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97-525: Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung ), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend , namely Norse legendary sagas and the Nibelungenlied . The composer termed the cycle a " Bühnenfestspiel " (stage festival play), structured in three days preceded by

194-529: A Vorabend ("preliminary evening"). It is often referred to as the Ring cycle , Wagner's Ring , or simply The Ring . Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four parts that constitute the Ring cycle are, in sequence: Individual works of the sequence are often performed separately, and indeed the operas contain dialogues that mention events in

291-402: A prelude . Wagner called Das Rheingold a Vorabend or "Preliminary Evening", and Die Walküre , Siegfried and Götterdämmerung were subtitled First Day, Second Day and Third Day, respectively, of the trilogy proper. The scale and scope of the story is epic. It follows the struggles of gods , heroes , and several mythical creatures over the eponymous magic ring that grants domination over

388-446: A tenor drum , as well as five onstage horns and four onstage steerhorns, one of them to be blown by Hagen. Much of the Ring , especially from Siegfried act 3 onwards, cannot be said to be in traditional, clearly defined keys for long stretches, but rather in 'key regions', each of which flows smoothly into the following. This fluidity avoided the musical equivalent of clearly defined musical paragraphs and assisted Wagner in building

485-520: A chorus only relatively briefly, in acts 2 and 3 of Götterdämmerung , and then mostly of men with just a few women. He eventually had a purpose-built theatre constructed, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus , in which to perform this work. The theatre has a special stage that blends the huge orchestra with the singers' voices, allowing them to sing at a natural volume. The result was that the singers did not have to strain themselves vocally during

582-674: A commercial recording on compact disc and on iTunes. In 2003 the first production of the cycle in Russia in modern times was conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Opera , Saint Petersburg, designed by George Tsypin . The production drew parallels with Ossetian mythology. The Royal Danish Opera performed a complete Ring cycle in May 2006 in its new waterfront home, the Copenhagen Opera House . This version of

679-503: A concerted cadenza ; plunge on from that to a magnificent love duet...The work which follows, entitled Night Falls on the Gods [Shaw's translation of Götterdämmerung ], is a thorough grand opera. As a significant element in the Ring and his subsequent works, Wagner adopted the use of leitmotifs , which are recurring themes or harmonic progressions. They musically denote an action, object, emotion, character, or other subject mentioned in

776-466: A corner of the sky, that was fashioned from the skull of Ymir . It has been suggested that this would imply that dwarfs could be very tall; however, it has been noted that the sky could have been conceived of as being close to the earth at the horizon. Regin , a figure identified as either a dwarf or resembling a dwarf, is a similar size to the hero Sigurd on both the Ramsund carving and carvings from

873-712: A double slide. He also developed the "Wagner bell", enabling the bassoon to reach the low A-natural, whereas normally B-flat is the instrument's lowest note. If such a bell is not to be used, then a contrabassoon should be employed. All four parts have a very similar instrumentation. The core ensemble of instruments are one piccolo , three flutes (third doubling second piccolo ), three oboes , cor anglais (doubling fourth oboe), three soprano clarinets , one bass clarinet , three bassoons ; eight horns (fifth through eighth doubling Wagner tubas ), three trumpets , one bass trumpet, three tenor trombones , one contrabass trombone (doubling bass trombone ), one contrabass tuba ;

970-458: A dwarf lures King Sveigðir into an open stone which closes behind them, whereupon he is never seen again. Ynglingasaga also describes this dwarf as being afraid of the sun ( Old Norse : dagskjarr ), akin to in Alvíssmál , where the poem's eponymous dwarf is turned to stone by sunlight. In German legends, they typically live inside of hollow mountains; in some cases, they may live above

1067-517: A dwarf. In Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks , the sword Tyrfing is forged, and subsequently cursed, by a dwarf named Dvalinn, and another named Dulin in the Hauksbók manuscript. In German literature, many dwarfs can make themselves invisible, typically via a "Tarnkappe" ( cloak of invisibility ), which has been suggested to be an ancient attribute of dwarfs. Depending on the story, they may be hostile or friendly to humans. The dwarf Alberich plays

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1164-491: A hero is not defined by achieving deeds alone but by being able to both give and accept help. In German legends, they also possess other magical objects and often appear as master smiths. The Codex Regius version of Völuspá records that dwarfs were produced out of the earth, while in the Prose Edda, they form like maggots in the flesh of Ymir , which became the earth. Beyond this, in early Old Norse sources, there

1261-404: A lengthy Prelude (Vorspiel). ... At a specially-appointed Festival, I propose, some future time, to produce those three Dramas with their Prelude, in the course of three days and a fore-evening . The object of this production I shall consider thoroughly attained, if I and my artistic comrades, the actual performers, shall within these four evenings succeed in artistically conveying my purpose to

