This date in 1876 saw the first performance, at Bayreuth, of Wagner’s entire Ring Cycle. 10 things you might not know about the Ring Cycle:
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Its proper title is Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).
It took Wagner 26 years to write it, from 1848 to 1874.
The whole thing is about 15 hours long and consists of four parts: Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), the shortest part, basically one continuous piece of Music lasting two and a half hours with no interval; Die Walküre (The Valkyrie); Siegfried; and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), which is the longest part, lasting five hours, not including intervals.
So what’s the story? Believe it or not, it’s about a ring. The ring in question was forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens, and grants its wearer the power to rule the world. The god Wotan steals it from Alberich but is forced to hand it over to the giants Fafner and Fasolt, who threaten to take the goddess Freia if he doesn’t. His grandson, the mortal Siegfried, kills Fafner and gets the ring back, but Alberich's son Hagen also wants the ring and plots Siegfried’s demise. Siegfried's Valkyrie lover Brünnhilde – 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 and commits suicide on Siegfried's funeral pyre. Hagen jumps into the river in an attempt to recover the ring, and is drowned. In the process, the gods and Valhalla are destroyed.
Which raises the question of whether JRR Tolkien was influenced by this work and how much of Lord of the Rings was based on it. Tolkien started writing Lord of the Rings 64 years after Wagner finished the ring cycle, and both have dwarves and Dragons and a ring that grants the wearer special powers. Tolkien denied it, however, and was even, as a mythology expert, disparaging about Wagner’s interpretation of the source material. Nevertheless, Lord of the Rings and the Ring Cycle share plot elements that aren’t in the original sagas.
Wagner had an opera house built especially for this epic Opera. He chose the Bavarian town of Bayreuth and moved there to oversee the construction and try to raise funds for it. The foundation stone was laid in 1871 and it opened in 1876, mainly thanks to King Ludwig, who stumped up the cash to rescue the floundering project in 1874. While parts of the opera had been performed already, the 13 August 1876 opening of The Bayreuth Festspielhaus saw the first complete performance, over several days until 17 August. One of the features of the theatre was special stage to blend the orchestra with the singers' voices, so they could sing at a natural volume and not have to strain themselves vocally during the long performances.
Although Wagner’s intention was for the cycle to be performed together as a series, the individual parts are often performed separately. The dialogue in each one refers to events in the previous ones so it’s possible to understand the plot even without watching the rest.
One of the most recognisable pieces of classical music comes from the beginning of the third part. Ride of the Valkyries is often used for dramatic scenes in film and TV, one example being during an air cavalry assault in North Vietnam in Apocalypse Now.
The images which spring to mind when female opera singers (large ladies in feathered helmets) or Vikings (horned helmets) are mentioned are likely a direct result of early productions of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. While Wagner paid great attention to detail most of the time, he didn’t quite get the costumes right. There is no record that Vikings ever wore helmets with horns, wings, antlers, or any other adornment.
An adaptation of Wagner's storyline was published as a graphic novel in 2018 by P. Craig Russell.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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