| Der Ring des Nibelungen | |
|---|---|
| Music dramas byRichard Wagner | |
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| Translation | The Ring of the Nibelung |
| Librettist | Richard Wagner |
| Language | German |
| Premiere |
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Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung),WWV 86, is acycle of fourGerman-languageepicmusic dramas composed byRichard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters fromGermanic heroic legend, namely Norselegendary sagas and theNibelungenlied. The composer termed the cycle a "Bühnenfestspiel" (stage festival play), structured in three days preceded by aVorabend ("preliminary evening"). It is often referred to as theRing cycle,Wagner'sRing, or simplyThe Ring.
Wagner wrote thelibretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four parts that constitute theRing cycle are, in sequence:
Individual works of the sequence are often performed separately,[1] and indeed the operas contain dialogues that mention events in the previous operas, so that a viewer could watch any of them without having watched the previous parts and still understand the plot. However, Wagner intended them to be performed in series. The first performance as a cycle opened the firstBayreuth Festival in 1876, beginning withDas Rheingold on 13 August and ending withGötterdämmerung on 17 August. Opera stage director Anthony Freud stated thatDer Ring des Nibelungen "marks the high-water mark of our art form, the most massive challenge any opera company can undertake."[2]
Wagner's title is most literally rendered in English asThe Ring of the Nibelung. TheNibelung of the title is thedwarf Alberich, and the ring in question is the one he fashions from the Rhinegold. The title therefore denotes "Alberich's Ring".[3]
The cycle is a work of extraordinary scale.[4] 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 ancientGreek dramas that were presented as three tragedies and onesatyr play. TheRing proper begins withDie Walküre and ends withGötterdämmerung, withRheingold as aprelude. Wagner calledDas Rheingold aVorabend or "Preliminary Evening", andDie Walküre,Siegfried andGötterdämmerung 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 ofgods,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 ofGötterdämmerung.
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 instruments such as theWagner tuba,bass trumpet andcontrabass trombone. Remarkably, he uses a chorus only relatively briefly, in acts 2 and 3 ofGötterdämmerung, and then mostly of men with just a few women. He eventually had a purpose-built theatre constructed, theBayreuth 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.
| Gods | Mortals | Valkyries | Rhinemaidens,Giants &Nibelungs | Other characters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Neidings
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| Rhinemaidens
Giants
Nibelungs |
|
| Character | Das Rheingold[5] | Die Walküre[6] | Siegfried[7] | Götterdämmerung[8] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wotan | Yes | Yes | Yes[a] | No |
| Fricka | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Loge | Yes | No | No | No |
| Freia | Yes | No | No | No |
| Donner | Yes | No | No | No |
| Froh | Yes | No | No | No |
| Erda | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Woglinde | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Wellgunde | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Flosshilde | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Fasolt | Yes | No | No | No |
| Fafner | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Alberich | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mime | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Siegmund | No | Yes | No | No |
| Sieglinde | No | Yes | No | No |
| Hunding | No | Yes | No | No |
| Brünnhilde | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gerhilde | No | Yes | No | No |
| Ortlinde | No | Yes | No | No |
| Waltraute | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Schwertleite | No | Yes | No | No |
| Helmwige | No | Yes | No | No |
| Siegrune | No | Yes | No | No |
| Grimgerde | No | Yes | No | No |
| Rossweisse | No | Yes | No | No |
| Siegfried | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| The Woodbird | No | No | Yes | No |
| The Norns | No | No | No | Yes |
| Gunther | No | No | No | Yes |
| Gutrune | No | No | No | Yes |
| Hagen | No | No | No | Yes |
| Vassals | No | No | No | Yes |
| Women | No | No | No | Yes |
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The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by theNibelungdwarf Alberich from gold he stole from theRhine maidens in the riverRhine. With the assistance of the god Loge, Wotan – the chief of thegods – steals the ring from Alberich, but is forced to hand it over to thegiants 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, themortal 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.