1358-552: A location in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth . In 1872, he moved to Bayreuth and the foundation stone was laid. Wagner would spend the next two years attempting to raise capital for the construction, with scant success; King Ludwig finally rescued the project in 1874 by donating the needed funds. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus opened in 1876 with the first complete performance of the Ring , which took place from 13 to 17 August. In 1882, London impresario Alfred Schulz-Curtius organized

1455-597: A means of artistic expression. He expressed this clearly in his essay " A Communication to My Friends " (1851), in which he condemned the majority of modern artists, in painting and in music, as "feminine ... the world of art close fenced from Life, in which Art plays with herself.' Where however the impressions of Life produce an overwhelming 'poetic force', we find the 'masculine, the generative path of Art'. Wagner unfortunately found that his audiences were not willing to follow where he led them: The public, by their enthusiastic reception of Rienzi and their cooler welcome of

1552-778: A new cycle in 2006 directed by Francesca Zambello . The production uses imagery from various eras of American history and has a feminist and environmentalist viewpoint. Recent performances of this production took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. in April/May 2016, featuring Catherine Foster and Nina Stemme as Brünnhilde, Daniel Brenna as Siegfried and Alan Held as Wotan. Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis The Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis ( Catalogue of Wagner's Works ), abbreviated WWV ,

1649-504: A percussion section with 4 timpani (requiring two players), triangle , cymbals , tam-tam ; six harps and a string section consisting of 16 first and 16 second violins , 12 violas , 12 cellos and 8 double basses . Das Rheingold , one offstage harp and 18 offstage anvils . Die Walküre requires one snare drum , one D clarinet (played by the third clarinettist) and an on-stage steerhorn . Siegfried requires one onstage cor anglais and one onstage horn. Götterdämmerung requires

1746-675: A series of articles in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , inviting composers to write a 'national opera' based on the Nibelungenlied , a 12th-century High German poem which, since its rediscovery in 1755, had been hailed by the German Romantics as the "German national epic ". Siegfrieds Tod dealt with the death of Siegfried, the central heroic figure of the Nibelungenlied. The idea had occurred to others –

1843-527: A vital role in the Nibelungenlied , where he guards the Nibelung's treasure and has the strength of twelve men. He is defeated by Siegfried and afterwards serves the hero. In Ortnit , Alberich seduces the Lombardy queen, spawning the hero Ortnit. The dwarf then aids Ortnit in his adventures after revealing to the hero that he is his father. In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , Siegfried is aided by

1940-586: A written charm aiming to rid the ill person of the disease, identified as a dwarf. The Lacnunga contains the Anglo-Saxon charm Wið Dweorh XCIIIb ( Against a Dwarf XCIIIb ) that refers to a sickness as a dweorg that is riding the afflicted person like a horse, similar to the harmful mare in the later folklore of the Germanic-speaking peoples . Despite the Christian elements in

2037-402: Is a major undertaking for any opera company: staging four interlinked operas requires a huge commitment both artistically and financially; hence, in most opera houses, production of a new Ring cycle will happen over a number of years, with one or two operas in the cycle being added each year. The Bayreuth Festival , where the complete cycle is performed most years, is unusual in that a new cycle

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2134-532: Is almost always created within a single year. Early productions of the Ring cycle stayed close to Wagner's original Bayreuth staging. Trends set at Bayreuth have continued to be influential. Following the closure of the Festspielhaus during the Second World War , the 1950s saw productions by Wagner's grandsons Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner (known as the 'New Bayreuth' style), which emphasised

2231-466: Is ambiguity between whether dwarfs live within stones or whether they are themselves stones. In Völuspá they are referred to as 'masters of the rocks' ( Old Norse : veggbergs vísir ) and skaldic kennings for 'stone' include 'dvergrann' ('house of the dwarf') and 'Durnis niðja salr' ('the hall of Durnir 's kinsman'). In Ynglingatal stanza 2 and the accompanying prose in the Ynglinga saga ,

2328-462: Is an index and musicological guide to the 113 musical compositions and works for the stage by Richard Wagner . It includes guidance on editions of the published works and explanations of historical performance practices. John Deathridge , Martin Geck , and Egon Voss compiled the catalogue. In compiling the catalogue, the authors studied Wagner's writings and examined drafts, sketches, and scores of

2425-406: Is attributed to their lateness and likely do not represent perceptions that predate Christianisation. Typically, in these later sagas, fighting dwarfs is considered dishonourable, in contrast to other beings such as dragons . Receiving help from a dwarf, however, such as being healed or given a treasure, was not seen as problematic; it has been proposed that the worldview of the saga writers was that

2522-416: Is called to prevent him from causing an afflicted person's illness. In Fáfnismál , the worm Fáfnir refers to some Norns as "Dvalinn's daughters" ( Old Norse : Dvalins dǿtr ), while in the Prose Edda, they are described as "of the dwarfs' kin" ( Old Norse : dverga ættar ). As Norns are also female, this could mean that dwarfs were conceived of by the author of the poem as able to be female, it

