What is the name of the first opera in Wagner's four opera Ring Cycle?
"Angela Gheorghiu –among many others. We will have a world premiere for you in 2007, and the Wagner lovers among you will be happy to hear that we expect to commence a ""Ring Cycle"" in 2008"". Ring Cycle San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera began a co-production of a new ""Ring"" cycle in 2006 directed by Francesca Zambello. The production used imagery from various eras of American history and had a feminist and environmentalist viewpoint. SFO presented ""Das Rheingold"" in June 2008, ""Die Walküre"" in June 2010, and three complete ""Ring"" cycles in June 2011. The complete cycles in"
"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 (""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"
"Die Walküre ' (The Valkyrie""""'), WWV 86B is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ""Der Ring des Nibelungen,"" (English: ""The Ring of the Nibelung""). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870, and received its first performance as part of the ""Ring"" cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 August 1876. As the ""Ring"" cycle was conceived by Wagner in reverse order of performance, ""Die Walküre"" was the penultimate of the four texts to be written, although Wagner composed the music in the proper sequence. The text"
"Pappano's Essential Ring Cycle Pappano's Essential Ring Cycle is a British television documentary first aired on BBC Four in 2013 presented by the Italian conductor Antonio Pappano about the German composer Richard Wagner and his tetralogical opera The Ring Cycle, also called by the formal title of ""Ring of the Niebelung"". In 90 minutes he covers all 4 operas consisting of Wagner's Ring Cycle with scenes taken from his productions of the operas. Included in the programme are interviews with opera singers, notably John Tomlinson who has sung the principal character Wotan numerous times. Under Pappano he has sung the"
"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"
"synthesis of poetry and music is achieved without any notable sacrifice in musical expression"". The modern view is that, of the ""Ring"" operas, ""Die Walküre"" is both the most approachable and the one that can most successfully be performed in extracts. Die Walküre ' (The Valkyrie""""'), WWV 86B is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ""Der Ring des Nibelungen,"" (English: ""The Ring of the Nibelung""). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870, and received its first performance as part of the ""Ring"" cycle at the Bayreuth"
"concentrate on ""Tristan und Isolde"". Seven years would pass before he took it up again, during which time he completed ""Tristan"" and started ""Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"". When Wagner began the composition of the ""Ring"" in November 1853 he was living with his first wife Minna Planer at 13 Zeltweg, Zürich, and it was there that ""Das Rheingold"", ""Die Walküre"" and the first act of ""Siegfried"" were for the most part composed. At this time Wagner's straitened circumstances compelled him to accept financial assistance from a wealthy silk merchant, Otto Wesendonck. On 28 April 1857 Wagner and Minna moved into"
"Das Rheingold Das Rheingold (; The Rhinegold), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ""Der Ring des Nibelungen,"" (English: ""The Ring of the Nibelung""). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 22 September 1869, and received its first performance as part of the ""Ring"" cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, on 13 August 1876. Wagner wrote the ""Ring"" librettos in reverse order, so that ""Das Rheingold"" was the last of the texts to be written; it was, however, the first to be set to music. The score was"
"amply discussed in his essay ""Oper und Drama"". The first two components of the ""Ring"" cycle were ""Das Rheingold"" (""The Rhinegold""), which was completed in 1854, and ""Die Walküre"" (""The Valkyrie""), which was finished in 1856. In ""Das Rheingold"", with its ""relentlessly talky 'realism' [and] the absence of lyrical 'numbers, Wagner came very close to the musical ideals of his 1849–51 essays. ""Die Walküre"", which contains what is virtually a traditional aria (Siegmund's ""Winterstürme"" in the first act), and the quasi-choral appearance of the Valkyries themselves, shows more ""operatic"" traits, but has been assessed by Barry Millington as ""the music"
"first to be issued commercially, was Georg Solti's 1958 Decca version, part of his complete ""Ring"" cycle, 1958–1966, which marked the beginning of a new era in recorded opera. Since then ""Das Rheingold"" has been recorded, as part of the cycle, on many occasions, with regular new issues. Das Rheingold Das Rheingold (; The Rhinegold), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ""Der Ring des Nibelungen,"" (English: ""The Ring of the Nibelung""). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 22 September 1869, and received its first performance"
"age of 79. Marie Haupt Marie Haupt (18 April 1849 – 1928) was a German operatic soprano who had an active career during the latter half of the 19th century. She is best remembered today for portraying several roles in the first complete presentation of Richard Wagner's ""The Ring Cycle"" at the very first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Born in Danzig, Germany (now Gdańsk, Poland), Haupt studied in Berlin with the great prima donna Pauline Viardot and renowned pedagogue Eduard Mantius. She made her professional opera debut in 1870 at the Court Theater of Neustrelitz. Subsequent engagements took her to"
"Richard Wagner's tetralogy ""Der Ring des Nibelungen"" (whose fourth installment is called ""Twilight of the Gods"" (Gotterdammerung)). The remaining two operas were never completed. Leoncavallo sought to create an ""epic poem"" for the stage. However, one contemporary review of the premiere stated: In ""I Medici"" we have a historical opera like those that have been made many times before and will be hence ... [but] we do not have either an epoch or a set of characters brought truthfully to life; we do not have, in a word, that counterpart of the mythic trilogy [sic] of Wagner at which Leoncavallo"
"composed music to achieve popularity and, thereby, financial success, as opposed to creating genuine works of art. In ""Opera and Drama"" (1851), Wagner described the aesthetics of drama that he was using to create the ""Ring"" operas. Before leaving Dresden, Wagner had drafted a scenario that eventually became the four-opera cycle ""Der Ring des Nibelungen"". He initially for a single opera, ""Siegfrieds Tod"" (""Siegfried's Death""), in 1848. After arriving in Zürich, he expanded the story with the opera ""Der junge Siegfried"" (""Young Siegfried""), which explored the hero's background. He completed the text of the cycle by writing the libretti for"
"legendary Nibelungs. This led him to consider Siegfried as a possible subject for a new opera, and by October 1848 the entire ""Ring"" cycle had been conceived. This rather straightforward account of the ""Ring's"" origins, however, has been disputed by a number of authorities, who accuse Wagner of deliberately distorting the facts so as to bring them into harmony with his own private version of history. The actual sequence of events, it seems, was not nearly as clear-cut as he would have us believe. It was in October 1846 – some sixteen months ""before"" the February Revolution – that he"
"of Wagner's ""Ring"". After concert performances over the previous three seasons, the four operas of the cycle were staged at the Coliseum in 2004 and 2005 in productions by Phyllida Lloyd, with designs by Richard Hudson, in a new translation by Jeremy Sams. The first instalments of the cycle were criticised as poorly sung and conducted, but by the time ""Twilight of the Gods"" was staged in 2005, matters were thought to have improved: ""Paul Daniel's command of the score is more authoritative than could have been predicted from his uneven accounts of the previous operas."" The production attracted generally"
"was very impressed by her vocal and dramatic abilities. He invited her to take part in the first presentation of the complete Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1876. This was the first time that the third and fourth operas in the Ring cycle, ""Siegfried"" and ""Götterdämmerung"", were heard. Jaide played Erda in ""Siegfried"" at its première on August 16, 1876, and she played Waltraute in ""Götterdämmerung"" at its première on August 17, 1876. She also sang the role of Waltraute in Wagner's ""Die Walküre"" as part of the first complete Ring cycle on August 14, 1876. As a"
"Das Rheingold discography This is a partial discography of ""Das Rheingold"", the first of the four operas that comprise ""Der Ring des Nibelungen"" (""The Ring of the Nibelung""), by Richard Wagner. The length of the ""Ring"" cycle meant that in the pre-LP days (before 1948) recordings from the ""Ring"" operas were largely confined to excerpts. In 1929 Franz von Hoesslin and the Walther Staram Concert Orchestra issued recorded excerpts from ""Das Rheingold"" on five 78rpm discs. The first recording of the complete ""Rheingold"" was taken from a New York Metropolitan Opera production in 1937, with Artur Bodanzky conducting. Most of"
