtext to the action onstage in the same way as a Greek chorus did for the theatre of ancient Greece. Although other composers before Wagner had already used similar techniques, the Ring was a landmark in the extent to which they were employed, as well as in the ingenuity of their combination and development. Instrumentation Wagner made significant innovations in orchestration in this work. He wrote for a very large orchestra, using the whole range of instruments used singly or in combination to express the great range of emotion and events of the drama. Wagner even commissioned the production of new instruments, including the Wagner tuba, invented to fill a gap he found between the tone qualities of the horn and the trombone, as well as variations of existing instruments, such as the bass trumpet and a contrabass trombone with a double slide. He also developed the `` Wagner bell '', enabling the bassoon to reach the low A-natural, whereas normally B - flat is the instrument 's lowest note. If such a bell is not to be used, then a contrabassoon should be employed. All four parts have a very similar instrumentation. The core ensemble of instruments are one piccolo, three flutes ( third doubling second piccolo ), three oboes, cor anglais ( doubling fourth oboe ), three soprano clarinets, one bass clarinet, three bassoons ; eight horns ( fifth through eight doubling wagner tubas ), three trumpets, one bass trumpet, three tenor trombones, one contrabass trombone ( doubling bass trombone ), one contrabass tuba ; a percussion section with 4 timpani ( requiring two players ), triangle, cymbals, glockenspiel ; six harps and a string section consisting of 16 first and second violins, 12 violas, 12 violoncellos, and 8 double basses. Das Rheingold requires one bass drum, one tam - tam, one onstage harp and 18 onstage anvils. Die Walküre requires one snare drum, tam - tam, and an on - stage steerhorn. Siegfried requires one onstage cor anglais and one onstage horn. Götterdämmerung requires five onstage horns and four onstage steerhorns, one of them to be blown by Hagen. Tonality Much of the Ring, especially from Siegfried act 3 onwards, can not be said to be in traditional, clearly defined keys for long stretches, but rather in ' key regions ', each of which flows smoothly into the following. This fluidity avoided the musical equivalent of clearly defined musical paragraphs, and assisted Wagner in building the work 's huge structures. Tonal indeterminacy was heightened by the increased freedom with which he used dissonance and chromaticism. Chromatically altered chords are used very liberally in the Ring, and this feature, which is also prominent in Tristan und Isolde, is often cited as a milestone on the way to Arnold Schoenberg 's revolutionary break with the traditional concept of key and his dissolution of consonance as the basis of an organising principle in music. Composition of the Ring cycle This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2017 ) The text Main article : Der Ring des Nibelungen : Composition of the poem In summer 1848 Wagner wrote The Nibelung Myth as Sketch for a Drama, combining the medieval sources previously mentioned into a single narrative, very similar to the plot of the eventual Ring cycle, but nevertheless with substantial differences. Later that year he began writing a libretto entitled Siegfrieds Tod ( `` Siegfried 's Death '' ). He was possibly stimulated by a series of articles in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, inviting composers to write a ' national opera ' based on the Nibelungenlied, a 12th - century High German poem which, since its rediscovery in 1755, had been hailed by the German Romantics as the `` German national epic ''. Siegfrieds Tod dealt with the death of Siegfried, the central heroic figure of the Nibelungenlied. The idea had occurred to others -- the correspondence of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 / 41 reveals that they were both outlining scenarios on the subject : Fanny wrote ' The hunt with Siegfried 's death provides a splendid finale to the second act '. By 1850, Wagner had completed a musical sketch ( which he abandoned ) for Siegfrieds Tod. He now felt that he needed a preliminary opera, Der junge Siegfried ( `` The Young Siegfried '', later renamed to `` Siegfried '' ), to explain the events in Siegfrieds Tod, and his verse draft of this was completed