Wagner created the story of theRing by fusing elements from many German and Scandinavian myths and folk-tales. TheOld NorseEdda supplied much of the material forDas Rheingold, whileDie Walküre was largely based on theVölsunga saga.Siegfried contains elements from the Eddur, theVölsunga saga andThidrekssaga. The finalGötterdämmerung draws from the 12th-century German poem, theNibelungenlied, which appears to have been the original inspiration for theRing.[9]
The Ring has been the subject of myriad interpretations. For example,George Bernard Shaw, inThe Perfect Wagnerite, argues for a view ofThe Ring as an essentially socialist critique ofindustrial society and its abuses.Robert Donington inWagner's Ring And Its Symbols interprets it in terms ofJungian psychology, as an account of the development ofunconsciousarchetypes in the mind, leading towardsindividuation.
In his earlier operas (up to and includingLohengrin) Wagner's style had been based, rather than on the Italian style of opera, on the German style as developed byCarl Maria von Weber, with elements of thegrand opera style ofGiacomo 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'.[10]
Wagner unfortunately found that his audiences were not willing to follow where he led them:
The public, by their enthusiastic reception ofRienzi and their cooler welcome of theFlying 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 ofTannhäuser, [1845] in a confused and discontented mood. – The feeling of utter loneliness in which I now found myself, quite unmanned me... MyTannhäuser had appealed to a handful of intimate friends alone.[11]
Finally Wagner announces:
I shall never write anOpera 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 inartistically conveying my purpose to the true Emotional (not the Critical)Understanding of spectators who shall have gathered together expressly to learn it.[12]
This is his first public announcement of the form of what would become theRing cycle.
In accordance with the ideas expressed in his essays of the period 1849–51 (including the "Communication" but alsoOpera and Drama and "The Artwork of the Future"), the four parts of theRing were originally conceived by Wagner to be free of the traditional operatic concepts ofaria and operaticchorus. The Wagner scholar Curt von Westernhagen identified three important problems discussed in "Opera and Drama" which were particularly relevant to theRing 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 andmodulation; and the function of musical motifs in linking elements of the plot whose connections might otherwise be inexplicit. This became known as theleitmotif technique (see below), although Wagner himself did not use this word.[13]
However, Wagner relaxed some aspects of his self-imposed restrictions somewhat as the work progressed. AsGeorge Bernard Shaw sardonically (and slightly unfairly)[14] noted of the last operaGötterdämmerung:
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 concertedcadenza; plunge on from that to a magnificent love duet...The work which follows, entitledNight Falls on the Gods [Shaw's translation ofGötterdämmerung], is a thorough grand opera.[15]
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As a significant element in theRing and his subsequent works, Wagner adopted the use ofleitmotifs, which are recurring themes orharmonic 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 aGreek chorus did for thetheatre of ancient Greece.
Wagner made significant innovations inorchestration 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 theWagner tuba, invented to fill a gap he found between the tone qualities of thehorn and thetrombone, as well as variations of existing instruments, such as thebass trumpet and acontrabass trombone with a double slide. He also developed the "Wagner bell", enabling thebassoon 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 acontrabassoon should be employed.
All four parts have a very similar instrumentation. The core ensemble of instruments are onepiccolo, threeflutes (third doubling secondpiccolo), threeoboes,cor anglais (doubling fourth oboe), threesoprano clarinets, onebass clarinet, threebassoons; eighthorns (fifth through eighth doublingWagner tubas), threetrumpets, one bass trumpet, threetenor trombones, onecontrabass trombone (doublingbass trombone), onecontrabass tuba; a percussion section with 4timpani (requiring two players),triangle,cymbals,tam-tam; sixharps and a string section consisting of 16 first and 16 secondviolins, 12violas, 12cellos and 8double basses.