"developmental in its treatment of leitmotifs. Wagner took 26 years from writing the first draft of a libretto in 1848 until he completed ""Götterdämmerung"" in 1874. The ""Ring"" takes about 15 hours to perform and is the only undertaking of such size to be regularly presented on the world's stages. Wagner's final opera, ""Parsifal"" (1882), which was his only work written especially for his Bayreuth Festspielhaus and which is described in the score as a """"Bühnenweihfestspiel"""" (""festival play for the consecration of the stage""), has a storyline suggested by elements of the legend of the Holy Grail. It also carries"
"the ""Ring"", and the other operas Wagner planned. Wagner also began to dictate his autobiography, ""Mein Leben"", at the King's request. Wagner noted that his rescue by Ludwig coincided with news of the death of his earlier mentor (but later supposed enemy) Giacomo Meyerbeer, and regretted that ""this operatic master, who had done me so much harm, should not have lived to see this day."" After grave difficulties in rehearsal, ""Tristan und Isolde"" premiered at the National Theatre Munich on 10 June 1865, the first Wagner opera premiere in almost 15 years. (The premiere had been scheduled for 15 May,"
"had died away, R ... put into my hands the score of his ""Symphonic Birthday Greeting. ... R had set up his orchestra on the stairs, and thus consecrated our Tribschen forever!"" This was the first performance of the music that became known as the ""Siegfried Idyll"". Wagner's deception over his relationship with Cosima had seriously damaged his standing with Ludwig. Matters were worsened by Ludwig's insistence, over Wagner's objections, that the premieres of the two completed ""Ring"" operas, ""Das Rheingold"" and ""Die Walküre"", be given at once, in Munich, rather than as part of a complete ""Ring"" cycle on"
"scene of ""Götterdämmerung"" (also Act II, Scene 4), it is Brünnhilde who interrupts a stately procession and provokes a quarrel. Wagner's libretti, which he invariably wrote himself, usually passed through four stages; with one or two minor qualifications, the libretti of the four ""Ring"" operas were no different. These stages are as follows: As part of his preparations for the projected opera on Siegfried, Wagner first drafted a preliminary study of the relevant German and Nordic myths, ""Die Nibelungensage (Mythus)"" (""The Nibelung Saga (Myth)""). This lengthy prose scenario, which was completed by 4 October 1848, contains an outline of the"
"Josephine Schefsky Josephine Schefsky (sometimes spelled Schefzky) (1843 – 11 November 1912) was a German opera singer who had an active career during the latter half of the 19th century. Possessing a powerful voice with a wide vocal range, she tackled roles from both the soprano and mezzo-soprano repertoires. She is best remembered today for portraying several roles in the first complete presentation of Richard Wagner's ""The Ring Cycle"" at the very first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Schefsky made her professional opera debut in 1868 at the Bavarian State Opera as Orfeo in Christoph Willibald Gluck's ""Orfeo ed Euridice"". She"
"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"", has no interval and is one continuous piece of music typically lasting around 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"
"of Shakespeare's ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"". Richard Wagner's ""Ring"" cycle premiered in London earlier in 1882. The music for the fairies reflects Wagner's style, and the score uses leitmotifs, including a distinctive four-note theme associated with the character of Iolanthe. The Fairy Queen's music parodies that of Wagnerian heroines such as Brünnhilde. The score is wider in range of emotion and style, with innovative use of pizzicato strings, clever and varied underscoring of patter, the tender, sentimental eleventh-hour number for the title character, apt matching of the music to the absurd comedy of the lyrics, and a sustained first act"
"ensemble singing. As with ""Das Rheingold"", Wagner wished to defer any performance of the new work until it could be shown in the context of the completed cycle, but the 1870 Munich premiere was arranged at the insistance of his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. More so than the other ""Ring"" dramas, ""Die Walküre"" has achieved some popularity as a stand-alone work, and continues to be performed independently from its role in the tetralogy. The story of ""Die Walküre"" is based on the Norse mythology told in the ""Volsunga Saga"" and the ""Poetic Edda"". In this version the Volsung"
