Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is briefly introduced with a diagram. The Ring consists of four parts: The Rhinegold, Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods.
It is known as difficult work because of its long duration, but it is easy to understand if you pay attention to two points.
- Understand the whereabouts of the Ring.
- The main characters change in each work.
Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Ring of the Nibelung
- Native title: Der Ring des Nibelungen
- Composers: Richard Wagner
- Librettist: Richard Wagner
- Based on: German mythology “Saga”, Norse mythology “Edda”, German heroic epic “Nibelungenlied”, etc.
- Language: German
- Running time: Approx. 15 hours
- Das Rheingold, The Rhinegold
- Die Walküre, The Valkyrie
- Siegfried
- Götterdämmerung, Twilight of the Gods
| Wotan | King of the Gods | baritone |
| Brünnhilde | Wotan’s daughter | soprano |
| Siegfried | Wotan’s grandson | tenor |
Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Ring of the Nibelung: Character Map
Below is a correlation chart of the people who appear in The Ring of the Nibelung. The red arrows indicate the flow of people who possessed the ring.
Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Ring of the Nibelung: Short Synopsis
The Ring of the Nibelung is the story of the problems caused by Wotan and Alberich over the gold in the Rhine and how their respective descendants clean up the mess. Ultimately, the ring is put back into the Rhine upon Brünnhilde’s death.
The problems caused by Wotan and Alberich are as follows.
Alberich
He stole gold from the Rhine. He put a curse on the ring he made from the gold.
Wotan
To rule the world, he broke the world tree branch to make a spear handle. Because of this, the world tree began to wither. He took the ring from Alberich.