in May 1851. By October, he had made the momentous decision to embark on a cycle of four operas, to be played over four nights : Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Der Junge Siegfried and Siegfrieds Tod ; the text for all four parts was completed in December 1852, and privately published in February 1853. The music Main article : Der Ring des Nibelungen : Composition of the music In November 1853, Wagner began the composition draft of Das Rheingold. Unlike the verses, which were written as it were in reverse order, the music would be composed in the same order as the narrative. Composition proceeded until 1857, when the final score up to the end of act 2 of Siegfried was completed. Wagner then laid the work aside for twelve years, during which he wrote Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. By 1869, Wagner was living at Tribschen on Lake Lucerne, sponsored by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He returned to Siegfried, and, remarkably, was able to pick up where he left off. In October, he completed the final work in the cycle. He chose the title Götterdämmerung instead of Siegfrieds Tod. In the completed work the gods are destroyed in accordance with the new pessimistic thrust of the cycle, not redeemed as in the more optimistic originally planned ending. Wagner also decided to show onstage the events of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, which had hitherto only been presented as back - narration in the other two parts. These changes resulted in some discrepancies in the cycle, but these do not diminish the value of the work. Performances This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2017 ) First productions Amalie Materna, the first Bayreuth Brünnhilde, with Cocotte, the horse donated by King Ludwig to play her horse Grane On King Ludwig 's insistence, and over Wagner 's objections, `` special previews '' of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre were given at the National Theatre in Munich, before the rest of the Ring. Thus, Das Rheingold premiered on 22 September 1869, and Die Walküre on 26 June 1870. Wagner subsequently delayed announcing his completion of Siegfried to prevent this work also being premiered against his wishes. Wagner had long desired to have a special festival opera house, designed by himself, for the performance of the Ring. In 1871, he decided on a location in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. In 1872, he moved to Bayreuth, and the foundation stone was laid. Wagner would spend the next two years attempting to raise capital for the construction, with scant success ; King Ludwig finally rescued the project in 1874 by donating the needed funds. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus opened in 1876 with the first complete performance of the Ring, which took place from 13 to 17 August. In 1882, London impresario Alfred Schulz - Curtius organized the first staging in the United Kingdom of the Ring cycle, conducted by Anton Seidl and directed by Angelo Neumann. The first production of the Ring in Italy was in Venice ( the place where Wagner died ), just two months after his 1883 death, at La Fenice. The first Australasian Ring ( and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg ) was presented by the Thomas Quinlan company Melbourne and Sydney in 1913. Notable modern productions The Ring is a major undertaking for any opera company : staging four interlinked operas requires a huge commitment both artistically and financially ; hence, in most opera houses, production of a new Ring cycle will happen over a number of years, with one or two operas in the cycle being added each year. The Bayreuth Festival, where the complete cycle is performed most years, is unusual in that a new cycle is almost always created within a single year. Early productions of the Ring cycle stayed close to Wagner 's original Bayreuth staging. Trends set at Bayreuth have continued to be influential. Following the closure of the Festspielhaus during the Second World War, the 1950s saw productions by Wagner 's grandsons Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner ( known as the ' New Bayreuth ' style ), which emphasised the human aspects of the drama in a more abstract setting. Gwyneth Jones performing at the 1976 Bayreuth production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by Pierre Boulez and directed by