Das Rheingold requires onebass drum, one onstage harp and 18 onstageanvils.Die Walküre requires onesnare drum, oneD clarinet (played by the third clarinettist) and an on-stagesteerhorn.Siegfried requires one onstage cor anglais and one onstage horn.Götterdämmerung requires atenor drum, as well as five onstage horns and four onstage steerhorns, one of them to be blown by Hagen.[16]
Much of theRing, especially fromSiegfried act 3 onwards, cannot be said to be in traditional, clearly definedkeys 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 useddissonance andchromaticism. Chromatically alteredchords are used very liberally in theRing and this feature, which is also prominent inTristan und Isolde, is often cited as a milestone on the way toArnold Schoenberg's revolutionary break with the traditional concept of key and his dissolution of consonance as the basis of an organising principle in music.[citation needed]
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In summer 1848 Wagner wroteThe Nibelung Myth as Sketch for a Drama, combining the medieval sources previously mentioned into a single narrative, very similar to the plot of the eventualRing cycle, but nevertheless with substantial differences. Later that year he began writing a libretto entitledSiegfrieds Tod ("Siegfried's Death"). He was possibly stimulated by a series of articles in theNeue Zeitschrift für Musik, inviting composers to write a 'national opera' based on theNibelungenlied, a 12th-century High German poem which, since its rediscovery in 1755, had been hailed by theGerman Romantics as the "Germannational epic".Siegfrieds Tod dealt with the death of Siegfried, the central heroic figure of the Nibelungenlied. The idea had occurred to others – the correspondence ofFanny andFelix 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'.[17]
By 1850, Wagner had completed a musical sketch (which he abandoned) forSiegfrieds Tod.[citation needed] He now felt that he needed a preliminary opera,Der junge Siegfried ("The Young Siegfried", later renamed to "Siegfried"), to explain the events inSiegfrieds Tod and his verse draft of this was completed in May 1851.[citation needed] 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 andSiegfrieds Tod; the text for all four parts was completed in December 1852 and privately published in February 1853.[citation needed]
In November 1853, Wagner began the composition draft ofDas 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 ofSiegfried was completed. Wagner then laid the work aside for twelve years, during which he wroteTristan und Isolde andDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
By 1869, Wagner was living atTribschen onLake Lucerne, sponsored by KingLudwig II of Bavaria. He returned toSiegfried and, remarkably, was able to pick up where he left off. In October, he completed the final work in the cycle. He chose the titleGötterdämmerung instead ofSiegfrieds 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 ofDas Rheingold andDie 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.
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On King Ludwig's insistence, and over Wagner's objections, "special previews" ofDas Rheingold andDie Walküre were given at theNational Theatre in Munich, before the rest of theRing. Thus,Das Rheingold premiered on 22 September 1869 andDie Walküre on 26 June 1870. Wagner subsequently delayed announcing his completion ofSiegfried 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 theRing. In 1871, he decided on a location in the Bavarian town ofBayreuth. 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. TheBayreuth Festspielhaus opened in 1876 with the first complete performance of theRing, which took place from 13 to 17 August.
In 1882, LondonimpresarioAlfred Schulz-Curtius organized the first staging in the United Kingdom of theRing cycle, conducted byAnton Seidl and directed byAngelo Neumann.[18]
The first production of theRing in Italy was in Venice (the place where Wagner died), just two months after his 1883 death, atLa Fenice.[19]
The first AustralianRing (andThe Mastersingers of Nuremberg) was presented in an English-language production by the British travellingQuinlan Opera Company, in conjunction withJ. C. Williamson's, in Melbourne and Sydney in 1913.[20]
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TheRing 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 newRing cycle will happen over a number of years, with one or two operas in the cycle being added each year. TheBayreuth 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 theRing 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 theSecond World War, the 1950s saw productions by Wagner's grandsonsWieland andWolfgang Wagner (known as the "New Bayreuth" style), which emphasised the human aspects of the drama in a more abstract setting.[21]
Perhaps the most famous modern production was the centennial production of 1976, theJahrhundertring, directed byPatrice Chéreau and conducted byPierre Boulez.[22] Set in theIndustrial 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 theRing as a revolutionary drama and critique of the modern world, famously expounded byGeorge Bernard Shaw inThe Perfect Wagnerite. Early performances were booed but the audience of 1980 gave it a 45-minute ovation in its final year.[23][24]
