22 Sep 1869: Das Rheingold debuts

On this day in 1869, Das Rheingold, the first of the four operas in Richard Wagner‘s Der Ring des Nibelungen (often called ‘the Ring Cycle‘), made its debut in Munich.

The work focuses on a ring, fashioned from gold of the river Rhine (hence the play’s name), which grants its bearer incredible power. Gods and mythical creatures abound as the ring falls through three generations.

The full Ring Cycle was first performed in Wagner’s hometown, Bayreuth, in 1876; the performance generally takes around 15 hours spread across multiple evenings. The other operas are:

• Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
• Siegfried
• Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)

Image: Valhalla, as designed by Hermann Burghart in 1878.