Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Nibelung's Ring / The Ring of the Nibelung) is called "ein Bühnenfestspiel für drei Tage und einen Vorabend" (a stage festival drama for three days and a preliminary evening).
The Ring is really one drama in four parts:
- Das Rheingold (Vorabend)
- Die Walküre (Erster Tag)
- Siegfried (Zweiter Tag)
- Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods; Dritter Tag)
The Ring had its world premiere at the first festival in Bayreuth
in 1876.
Three cycles were shown. Richard Wagner was stage director and Hans Richter
was the conductor. Artists and celebreties from all over the world had
come to Bayreuth to be a part of this event.
The next time the complete Ring was produced in Bayreuth was in 1896.
All productions of Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth Festival here.
Outside Bayreuth Der Ring des Nibelungen (complete) was produced in the following cities
| 1878 | München |
| 1879 | Wien |
| 1880 | Hamburg |
| 1881 | Berlin (Angelo Neumann's travelling Wagner-Theatre with guest performances in Berliner Viktoria-Theater) |
| 1882–1883 | Angelo Neumann's travelling Wagner-Theatre on tour: London (Her Majesty's Theatre), Breslau, Königsberg, Danzig, Hannover, Bremen, Barmen, Dresden, Amsterdam, Brüssel, Aachen, Düsseldorf, Mainz, Darmstadt, Karlsruhe, Strassburg, Stuttgart, Basel, Venice, Bologna, Rome, Torino, Triest, Budapest, Graz – totaling 135 performances of the Ring! |
Peter Tchaikovsky on Der Ring des Nibelungen
Wagner's tetralogy is so complicated and so finely detailed that much time is necessary for a study of it - and it really ought to be heard often.
In a letter to Modest Tchaikovsky, written 14 August 1876 (Bayreuth - The Early Years)