Seattle Opera has created three different productions of the tetralogy:Ring 1, 1975 to 1984: Originally directed byGeorge London, with designs by John Naccarato following the famous illustrations byArthur Rackham. It was performed twice each summer, once in German, once in Andrew Porter's English adaptation. Henry Holt conducted all performances.Ring 2, 1985–1995: Directed by Francois Rochaix, with sets and costumes designed by Robert Israel, lighting by Joan Sullivan and supertitles (the first ever created for theRing) bySonya Friedman. The production set the action in a world of nineteenth-century theatricality; it was initially controversial in 1985, it sold out its final performances in 1995. Conductors includedArmin Jordan (Die Walküre in 1985),Manuel Rosenthal (1986) and Hermann Michael (1987, 1991 and 1995).Ring 3, 2000–2013: the production, which became known as the "Green"Ring, was in part inspired by the natural beauty of thePacific Northwest. Directed by Stephen Wadsworth, set designer Thomas Lynch, costume designerMartin Pakledinaz, lighting designerPeter Kaczorowski; Armin Jordan conducted in 2000, Franz Vote in 2001 andRobert Spano in 2005 and 2009. The 2013 performances, conducted byAsher Fisch, were released as a commercial recording on compact disc and on iTunes.[25]
In 2003 the first production of the cycle in Russia in modern times was conducted byValery Gergiev at theMariinsky Opera, Saint Petersburg, designed byGeorge Tsypin. The production drew parallels withOssetian mythology.[26]
TheRoyal Danish Opera performed a completeRing cycle in May 2006 in its new waterfront home, theCopenhagen Opera House. This version of theRing tells the story from the viewpoint of Brünnhilde and has a distinct feminist angle. For example, in a key scene inDie 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.[27]
In September 2006, theCanadian Opera Company opened its' new opera house, TheFour Seasons Centre with a production of the Ring. Three cycles were presented with a different director overseeing an opera.
San Francisco Opera andWashington National Opera began a co-production of a new cycle in 2006 directed byFrancesca 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 theJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. in April/May 2016, featuringCatherine Foster andNina Stemme as Brünnhilde, Daniel Brenna as Siegfried and Alan Held as Wotan.[28]
Los Angeles Opera presented its firstRing cycle in 2010 directed byAchim Freyer.[29] Freyer staged an abstract production that was praised by many critics but criticized by some of its own stars.[30] The production featured a raked stage, flying props, screen projections and special effects.
TheMetropolitan Opera began a newRing cycle directed by French-Canadian theater directorRobert Lepage in 2010. Premiering withDas Rheingold on opening night of the 2010/2011 Season conducted byJames Levine withBryn Terfel as Wotan. This was followed byDie Walküre in April 2011 starringDeborah Voigt. The 2011/12 season introducedSiegfried andGötterdämmerung with Voigt, Terfel andJay Hunter Morris before the entire cycle was given in the Spring of 2012 conducted byFabio Luisi (who stepped in for Levine due to health issues). Lepage's staging was dominated by a 90,000 pound (40 tonne) structure which consisted of 24 identical aluminium planks 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 were projected on to these surfaces, linked by computer with the music and movement of the characters. The subsequent HD recordings in 2013 won the Met's orchestra and chorus theGrammy Award for Best Opera Recording for their performance.[31] In 2019, the Metropolitan Opera revived the Lepage staging for the first time since 2013 withPhilippe Jordan conducting,Greer Grimsley andMichael Volle rotating as Wotan,Stefan Vinke [de] andAndreas Schager rotating as Siegfried and Met homegrownChristine Goerke as Brünnhilde. Lepage's "Machine", as it affectionately became known, underwent major reconfiguration for the revival in order to dampen the creaking that it had produced in the past (to the annoyance of audience members and critics) and to improve its reliability, as it had been known to break down during earlier runs including on the opening night ofRheingold.[32][33][34] Unlike its beloved predecessor directed by Viennese opera directorOtto Schenk which played at the house over 22 years,[35] the Met has confirmed that this controversial and expensive production will not return again, having lasted just shy of ten years at the house with only three complete cycles having been given. They announced it would be replaced by a new production in 2025, however though originally in partnership with theEnglish National Opera this was cancelled due to ENO budgetary cuts and poor audience response.[36][37][38][39] In 2024 they announced directorYuval Sharon would instead direct a new production with the first installment set to premiere in the 27/28 season finishing with the full cycle in the Spring of 2030.[40]
The Lyric Opera of Chicago has staged three complete Ring Cycles in the past four decades, with a cycle in the 1990s, the 2000s, and in the late 2010s.
