'Alles was ist, endet': Living with the Knowledge of Death in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

Abstract

Richard Wagner's best-known work, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is famous for many reasons: its music, its Germanic mythic allegory, its sheer length. Called a stage-festival play for three days and a preliminary evening, the Ring `cycle' (as it is known) runs at least fifteen hours. In other words, it is a major investment of time and energy for audiences. But it is also an engrossing story of the struggle for a golden ring — and therefore for power — among giants, humans, Nibelung dwarfs, and the Teutonic gods. It contains several infamous love stories: that of the siblings Siegmund and Sieglinde, and also that of their offspring, Siegfried, and Brünnhilde, the Valkyrie (who happens to be his aunt). There are many stories in the Ring and, it goes without saying, there are many possible critical approaches to it.