Prelude to the stage festival "The Ring of the Nibelung" by Richard Wagner - Libretto by the composer - In German with surtitles
Accompanied by a slowly swelling E-flat major chord, a mythical cosmos rises from the depths of the Rhine in the prelude to Das Rheingold, from whose waves a world, populated by gods, giants and dwarves, emerges: Cursing love, the Nibelung Alberich procures the fabled gold of the Rhine daughters to forge a ring from it that will give its owner limitless power. When Wotan and Loge cunningly steal the valuable piece from him, Alberich places a curse on the ring, the fateful consequences of which ignite the further events of Der Ring des Nibelungen...
Richard Wagner conceived Das Rheingold as the "eve" of his four-part stage festival Der Ring des Nibelungen. In it, he gave the gods the floor and sketched out the basic dramatic premise under which the fate of mankind will later be decided - and whose effects, in the interplay of inner feelings and outer desires, also decisively determine our own existence. With Das Rheingold, Peter Konwitschny continues his highly acclaimed production of the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, which will conclude in 2024/25 with the performance of the complete cycle.