The mid-1990s production by August Everding with choreography by Cirque du Soleil's Debra Brown was conducted by Zubin Mehta, with James Morris a Wotan and Eva Marton as Brünnhilde, Siegfried Jerusalem as Siegmund, and Tina Kiberg as Sieglinde.[41]
The 2000s Ring cast included "James Morris as Wotan, Jane Eaglen as Brünnhilde, Plácido Domingo as Siegmund, and Michelle DeYoung as Sieglinde." Lyric music director Andrew Davis conduct[ed]. The company ... revived the August Everding production that it presented nine years [earlier], restaged by Herbert Kellner with minor changes ... The bungee-jumping Rhinemaidens and the Valkyries on trampolines from the original production, choreographed by Cirque du Soleil's Debra Brown ... returned. Sets and costumes [were] by John Conklin; lighting [was] by Duane Schuler."[42]
The most recent production's Das Rheingold premiered in 2016, with subsequent Ring operas Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung staged between 2017 and 2019. The subsequent "full Ring" performances in the spring of 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic and has never been staged at the Lyric as the complete cycle.
Opera Australia presented theRing cycle at theState Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, in November 2013, directed byNeil Armfield and conducted byPietari Inkinen.Classical Voice America heralded the production as "one of the best Rings anywhere in a long time."[43] The production was presented again in Melbourne from 21 November to 16 December 2016 starringLise Lindstrom, Stefan Vinke,Amber Wagner andJacqueline Dark.[44]
It is possible to performThe Ring with fewer resources than usual. In 1990, the City of Birmingham Touring Opera (nowBirmingham Opera Company), presented a two-evening adaptation (byJonathan Dove) for a limited number of solo singers, each doubling several roles and 18 orchestral players.[45] This version was subsequently given productions in the USA.[46] A heavily cut-down version (7 hours plus intervals) was performed at theTeatro Colón in Buenos Aires on 26 November 2012 to mark the 200th anniversary of Wagner's birth.[47]
In a different approach,Der Ring in Minden staged the cycle on the small stage of theStadttheater Minden, beginning in 2015 withDas Rheingold, followed by the other parts in the succeeding years and culminating with the complete cycle performed twice in 2019. The stage director wasGerd Heinz, andFrank Beermann conducted theNordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, playing at the back of the stage. The singers acted in front of the orchestra, making an intimate approach to the dramatic situations possible. The project received international recognition.[48][49]
Orchestral versions of theRing cycle, summarizing the work in a single movement of an hour or so, have been made byLeopold Stokowski,Lorin Maazel (Der Ring ohne Worte) (1988) andHenk de Vlieger (The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure), (1991).[50]
English-Canadian comedian and singerAnna Russell recorded a twenty-two-minute version of theRing for her albumAnna Russell Sings! Again? in 1953, characterized by camp humour and sharp wit.[51][52]
Produced by theRidiculous Theatrical Company,Charles Ludlam's 1977 playDer Ring Gott Farblonjet was a spoof of Wagner's operas. The show received a well-reviewed 1990 revival in New York at theLucille Lortel Theatre.[53]
In 1991,Seattle Opera premiered a musical comedy parody of the Ring Cycle called Das Barbecü, with book and lyrics by Jim Luigs and music by Scott Warrender. It follows the outline of the cycle's plot but shifts the setting to Texas ranch country. It was later produced off-broadway and elsewhere around the world.
The German two-part television movieDark Kingdom: The Dragon King (2004, also known asRing of the Nibelungs,Die Nibelungen,Curse of the Ring andSword of Xanten), is based in some of the same material Richard Wagner used for hismusic dramasSiegfried andGötterdämmerung.
An adaptation of Wagner's storyline was published as agraphic novel in 2002 byP. Craig Russell.[54]
TheRing cycle was the basis for a video game duology simply titledRing, where each game adapts two of the four parts. The game reimagines theRing cycle in a science fiction setting, and was very poorly received critically; although the first game was a financial success.
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