"twins Sieglinde and Siegmund, separated in childhood, meet and fall in love. This union angers the gods who demand that Siegmund must die. Sieglinde and the couple's unborn child are saved by the defiant actions of Wotan's Valkyrie daughter Brünnhilde, who as a result faces the gods' retribution. Wagner began work on what became his ""Ring"" project in October 1848 when he prepared a prose outline for ""Siegfried's Death"", based on the legendary hero of Germanic myth.. During the following months he developed the outline into a full ""poem"" or libretto. After his flight to Switzerland in May 1849, Wagner"
"recorded the first of many New Year's Day concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic and Willi Boskovsky. By 1958 Decca, with its pre-eminent technical team (""The Times"" called them ""Decca's incomparable engineers"") was in a position to embark on a complete studio recording of Wagner's ""Ring"" cycle. Decca decided to begin its cycle with ""Das Rheingold"", the shortest of the four ""Ring"" operas. It was recorded in 1958 and released in the spring of 1959. Culshaw engaged Solti, the Vienna Philharmonic and a cast of established Wagner singers. The performance won enthusiastic praise from reviewers, and the engineers were generally acknowledged"
"""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"
"Siegfried (opera) Siegfried, WWV 86C, is the third of the four music dramas that constitute ""Der Ring des Nibelungen"" (""The Ring of the Nibelung""), by Richard Wagner. It premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of ""The Ring"" cycle. The libretto of ""Siegfried"" was drafted by Wagner in November–December 1852, based on an earlier version he had prepared in May–June 1851 and originally entitled ""Jung-Siegfried"" (""Young Siegfried""), later changed to ""Der junge Siegfried"". The musical composition was commenced in 1856, but not finally completed until 1871. The libretto arose from Wagner's"
"opera's then-president, (Michael Sonnenreich), a bill was sponsored and passed in 2000 in the US Congress ""designating the company as America's 'National Opera' "". The change of name to Washington National Opera was announced in February 2004. The Washington National Opera originally announced plans to perform ""Der Ring des Nibelungen"", a cycle of four operas by Richard Wagner, entitled ""The American Ring"", in November 2009. However, in early November 2008 in view of the Great Recession, the company announced that the full cycle had been postponed. While the first three operas of the tetralogy have already been produced during the"
"of the Rhine gold after his renunciation of love; his fashioning of the all-powerful ring from the gold and his enslavement of the Nibelungs; Wotan's seizure of the gold and the ring, to pay his debt to the giants who have built his fortress Valhalla; Alberich's curse on the ring and its possessors; Erda's warning to Wotan to forsake the ring; the early manifestation of the curse's power after Wotan yields the ring to the giants; and the gods' uneasy entry into Valhalla, under the shadow of their impending doom. Having completed his opera ""Lohengrin"" in April 1848, Richard Wagner"
"Marie Haupt Marie Haupt (18 April 1849 – 1928) was a German operatic soprano who had an active career during the latter half of the 19th century. She is best remembered today for portraying several roles in the first complete presentation of Richard Wagner's ""The Ring Cycle"" at the very first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Born in Danzig, Germany (now Gdańsk, Poland), Haupt studied in Berlin with the great prima donna Pauline Viardot and renowned pedagogue Eduard Mantius. She made her professional opera debut in 1870 at the Court Theater of Neustrelitz. Subsequent engagements took her to the Municipal Theater"
"pagan sensuality, and ... produces finslly nothing but an enervating dullness"". This harsh, if isolated judgement, found some echo six years later, when ""Die Walküre"" was first performed at Bayreuth as part of the ""Ring"" cycle. Critics could now form relative views on the merits of the four operas. Although there was general admiration for the first act, ""Die Walküre"" emerged as the least-liked of the four, in particular on account of the second act, deemed ""a great failure"" and an ""abyss of boredom"". More generally, while recognising the existence of a few ""longeurs"", modern critics of ""Die Walküre"" have"