Patrice Chéreau Perhaps the most famous modern production was the centennial production of 1976, the Jahrhundertring, directed by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez. Set in the industrial revolution, it replaced the depths of the Rhine with a hydroelectric power dam and featured grimy sets populated by men and gods in 19th and 20th century business suits. This drew heavily on the reading of the Ring as a revolutionary drama and critique of the modern world, famously expounded by George Bernard Shaw in The Perfect Wagnerite. Early performances were booed but the audience of 1980 gave it a 45 - minute ovation in its final year ; the production is now generally regarded as revolutionary and a classic. Although many Ring productions try to remain close to Wagner 's original stage design and direction, others seek to re-interpret the Ring for modern audiences, often including decor and action that Wagner himself did not envisage. The production by Peter Hall, conducted by Georg Solti at Bayreuth in 1983 is an example of the former, while the production by Richard Jones at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1994 -- 1996, conducted by Bernard Haitink, is an example of the latter. In 2003 the first production of the cycle in Russia in modern times was conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Opera, Saint Petersburg, designed by George Tsypin. The production drew parallels with Ossetian mythology. The Royal Danish Opera performed a complete Ring cycle in May 2006 in its new waterfront home, the Copenhagen Opera House. This version of the Ring tells the story from the viewpoint of Brünnhilde and has a distinct feminist angle. For example, in a key scene in Die Walküre, it is Sieglinde and not Siegmund who manages to pull the sword Nothung out of a tree. At the end of the cycle, Brünnhilde does not die, but instead gives birth to Siegfried 's child. The Canadian Opera Company celebrated the opening of its new home, the Four Seasons Centre, by performing three complete Ring Cycles in September 2006. Each part of the cycle had a different director. San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera began a co-production of a new cycle in 2006 directed by Francesca Zambello. The production uses imagery from various eras of American history and has a feminist and environmentalist viewpoint. Recent performances of this production took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. on April -- May 2016, featuring Catherine Foster and Nina Stemme as Brünnhilde, Daniel Brenna as Siegfried, and Alan Held as Wotan. San Francisco Opera will stage this production again in Summer 2018. Los Angeles Opera presented its first Ring cycle in 2010 directed by Achim Freyer. Freyer staged an abstract production that was praised by many critics but criticized by some of its own stars. The production featured a raked stage, flying props, screen projections and special effects. Modern costuming shown in closing bows following Siegfried in 2013 at the National Theatre in Munich Modern costuming shown in closing bows following Götterdämmerung in 2013 at the National Theatre in Munich. Left to right : Gunther, the 3 Rhinemaidens, Gutrune, Hagen, Brünnhilde, Siegfried The Metropolitan Opera began a new Ring cycle in 2010, conducted by James Levine with Bryn Terfel as Wotan. Deborah Voigt was Brünnhilde in the April 2011 production of Die Walküre. The staging of Das Rheingold by Robert Lepage involved 24 identical wedges able to rotate independently on a horizontal axis across the stage, providing level, sloping, angled or moving surfaces facing the audience. Bubbles, falling stones and fire are projected on to these surfaces, linked by computer with the music and movement of the characters. In 2013, The Met 's orchestra and chorus were awarded the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for their performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Opera Australia presented The Ring Cycle at the State Theatre in Melbourne, Australia in November 2013, directed by Neil Arfmeild and conducted by Pietari Inkinen. Classical Voice America heralded the production as `` one of the best Rings anywhere in a long time. '' The production was presented again in Melbourne from 21 November to 16 December 2016 starring Lise Lindstrom, Stefan Vinke, Amber Wagner and Jacqueline Dark. It is possible to perform The Ring with fewer