So what’s the plan today, Richie?
They will tell of the cosmic struggle between the immortal gods, the heroic Man,
and the dwarves, giants and other such mythical friends.
Right...
And all these characters are fighting over a magical ring.
It grants domination over the entire world.
Sounds a bit familiar, Rich...
Didn't Tolkein -
I got there there first.
And all those tribes vying for power sounds like -
I GOT THERE FIRST.
No-one's ever done anything like this!
It will take thirty years to write
and best of all: it will be a heroic masculine drama
healthy for the body and the soul of all Germans.
I will call it
Now, Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig in 1813.
He taught himself composition by studying the music of Beethoven, his teen idol.
But he got into trouble in 1848 when a series of revolutionary uprisings spread to Germany.
People were dissatisfied with the political leadership.
They wanted electoral reform, more social justice and more democratic participation in government.
Wagner rallied against those in power
but when he was discovered to be making hand grenades for the freedom fighters
he was put on the government’s wanted list and had to flee to Zurich in neutral Switzerland.
There, he hoped to compose this mighty work of a lifetime
a cycle of operas that might express the political fervour of those times.
Opera then was more about Italians prancing about the
stage singing crowd-pleasing arias: popular songs.
Wagner would have none of this artifice.
A violently-opinionated, megalomaniac anti-Semite, Wagner always did it differently.
His opera would present a Gesamtkunstwerk:
a total work of art amalgamating music, drama, poetry, politics, philosophy and the visual arts.
It would transport the listener on an epic journey
like binge-watching Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.
Wagner composed the libretto - or the text - and the music
to the entire cycle between 1848 and 1874.
The story drew on ancient Icelandic, Germanic and Scandinavian legend.
The four operas in the cycle are Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung.
Das Rheingold sets the scene.
A power-hungry dwarf called Alberich steals some
gold from mythical nymphs of the River Rhine – the Rhinemaidens.
Out of it he forged the magical Ring.
Wotan, the chief god, steals the Ring from Alberich, only to forfeit it himself.
You see, greedy Wotan wants to build a gigantic palace called Valhalla
but must sell the Ring to a giant called Fafner in payment for its construction.
In punishment for Wotan’s greed, the gods are haunted by the curse of their impending downfall.
The only way to remove the curse is for Wotan to retrieve the Ring from the giant Fafner
and return it to whom it first belonged – the Rhinemaidens.
But Wotan himself can’t do this because he’s bound by that palace-building agreement with the giants.
So he devises a plan.
He gets a human woman pregnant with twins called Siegmund and Sieglinde.
They become separated at birth
and the girl - Seiglinde – is eventually forced into
marriage with a wicked warrior called Hunding.
But someday, Wotan hopes, the boy Siegmund
who is of human stock and therefore not bound by the laws of the Gods
will be able to retrieve a sword left by Wotan so as to slay Fafner and regain the Ring.
Will he do that?
Find out in the separate opera: Die Walkure - the most performed part of the Cycle.
Act 1 of Die Walkure begins in the middle of a raging storm.
Now remember Wagner was aiming for a different sort of opera.
As a fan of ancient Greek theatre in which a chorus comments on the onstage drama
Wagner used short recognisable musical phrases to correspond to the particular characters onstage –
to their emotional states of mind
or to various dramatic events in the plot.
These ‘guides to feeling’ are known as ‘leitmotifs’
and are commonly used by film score composers today.
So tubas and tympanis play a storm leitmotif to convey the overwhelming power of crashing thunder.
Next, the curtain rises and we hear the Siegmund leitmotif.
This theme is weighted down by cellos, basses and horns.
It illustrates the weary Siegmund – Wotan’s son – who’s staggered
off the battlefield into a hut to find shelter.
Unbeknownst to Siegmund, this hut
built around a huge ash-tree
belongs to the warrior Hunding.
A woman greets Siegmund.
We know this is Sieglinde because her own leitmotif plays out.
Remember, these long-lost twins have been separated at birth
and she's been forced into an unhappy marriage with Hunding.
Sieglinde’s theme is compassionate.
It reflects her tender kindness towards this mysterious stranger
and the rich and sensuous strings of her leitmotif intertwine with Siegmund’s own theme.
The famous love leitmotif emerges - sweet and colourful music
expressing the blossoming of love between the two siblings.
It’s intensely lyrical and grows ecstatically
because Siegmund and Sieglinde have now unwittingly - and incestuously - fallen in love.
Urgh!
Suddenly, a harsh leitmotif blasts out like a military fanfare.
Abusive Hunding has turned up.
It is his gaff after all.
Siegmund gives Hunding the low-down.
He recounts how one day he was hunting with his father.
Remember his father was none other than Wotan, king of the Gods
and at this point we hear the Valhalla leitmotif
because it was Wotan who exchanged the Ring for building Valhalla.
Anyway, Siegmund and dad return home after hunting
to find the family home devastated and Siegmund’s twin sister gone.
At this point, the sinister Hunding leitmotif rings out because,
of course, it was Hunding who abducted her
and both Siegmund and Hunding now realise that they are arch-enemies.
Oopsie!
So they agree to duel in the morning.
Problem is Siegmund’s got no weapons but he suddenly remembers:
"My father promised me a sword"
"Walse! Walse! Where is that sword!"
At which point we hear the triumphant sword leitmotif.
Wotan secretly left the sword in that ash-tree.
Meanwhile, where the hell do Siegmund and Sieglinde know each other from?!
We hear two leitmotifs which hint at their shared heritage
the Valhalla motif and their father’s motif
until she realises who he is:
"Siegmund! Siegmund! Siegmund!"
And he exclaims ecstatically:
"You are Sieglinde."
"Fate has willed that we two of our unhappy race shall meet again and save each other!"
