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The Ring of the Nibelung: Difference between revisions
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[[file:Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods p 056.jpg|
'''''Der Ring des Nibelungen''''' ("The Ring of the Nibelung"<ref>this is sometimes mistranslated as the plural "Nibelungs," but the singular is correct -- the Nibelung referred to is Alberich. The name "Nibelung" (literally, "mist-descendent") refers to the race of dwarfs to which Alberich belongs. This particular noun is declinated in German, which results in the ending "-en".</ref>) is a cycle of four operas by [[Richard Wagner]] (hence the alternative term, the "Ring Cycle," which is sometimes applied to the whole <ref>Wagner himself eschewed the term "opera" as applied to these works, preferring to refer to them as "Bühnenfestspiele", "stage-festival-plays"; the term "music-drama," though also rejected by Wagner himself, is generally preferred by his followers</ref>. The cycle premiered at the Wagner Festival Theater in Bayreuth, August 14th-17th, 1876, though the first two sections of the work had already appeared at the Munich Court Opera in 1869 and 1870.
''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' consists of
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Most important, of course, is Wagner's music. In the ''Ring'' Wagner's ''[[Leitmotif|Leitmotiv]]''<ref>Wagner invented neither the use of the ''Leitmotiv'' nor the name; the symbolical use of melodies or melodic phrases can be traced back to [[The Middle Ages]], and the word itself was invented by Wagner's disciple, Hans von Wolzogen, to describe what Wagner himself called "melodic moments of feeling."</ref> method is used in its most developed and sophisticated form. The score is by no means a simple patchwork, with (say) a "Wotan" motive<ref>Note that "motive" is the Anglicization of Wolzogen’s „''Motiv''“ preferred by Wagnerian commentators from [[George Bernard Shaw]] and Ernest Newman up to Deryck Cooke, rather than the Frenchified ''motif''</ref> sounding every time Wotan appears on-stage. Rather, it is a symphonic development of fundamental musical ideas, varied, combined, split, and developed in a complicated psychological counterpoint to the symbolism of the stage action. Frequently the music reveals the unspoken thoughts or feelings of a character; equally frequently, it comments ironically on the action. For the rest, Wagner’s music is characterized by a lush late Romantic nationalism, making rich use of chromaticism in the service of mood-setting and picture painting -- hence his pre-eminence as a dramatic composer, and his influence on later composers, particularly for the cinema, which has lasted to this day.
Not to be confused with ''[[The Ring]]''.
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Götterdämmerung]]
{{tropelist}}
* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: Siegfried succeeds in reforging Nothung, for the very reason that he ''knows not'' fear. Literally. Never mind that Mime with all manner of skill in smithery can't do it, Siegfried can somehow do it just from having complete ignorance of the concept of fear.
* [[Alliteration]]: The libretto of the ''Ring'' is written in ''Stabreim'', the ancient Germanic verse-form that was based on alliteration. Thus the opening of ''Rheingold'':
{{quote|„''Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle! Walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia! Wallala weiala weia!''"}}
* [[Amazon Admirer]]: Brunhilde the warrior is appealing, and many want to win her hand. She's also not one to be trifled with, as shown with what happens to Sigurd.
* [[Amazon Brigade]]: The Valkyries.
* [[Ancestral Weapon]]: In ''Walküre'', Brünnhilde gives the fragments of Siegmund's sword to Sieglinde; Siegfried duly forges them anew into a sword in his eponymous opera.
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* [[Leitmotif]]: The Leitmotif technique, if not invented by Wagner, was certainly perfected by him. In his operas, not only would every character have his/her own motif, but also objects, places, and even abstract ideas, all of which would be woven into a complex symphonic whole, in which the variations of the motifs have a psychological effect far more significant than a mere announcement of a character's presence.
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Done rather subtly in the ''Ring'', in which often the only difference between Wotan and Alberich is that Wotan somewhat regrets his actions -- but does them anyway. (Wotan actually refers to himself as „''Licht-Alberich''" ("Light-Alberich") and to the dwarf as „''Schwarz-Alberich''" ("Dark-Alberich" (or more literally "Black-Alberich"))).
* [[Literally Fearless]]: Crossed with [[Achievements in Ignorance]] when Siegfried succeeds in reforging Nothung for the very reason that he ''knows not'' fear. Literally. Never mind that Mime with all manner of skill in smithery can't do it, Siegfried can somehow do it just from having complete ignorance of the concept of fear.
* [[Love At First Sight]]: Plenty of examples in the ''Ring''.
** Long lost siblings Siegmund and Sieglinde quickly fall in love in Act I of ''Die Walküre.''
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* [[The Power of Love]]: In the ''Ring'', though Sieglinde is rescued from Hunding, and Brünnhilde from the [[Johnny Cash|Ring of Fire]], Sieglinde's love does not save Siegmund, and Brünnhilde's actually leads to Siegfried's death, and both the ladies (like everyone except the Rhine-daughters, and possibly the Nibelungs) die under rather unpleasant circumstances. (A monologue in an early version of the text, in which Brünnhilde specifically invoked [[The Power of Love]] before burning herself to death, was deliberately cut by the composer because it no longer represented his philosophical ideas.)
* [[Public Domain Artifact]]: Averted; the Ring (or rather, any of its prototypes) was not a well-known artifact before Wagner.
* [[Ravens and Crows]]: A pair of these are intelligence gatherers for Wotan, bird-watching whom proves fatal to Siegfried.
* [[Reforged Blade]]: Nothung, in ''Siegfried''.
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