Ring Cycle
Operatic Norse epic
The Ring Cycle is Richard Wagner's four-opera epic, properly titled *Der Ring des Nibelungen*, spanning roughly fifteen hours across four evenings.
The cycle—*Das Rheingold*, *Die Walküre*, *Siegfried*, and *Götterdämmerung*—draws on Germanic and Norse mythology to tell a story of gods, heroes, and cursed gold.
Performing or attending a complete Ring Cycle is a major undertaking: We're flying to Seattle for their Ring Cycle this summer.
- GesamtkunstwerkArtwork uniting all forms
- leitmotifRecurring thematic phrase
- ValhallaHall for fallen warriors
- Bayreuth FestivalGerman opera event annually
- opera houseVenue for staged singing
libretto · Valkyrie · Ragnarok · Siegfried · tetralogy · Brünnhilde · Tolkien · Nietzsche · Rhinegold · redemption · Norse sagas · orchestra · overture · staging · Romanticism · score · spear · twilight
- epicIliad, Odyssey, Beowulf, Aeneid, Gilgamesh
- operaopera, aria, arias, soprano, tenor
- Romantic MusicBeethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky
- German TheaterGoethe, Bertolt Brecht, Faust, The Threepenny Opera, epic theater
- Late RomanticismMahler, Brahms, Wagner, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky
- WagnerParsifal, Siegfried, Bayreuth Festival, The Flying Dutchman, Flying Dutchman
Ring Cycleoperetta
Comic musical theater piece
light opera · comic opera · The Merry Widow · Gilbert and Sullivan · The Mikado
Ring Cyclebel canto
Elegant Italian vocal style
Italian opera · Bellini · Verdi · Puccini