At which point, the sword leitmotif recurs as Siegmund removes it from the tree.
The rapturous love duet again rings out
impassioned with irresistible harmonies
as Siegmund announces that Sieglinde shall be his bride!
The second Act introduces Brunnhilde who is a Valkyrie.
The Valkyries were daughters of Wotan.
Their responsibility was to ride out onto the battlefields
in order to collect the souls of dead heroes to bring back to Valhalla.
Should Alberich attack Valhalla, these heroes would defend.
Wotan commands Brunnhilde to bridle her steed for
he wants her to protect Siegmund in his duel against Hunding.
Brunnhilde agrees, joyously singing the battle-cry of the Valkyries.
It’s a really hard leitmotif to sing
especially to make the octave leaps and hold the high notes.
In fact, the role of Brunnhilde is one of the most challenging for any soprano.
Next, we hear a new leitmotif representing the anger of Fricka.
Who the frick is Fricka?!
Why, the goddess of marriage and she’s super angry at Wotan
for ordering Brunnhilde to protect Siegmund.
According to Fricka, Siegmund and Sieglinde must be punished for their incestuous adultery.
After all, Sieglinde IS Hunding’s wife.
Wotan relents and agrees that
for the sake of what is right and despite his personal interests
Siegmund must die.
The leitmotif of Wotan’s wrath is heard as he
realises his plans for Siegmund to retrieve the Ring will now fail.
The curse on the gods will maintain as long as Wotan
fails to restore that Ring to the Rhinemaidens.
Powerless, Wotan re-orders Brunnhilde to obey Fricka
and grant victory to Hunding over his beloved Siegmund.
It’s all heavy chords full of despair and the crushing force of fate.
Meanwhile, Siegmund and Sieglinde have escaped Hunding’s hall.
An ominous leitmotif representing fate accompanies Brunnhilde approaching the lovers.
For she has come to announce
through a solemn death-song
that Siegmund will die by Hunding’s sword.
But Brunnhilde is unexpectedly swayed.
Suddenly impressed by Siegmund’s heroic love for Sieglinde
she announces that she will in fact disobey Wotan’s orders
and grant victory to Siegmund over Hunding!
Hunding arrives for the duel, and Siegmund
now helped by Brunnhilde
begins to overpower Hunding
only for Wotan to appear and shatter Siegmund’s sword.
Hunding spears the unarmed Siegmund to death.
But there’s no time to lose.
Wotan must find and punish Brunnhilde, his disobedient daughter.
Act 3 opens with the famous Ride of the Valkyries leitmotif.
Barely 5 minutes, it’s the reason for the entire opera’s popularity.
It regularly appears on TV and in movies
most notably in Apocalypse Now.
Woodwinds flutter, brass blazes and strings swirl representing the flying Valkyries -
the warrior-maidens swooping on their
winged steeds to transport the dead war heroes to Valhalla.
Wagner even used specially-invented instruments to enrich the sound of the gargantuan orchestra:
the Wagner tuba, the bass trumpet, and the contrabass trombone.
Even in his own time, Wagner was pestered non-stop for stand-alone performances of this bit.
This group of braided blondes
fierce Teutonic women
don helmets and breastplates.
They greet each other with savage shouts.
Brunnhidle arrives but
to the confusion of her Valkyrie sisters doesn’t bear a dead war hero
but Sieglinde, a human woman.
Her Valkyrie sisters scold her for her disobedience to Wotan:
"Deluded sister, what have you done?"
"Woe, Brunnhilde!"
But Brunnhilde is protecting Sieglinde because she is in fact pregnant by Siegmund
with a boy who shall be named: SIEGFRIED!
At this point we hear the Siegfried leitmotif.
He is to be the star of the next opera in the Ring Cycle.
Wotan arrives and Brunnhilde pleads with him – in a broad and beautiful phrase – to spare her:
"Was it so shameful what I have done?"
Wotan announces that Brunnhilde is to be stripped of her Valkyrie status.
She is to be held in a magic sleep on a mountain
prey to any man who passes by.
But in light of her touching plea
he promises to protect Brunnhilde in her slumber by encircling her with a magic flame
through which only the bravest hero might pass.
The Siegfried leitmotif is heard again as a premonition
because Siegfried will, later in the Cycle, pass through the flames and rescue Brunnhilde.
The magic fire leitmotif is some of the most majestic music for
bass voice and has a tender mournful beauty.
It expresses the deep love that Wotan feels for his daughter Brunnhilde
as he kisses her and bids her an emotional farewell.
Finally, the gorgeous slumber motif closes the
opera as Brunnhilde falls into her enchanted sleep.
But it’s not really the end.
Two more operas continue the story.
Siegfried will slay the giant Fafner and rescue Brunnhilde
who will will return the Ring to the Rhinemaidens.
The entire Cycle premiered in 1876 over 4 consecutive nights
clocking in at a total 15 hours.
And it was disastrous - they lost the Ring and raised the backdrop too early!
It was performed in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth in a specially built opera house
and financed by Wagner’s eccentric patron King Ludwig.
His nutty fandom had taken the form of recreating Hunding’s hut in his garden.
He even built an artificial ash-tree with a sword stuck in it.
For sheer length alone, Wagner’s Ring Cycle remains one of the most
challenging ventures for any opera company.
It’s also a test of audience endurance,
but Bayreuth still attracts a cult of diehard Wagner enthusiasts.
And whereas, eventually, the political revolution in Germany failed to topple those in power
there’s no doubting that Wagner’s musical revolution succeeded.
For the power of Wagner’s gods WAS toppled at the end of the Ring Cycle
and for the thousands who make the annual pilgrimage to Bayreuth to hear it
the experience is nothing but transformative.