The Rhinegold Tickets | Schedule for 2024/2025 Events

The Rhinegold

Richard Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung" consists of four music dramas, the first of which is titled "Das Rheingold," or "The Rhinegold." It was first performed as a single opera at the National Theater in Munich on September 22, 1869. On August 13, 1876, it was the first opera in the Ring Cycle to be performed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Wagner wrote the librettos for the Ring in the wrong order, so Das Rheingold was the last to be written. However, it was the first one to be set to music. The score was finished in 1854, but Wagner would only let it be played once the whole cycle was done. He kept working on this music off and on until 1874. Wagner didn't want Das Rheingold to be performed in Munich in 1869, but his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, made it happen. After its first performance at Bayreuth in 1876, the Ring cycle was performed in all the major opera houses worldwide, where it has been a regular and popular staple ever since.

The Story

The three Rhinemaidens watch over the Rhinegold, a treasure worth more than anything else in the world. Alberich, one of the Nibelung dwarfs, is amazed by what he sees. The girls say that whoever gets the gold and fashions it into a ring will have absolute control over the globe. But, only if they are willing to sacrifice their romantic attachments to do it.

Performances

Wagner led music from scenes 1, 2, and 4 of Das Rheingold at a concert in Vienna on December 26, 1862. This was a long time before Das Rheingold was ready to be performed. Wagner's principal supporter, King Ludwig of Bavaria, wanted to see an early performance in Munich in 1869, but this never happened. Until the cycle was complete, Wagner had no interest in staging the opera himself. Wagner was horrified at the thought of Ludwig's strange tastes being used to present his work. But Ludwig, who owned the copyright, insisted that Rheingold be put on as soon as possible at the Munich Hofoper. Wagner did everything he could to stop this show from happening in August 1869. After a troublesome dress rehearsal, he even got the conductor, Hans Richter, to quit. Ludwig was not moved. He criticized Wagner, fired Richter, hired Franz Wüllner as a new conductor, and moved the premiere to September 22. Wagner was not allowed into the theater's rehearsals, so he returned to his home in Tribschen, angry and sad.