DM's opera site
libretti & information
ComposersOperasLinksForumAbout
Richard Wagner operas
Die Feen (1833)
Das Liebesverbot (1836)
Rienzi (1842)
Der fliegende Holländer (1843)
Tannhäuser (1845)
Lohengrin (1847)
Tristan und Isolde (1859)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1867)
Das Rheingold (1869)
Die Walküre (1870)
Siegfried (1871)
Götterdämmerung (1874)
Parsifal (1882)

“Das Rheingold” by Richard Wagner

The Rhine Gold, L’Or du Rhin, Золото Рейна

Premiere / date of written: 22 September 1869

Das Rheingold ('The Rhine Gold') is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen ('The Ring of the Nibelung'). It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.

Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre in Munich on 22 September 1869, with August Kindermann in the role of Wotan, Heinrich Vogl as Loge, and Karl Fischer as Alberich. Wagner wanted this opera to be premiered as part of the entire cycle, but was forced to allow the performance at the insistence of his patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The opera received its premiere as part of the complete cycle on 13 August 1876, in the Bayreuther Festspielhaus.

Libretti

# Language Authors
1 German Richard Wagner
2 English Frederick Jameson
3 French Louis-Pilate de Brinn’Gaubast, Edmond Barthélemy, 1894
4 Russian В. П. Коломийцов

original libretto
line-by-line of the original libretto

Audio recordings

Year Cast
Conductor,
Opera chorus and orchestra
Label,
Comment
Buy
1958

DM's pick

Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich),
George London (Wotan),
Kirsten Flagstad (Fricka),
Set Svanholm (Loge),
Claire Watson (Freia),
Walter Kreppel (Fasolt),
Kurt Böhme (Fafner),
Eberhard Wächter (Donner),
Waldemar Kmentt (Froh),
Jean Madeira (Erda),
Paul Kuën (Mime)
Sir Georg Solti
Wiener Philharmoniker
CD: Decca Cat: 4780382 Stereo

Amazon.com

External links