resources than usual. In 1990, the City of Birmingham Touring Opera ( now Birmingham Opera Company ), presented a two - evening adaptation ( by Jonathan Dove ) for a limited number of solo singers, each doubling several roles, and 18 orchestral players. This version was subsequently given productions in the USA. A heavily cut - down version ( 7 hours plus intervals ) was performed at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires on 26 November 2012 to mark the 200th anniversary of Wagner 's birth. Recordings of the Ring cycle Main article : Der Ring des Nibelungen discography This section needs expansion with : a summary, based on sources, of the key examples, historically, of the discography of this opera ; such sources abound, that describe, in various people 's opinion 's, which are notable, and it is this we wish to see ( not further WP editorialising ). You can help by adding to it. ( April 2017 ) Other treatments of the Ring cycle Orchestral versions of the Ring Cycle, summarizing the work in a single movement of an hour or so, have been made by Leopold Stokowski, Lorin Maazel ( Der Ring ohne Worte ) ( 1988 ) and Henk de Vlieger ( The Ring : an Orchestral Adventure ), ( 1991 ). Produced by the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Charles Ludlam 's 1977 play Der Ring Gott Farblonjet was a spoof of Wagner 's operas. The show received a well - reviewed 1990 revival in New York at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Books cited Burbidge, Peter and Richard Sutton, The Wagner Companion, London, 1979. ISBN 0571114504 Cooke, Deryck, I Saw the World End : A Study of Wagner 's Ring. New York : Oxford University Press, 2000 ISBN 0193153181. Fifield, Christopher. Ibbs and Tillett : The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire ( Chapter 3, pp. 25 -- 26 ). London : Ashgate Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1 - 84014 - 290 - 1, ISBN 9781840142907. Magee, Bryan, ( 1988 ) Aspects of Wagner. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192840126. Mendelssohn, Fanny, ed. Marcia Citron ( 1987 ) Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn. Pendragon Press ISBN 978 - 0 - 918728 - 52 - 4 Millington, Barry ( 2008 ) `` Der Ring des Nibelungen : conception and interpretation, '' in Grey, Thomas S. ( ed. ) The Cambridge Companion to Wagner, pp. 74 -- 84, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521644396. Wagner, Richard, tr. William Ashton Ellis ( 1994 ), The Art Work of the Future, and other works, Lincoln and London. ISBN 9780803297524. `` A Communication to My Friends '' is on pp. 269 -- 392. Shaw, George Bernard ( 1898 ) The Perfect Wagnerite. References and notes Jump up ^ von Rhein, John ( September 21, 2016 ). `` An epic beginning for Lyric 's new Wagner ' Ring ' cycle ''. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 17, 2017. Jump up ^ Magee ( 2001 ), p. 109 Jump up ^ For a detailed examination of Wagner 's sources for the Ring and his treatment of them, see, among other works, Deryck Cooke 's unfinished study of the Ring, I Saw the World End, and Ernest Newman 's Wagner Nights. Also useful is a translation by Stewart Spencer ( Wagner 's Ring of the Nibelung : Companion, edited by Barry Millington ) which, as well as containing essays, including one on the source material which provides an English translation of the entire text that strives to remain faithful to the early medieval Stabreim technique Wagner used. Jump up ^ Wagner ( 1994 ) 287 Jump up ^ Wagner ( 1994 ) 336 -- 7 Jump up ^ Wagner ( 1994 ) 391 and n. Jump up ^ Burbidge and Sutton, ( 1979 ), pp. 345 -- 6 Jump up ^ Millington ( 2008 ) 80 Jump up ^ Shaw ( 1898 ) section : `` Back to Opera Again '' Jump up ^ Letter of 9 December 1840. See Mendelssohn ( 1987 ), pp. 299 -- 301 Jump up ^ Fifield ( 2005 ), pp. 25f Jump up ^ Posted by Boydell and Brewer ( 2008 - 12 - 02 ). `` From Beyond the Stave : The Lion roars for Wagner ''. Frombeyondthestave.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Jump up ^ `` Productions - Wieland Wagner, New Bayreuth ''. Wagner Operas. 2012 - 03 - 03. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Jump up ^ `` The 1976 Bayreuth Centennial Ring '', Wagneropera.com, retrieved 2 December 2011 Jump up ^ Kozinn, Allan ( 7 October 2013 ). `` Patrice Chéreau, Opera, Stage and Film Director, Dies at 68 ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2013. Jump up ^ Millington, Barry ( 8 October 2013 ). `` Patrice Chéreau and the bringing of dramatic conviction to the opera house ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 October 2013. Jump up ^ `` Mariinsky Theatre brings Ring Cycle to Covent Garden in Summer 2009 '', Musicalcriticism.com 1 March 2009, retrieved 1 December 2011 Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2011. Jump up ^ `` Ring Cycle The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ''. Kennedy-center.org. 2016 - 05 - 22. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Jump up ^ `` San Francisco Opera Announces Casting for Richard Wagner 's `` Der Ring Des Nibelungen '' ``. SFOpera. 2016 - 09 - 26. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Jump up ^ Diane Haithman ( 2009 - 02 - 15 ). `` Achim Freyer is consumed by ' The Ring of the Nibelung ' ''. LA Times. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Jump up ^ Adams, Guy ( 2010 - 05 - 15 ). `` Wagner star and director clash in US costume drama ''. The Independent. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Jump up ^ `` 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees : Classical ''. Grammy.com. Retrieved 10 February 2013. Jump up ^ `` Bedeviled Ring Seemed Doomed, Then Curtain Rose Classical Voice North America ''. Classicalvoiceamerica.org. 2013 - 12 - 14. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Jump up ^ `` It 's a Wrap : The Melbourne Ring ''. Classic Melbourne. Retrieved 23 August 2017. Jump up ^ `` The Ring Saga ''. birminghamopera.org.uk. 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013. Jump up ^ Croan, Robert ( 18 July 2006 ). `` Opera Review : Abridged staging of classic Wagner cycle rings true -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ''. post-gazette.com. Retrieved 5 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` The Ring In - Teatro Colón ''. dw.com. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2016. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Archived 14 May 2016 at the Portuguese Web Archive Jump up ^ Gussow, Mel ( 13 April 1990 ). `` Der Ring Gott Farblonjet : review ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ `` The Perfect Wagnerite : a Commentary on the Niblung 's Ring, by Bernard Shaw ''. Gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2017 - 04 - 29. Further reading Di Gaetani, John Louis, Penetrating Wagner 's Ring : An Anthology. New York : Da Capo Press, 1978. ISBN 9780306804373. Gregor - Dellin, Martin, ( 1983 ) Richard Wagner : His Life, His Work, His Century. Harcourt, ISBN 0151771510. Holman, J.K. Wagner 's Ring : A Listener 's Companion and Concordance. Portland OR : Amadeus Press, 2001. Lee, M. Owen, ( 1994 ) Wagner 's Ring : Turning the Sky Round. Amadeus Press, ISBN 9780879101862. Magee, Bryan, ( 2001 ) The Tristan chord : Wagner and Philosophy. Metropolitan Books, ISBN 0805067884. May, Thomas, ( 2004 ) Decoding Wagner. Amadeus Press, ISBN 9781574670974. Millington, Barry ( editor ) ( 2001 ) The Wagner Compendium. Thames and Hudson, ISBN 0500282749. Sabor, Rudolph, ( 1997 ) Richard Wagner : Der Ring des Nibelungen : a companion volume. Phaidon Press, ISBN 0714836508. Spotts, Frederick, ( 1999 ) Bayreuth : A History of the Wagner Festival. Yale University Press ISBN 0712652779. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Der Ring des Nibelungen. Anthony Tommasini ( 2007 ). `` The `` Kirov '' Ring : Let 's Hear It for the Home Team ``. The New York Times. `` Radio Lab -- The Ring and I ''. WNYC -- A podcast about The Ring. 2004. Richard Wagner Operas Die Feen Das Liebesverbot Rienzi Der fliegende Holländer Tannhäuser Lohengrin Tristan und Isolde Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Der Ring des Nibelungen Das Rheingold Die Walküre Siegfried Götterdämmerung Parsifal Unfinished operas Die Hochzeit Die Laune des Verliebten Männerlist größer als Frauenlist Opera excerpts `` Bridal Chorus '' `` Ride of the Valkyries '' Discographies Der fliegende Holländer Tannhäuser Lohengrin Tristan und Isolde Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Der Ring des Nibelungen Das Rheingold Die Walküre Siegfried Götterdämmerung Parsifal Film adaptations Parsifal ( 1904 film ) Parsifal ( 1982 film ) Non-operatic music Symphony in C major ( 1832 ) Polonia Overture ( 1836 ) Das Liebesmahl der Apostel ( 1843 ) Faust Overture ( 1844, rev. 1855 ) Wesendonck Lieder ( 1858 ) Siegfried Idyll ( 1870 ) Kaisermarsch Writings Art and Revolution The Artwork of the Future Autobiographic Sketch A Communication to My Friends Das Judenthum in der Musik ( Jewishness in Music ) Leubald Mein Leben Music of the Future Opera and Drama Die Sieger Wieland der Schmied Inventions Holztrompete Wagner tuba Bayreuth Festival Bayreuther Blätter Bayreuth canon Bayreuth Circle Bayreuth Festival Bayreuth Festspielhaus Jahrhundertring Richard Wagner Foundation Wagner family Houston Stewart Chamberlain Ludwig Geyer Cosima Wagner Katharina Wagner Minna Wagner Nike Wagner Siegfried Wagner Wieland Wagner Winifred Wagner Wolfgang Wagner Eva Wagner - Pasquier People Hans von Bülow Franz Liszt Ludwig II of Bavaria Giacomo Meyerbeer Friedrich Nietzsche Ferdinand Praeger Carrie Pringle August Röckel Gottfried Semper Theodor Uhlig Mathilde Wesendonck Residences Brühl ( Leipzig ) Ca ' Vendramin Calergi Tribschen Wahnfried Named for Wagner Richard Wagner Monument Wagner ( crater ) Wagner Ice Piedmont 3992 Wagner Cultural depictions Wagner Dream ( opera ) Wagner ( film ) Wagner 's Dream ( film ) Wahnfried ( film ) Related The Case of Wagner Gesamtkunstwerk International Association of Wagner Societies Leitmotif Musikdrama Nietzsche contra Wagner Parsifal bells The Perfect Wagnerite Rhinemaidens Tristan chord Wagner controversies Wagner - Werk - Verzeichnis Book WikiProject Richard Wagner 's Der Ring des Nibelungen Das Rheingold Die Walküre Siegfried Götterdämmerung Composition Music Poem Source Völsunga saga Poetic Edda Prose Edda Nibelungenlied Thidreks saga Cycles Das Rheingold ( 1869 ) discography Die Walküre ( 1870 ) discography Ride of the Valkyries Siegfried ( 1876 ) discography Siegfried Idyll Götterdämmerung ( 1876 ) discography Sequels Der gerettete Alberich Expecting Someone Taller Related Jahrhundertring What 's Opera, Doc ? Ring The Perfect Wagnerite It ai n't over till the fat lady sings Gods of War Der Ring des Nibelungen discography Tarnhelm Hitler : A Film from Germany Nibelungenlied Source Nibelung Völsunga saga Films Die Nibelungen ( 1924 ) The Dragon 's Blood ( 1957 ) Die Nibelungen ( 1966 / 1967 ) Dark Kingdom : The Dragon King ( 2004 ) Other Der Ring des Nibelungen ( opera ) Sigurd ( opera ) Das Nibelungenlied : Ein Heldenepos in 39 Abenteuern ( novel ) Characters Sigurd Gudrun Hagen Gunther Brynhildr Svanhildr Hildebrand Giselher Helpmann Award for Best Opera The Eighth Wonder ( 2001 ) Batavia ( 2002 ) Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District ( 2003 ) Dead Man Walking ( 2004 ) The Ring Cycle ( 2005 ) Flight ( 2006 ) Rusalka ( 2007 ) Arabella ( 2008 ) Billy Budd ( 2009 ) Peter Grimes ( 2010 ) Partenope ( 2011 ) Moby - Dick ( 2012 ) Salome ( 2013 ) The Ring Cycle ( 2014 ) Faramondo ( 2015 ) Opera portal VIAF : 183027207 LCCN : n81085316 GND : 300170319 BNF : cb13985302h ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen&oldid=797349907 '' Categories : 1876 operas German - language operas Music dramas Nibelung tradition Norse mythology in music Opera cycles Operas Operas by Richard Wagner Operas set in fictional, mythological and folkloric settings Völsung cycle United States National Recording Registry recordings Hidden categories : Webarchive template other archives Articles needing additional references from April 2017 All articles needing additional references Articles that may contain original research from April 2017 All articles that may contain original research Articles containing German - language text Use dmy dates from November 2013 Use British English from April 2015 Articles needing additional references from September 2012 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016 Articles with unsourced statements from April 2017 All articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases Articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases from April 2017 Articles to be expanded from April 2017 All articles to be expanded Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Italiano עברית Latina Latviešu Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Scots Simple English Slovenčina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Winaray 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 26 August 2017, at 13 : 54. 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Question: the ring of the nibelung is based on
Answer: characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied