Das Rheingold

• Das Rheingold is the “preliminary evening” (part one of four) of the massive cycle of music dramas, Der Ring des Nibelungen (“The Nibelung’s Ring”).
• Das Rheingold is organized into four scenes. Wagner wrote his own libretto in addition to composing the score. The composer drew inspiration from Norse and German poetry, including the medieval epic poem Nibelungenlied.¹
• The gestation period for the music drama was incredibly long. The first prose sketch dates from 1851, and Wagner wrote the accompanying music between 1853-54. While excerpts from the opera were performed in the following decades to help raise funds (“Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla” was a popular choice)², the cycle as a whole would not premiere until 1876 at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
• The music drama was dedicated to Wagner’s patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria.³

Synopsis of Das Rheingold from The Metropolitan Opera 

1. Barry Millington, “Rheingold, Das,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed October 27, 2022, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000904269.
2. Betsy Schwarm, “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” Encyclopedia Britannica (2022), accessed October 27, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Der-Ring-des-Nibelungen.
3. Barry Millington, “Rheingold, Das,” Grove Music Online.