Das Rheingold will be streamed live and time-delayed on ARTE on 29 October, starting at 9.45 p.m.
The Ring of the Nibelung at the Staatsoper Berlin is to be conducted by Christian Thielemann who is standing in for the indisposed Daniel Barenboim. This is only the second time that Thielemann, one of the world’s great Wagnerians, has collaborated with the Staatskapelle Berlin and it will actually mark his debut at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden!
The Nibelung Alberich, who owing to his hideous appearance has been spurned by the Rhine Maidens, steals the Rhine gold that they are guarding and forges a ring that will give its owner limitless power. As the Father of the Gods, Wotan has completely different worries: Having promised the giants Fasolt and Fafner the goddess Freia in exchange for their building of Valhalla, he now learns that she is not for sale. In desperation, he offers them Alberich’s ring instead. On discovering that Wotan and the cunning fire god Loge have robbed him of his treasure, the enraged Alberich curses the ring and all its future owners – and the fateful drama takes its course.
Das Rheingold, as the “evening before” the ensuing “three-day music festival,” is uncharacteristically short and compact for Wagner. It tells the backstory to the dramatic chain reactions of Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung in less than three hours. This new staging of the tetralogy by Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov, author of last year’s widely praised production of the Fliegende Holländer in Bayreuth, promises to be a major Wagner event that will make waves far beyond the confines of the opera and classical music scene.
Das Rheingold will be streamed live and time-delayed on ARTE on 29 October, starting at 9.45 p.m. The broadcast will be moderated by Annette Gerlach.