Wagner’s Ring Cycle – WTF?!?!?! – Read and Listen with Keith

Richard Wagner’s ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’, otherwise known as The Ring cycle, is the peak of operatic indulgence, excess and excellence. But how do you go about it? What should you listen out for? And what on Earth are they all singing about anyway?

The Ring – it’s immense. Long, dense, mythological and, to top it all off, in German. The worst thing you could do, though, is be intimidated by it. Just because Richard Wagner’s masterpiece and calling card is a mammoth work (or series of works) doesn’t mean you should treat it any differently from other operas. The best thing to do is take it slowly, grab a translation and prepare to get lost in some of the most intoxicatingly sublime Romantic music ever composed.

But first, a little bit of background info. Der Ring des Nibelungen (usually known simply as The Ring cycle) is essentially four very big operas, all linked together by the same story. In order, they are: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. There’s no real way of paraphrasing that story without missing most of it out but to put it in simple terms it’s a bit like this…

The Story

A magic ring is stolen from the dwarf, Alberich, by Wotan, King of the Gods. However, he ends up having it taken from him by two giants – most of the story is about Wotan trying to get it back.

Then there’s a whole other section about Wotan’s grandson, Siegfried, who ends up getting the ring back, and Brünnhilde, Siegfried’s lover, who also turns out to be Wotan’s daughter and Siegfried’s auntie (Blimey! Are you keeping up?). But these are just the main points – it’s actually much easier than you’d think to keep up with the story, as long as you’ve got a translation handy or if you’re watching a subtitled version.

Wagner took around 26 years to complete the whole thing, and it’s easy to see why. There are all sorts of little interesting corners, quirky sub-plots, massive staging considerations and, above all, the incredible music. Wagner’s idea was that it should be a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ (‘Complete Artwork’), a complete synthesis of music and drama where you didn’t focus on one or the other – they just co-exist.

Pause for breath and mention a few more snippets of info.

What’s a leitmotif?

Many of the characters, places and ideas in The Ring Cycle have their very own signature tune, or Leitmotif. Rather than an excuse to eat up composing time, the Leitmotifs act as a reminder about those characters, and Wagner occasionally changes them slightly to change how you feel about who it’s representing. You will hear this in most of the music I have chosen here.

Extra instruments

Unsurprisingly, a convincing performance of The Ring cycle needs some pretty serious orchestral clout. That means a lot of extra instruments. So, alongside the usual orchestral instruments, you’ll hear tam-tams (a type of gong), Wagner tubas, anvils (18 of them), steerhorns and all sorts of extra on-stage instruments too.

Isn’t it all a bit complicated?

I can’t deny that The Ring cycle is a challenge for any listener, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a go. As with so many things in opera, you get out what you put in – if you make the effort, then it’s a joy to experience. If you’re lucky enough to watch it live (it’s often performed over four consecutive nights) then you’re in for a real treat – incredible sets, wonderful music, bonkers storylines… and all for just 15 hours of your life and a fair amount of dosh. It’s one of those things that everyone should do once before they, errrr……you know what I mean.

I hope that was interesting.

Going to Bayreuth, Germany to the Wagner Festspielhaus to see all four operas over the space of a few days was one of the highlights of my musical life. It was truly AWESOME!!!!!!!

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The Sydney Symphony Orchestra have put together this easy-to-follow(ish) video:

Synopsis:-