Opera Explained | The Ring of the Nibelung by Wagner (Audio)

"An Introduction to...Wagner - The Ring of the Nibelung" written and narrated by Stephen Johnson. Music performance by the Staatsoper Stuttgart. Staatsorchester Stuttgart, conducted by Lothar Zagrosek.

Wagner’s Ring cycle is the most ambitious work in the history of music: four operas that combine to tell a single epic story. Based in legend, it has become a legend in its own right: a supreme challenge for conductors, singers, opera producers, and indeed for audiences. But for all its grandeur and complexity, The Ring is far more accessible than many music lovers think. This audio guide explains the basics of the plot, profiles the leading characters, and shows how Wagner’s revolutionary music adds fascinating layers of meaning and psychological insight, as well as providing some of the most stirring and intoxicating moments in the entire operatic repertoire.

The Ring is a giant morality play, laden with symbolism from beginning to end. Its message is that love alone can redeem the world.

In the first of the tetralogy, Das Rheingold (conceived as a Prologue) the Nibelung dwarf Alberich steals the Rhine gold from the Rhine maidens, fashioning from it a ring that confers mastery of the world – but at a terrible price: the total renunciation of love. The gods, headed by Wotan, steal both gold and ring, to ransom the goddess Freia, previously given to the giants as payment for their building of the gods’ palace, Valhalla. The cursed ring takes immediate effect. The giants Fasolt and Fafner quarrel over it, and Fafner kills Fasolt. The gods enter Valhalla. Thus ends the first opera without a single human character.

Die Walküre marks the start of the drama proper. Wotan has nine daughters (the Valkyries) by the earth goddess Erda and two other children (Siegmund and Sieglinde) by a human mother. Wotan hopes Siegmund and Sieglinde will recover the ring (now guarded by Fafner, who has turned into a dragon). Unaware that they are brother and sister, Siegmund and Sieglinde fall in love. Brünnhilde, Wotan’s favourite Valkyrie, disobeys his commandment by protecting Siegmund against Hunding, Sieglinde’s husband; but Wotan intervenes and Hunding murders Siegmund. Brünnhilde rescues Sieglinde, prophesying that she will bear a son, Siegfried. Wotan punishes Brünnhilde by stripping her of her divinity. She falls into a trance, and lies immured by a circle of fire, awaiting rescue by a fearless hero.

The next opera, Siegfried, is dominated by him. Siegfried, only child of Siegmund and Sieglinde (who died in childbirth), has been raised in the forest by Alberich’s brother, the dwarf Mime. With a sword forged from fragments of his father’s weapon (shattered in the battle with Hunding), Siegfried kills Fafner, acquiring both the ring and the magic helmet which Alberich had also made from the gold. A chance taste of the giant’s blood enables him to understand the language of the birds, one of which leads him to Brünnhilde’s rock. He duly penetrates the wall of fire and wins Brünnhilde’s heart.

In Götterdämmerung, Hagen, son of Alberich, plots to recover the ring. Siegfried, his memory of Brünnhilde erased by a potion mixed by Hagen, falls in love with Gutrune. He captures Brünnhilde for Hagen’s half-brother, Gunther. Siegfried then marries Gunther’s sister, Gutrune. Brünnhilde, with Hagen and Gunther, plots Siegfried’s death. Siegfried and Gunther are both killed by Hagen. Aware of the truth at last, but alas too late, Brünnhilde builds a funeral pyre for Siegfried and rides into the flames with the ring on her finger. The Rhine breaks its banks, the ring, despite Hagen’s doomed pursuit, is recovered by the Rhine maidens, and Valhalla is consumed by flames. The curse is complete, the gods destroyed. A new age, illuminated by the power of redemptive love, is ready to dawn.

Tracklist:
1. Introduction
2. The Stuff of Legends
3. Dark Power?
4. Revolution in Music
5. A New Kind of Song
6. The Role of the Orchestra
7. The Leitmotif

- Das Rheingold
8. Prelude
9. Scene 1
10. Scene 2
11. Scene 3
12 Scene 4

- Die Walküre
13. Background
14. Act I
15. Act II
16. Act II cont.
17. Act III
18. The Final Scene: Wotan and Brünnhilde

- Siegfried
19. Act I
20. Act II
21. Act III

- Götterdämmerung
22. Background
23. Prologue
24. Act I
25. Act II
26. Act III
27. The Final Scene: The End of Everything?