2619-547: Is eventually betrayed and slain as a result of the intrigues of Alberich's son Hagen, who wants the ring for himself. Finally, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde – Siegfried's lover and Wotan's daughter who lost her immortality for defying her father in an attempt to save Siegfried's father Sigmund – returns the ring to the Rhine maidens as she commits suicide on Siegfried's funeral pyre. Hagen is drowned as he attempts to recover

2716-433: Is forced to hand it over to the giants Fafner and Fasolt in payment for building the home of the gods, Valhalla , or they will take Freia, who provides the gods with the golden apples that keep them young. Wotan's schemes to regain the ring, spanning generations, drive much of the action in the story. His grandson, the mortal Siegfried, wins the ring by slaying Fafner (who slew Fasolt for the ring) – as Wotan intended – but

2813-406: Is no resemblance between Eddic and skaldic dwarfs and those in later sources. Dwarfs feature throughout both fornaldarsögur and riddarasögur . In Völsunga saga , which details the events that unfold after Loki extorts treasure out of the dwarf Andvari , to pay the wergild for his killing of Ótr , a being whose brother Regin is also described in some sources as either resembling or being

2910-405: Is not clear whether either their mother (or mothers) are dwarfs, or if they themselves are considered dwarfs just because they are descended from dwarfs. It has been noted that it may not be that female dwarfs did not exist in the folklore of this period, only that no explicit references to them survive in preserved narratives. It has been proposed this may be because narratives typically centre on

3007-629: Is not only seen between dwarfs throughout time and region but also with individual dwarfs, who can be capable of changing their shape and size, such as in Reginsmál , in which the dwarf Andvari lived as a pike in the water due to curse from a Norn , however, could also take on a human-like shape. In later German folklore , the Zwergkönig ('Dwarf King') is a tiny being but is capable of becoming enormously tall at will. In Eddic and skaldic sources, dwarfs are almost exclusively male; for example, in

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3104-612: Is supported by the names of dwarfs recorded in the Dvergatal section of Völuspá , which include Álfr ('Elf'), Gandálfr ('Wand-elf'), Vindálf ('Wind-elf'). Dvergatal further lists Yngvi – a name of the god Freyr who was given Álfheimr , the home of the elves, to rule according to Grímnismál . After the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples , dwarfs continued in the folklore of Germanic-speaking areas of Europe and

3201-753: Is used to gloss symptoms such as fever. The "Dictionary of Old English" divides the definition of Old English : dweorg into either "a dwarf or pygmy" or "a fever"; however, it has been argued that the distinction between the two meanings may not have been prevalent among Germanic peoples in the Early Middle Ages , due to the close association between the beings and sickness in medicinal charms. The 8th century Ribe skull fragment , found in Jutland , bears an inscription that calls for help from three beings, including Odin , against either one or two harmful dwarfs. The item's function has been compared to

3298-586: The Svartálfar ('black elves') appear to be the same beings as dwarfs, given that both are described in the Prose Edda as the residents of Svartálfaheimr . Another potential synonym is dökkálfar ('dark elves'); however, it is unclear whether svartálfar and dökkálfar were considered the same at the time of the writing of the Prose Edda. The partial overlap of dwarfs in Eddic sources with elves

3395-617: The Dvergasteinn in Seyðisfjörður . It has been proposed by Lotte Motz that the inhabitation of mountains, stones, and mounds by dwarfs may be derived from their earlier association with the dead who were frequently buried in mounds and around megaliths . The term ' dweorg ' can be used in Old English texts to describe an illness; it is commonly used in medical texts derived from Greek or Latin sources, where it

3492-624: The Wið Dweorh charms, such as the saints called upon for help, their foundations likely lie in a shared North-Sea Germanic tradition that includes inscribed runic charms such as those found in Ribe and Norfolk. The conception of diseases as being caused by projectiles from supernatural beings is widespread in Germanic folklore through time, such as in the phenomenon of elfshot , in Wið færstice , where they are thrown by elves , Ēse and witches, and in

3589-694: The Flying Dutchman , had plainly shown me what I must set before them if I sought to please. I completely undeceived their expectations; they left the theatre, after the first performance of Tannhäuser , [1845] in a confused and discontented mood. – The feeling of utter loneliness in which I now found myself, quite unmanned me... My Tannhäuser had appealed to a handful of intimate friends alone. Finally Wagner announces: I shall never write an Opera more. As I have no wish to invent an arbitrary title for my works, I will call them Dramas ... I propose to produce my myth in three complete dramas, preceded by

3686-455: The Dvergatal , every dwarf named is male. Some scholars have proposed that female dwarfs were not believed to exist; however, they are likely attested in charms dating to the early medieval period and are explicitly described in later saga material. Dwarfs are also widely referenced in these sources as having family relations with others, such as brothers and sons. Pairs or groups of brothers are seen relatively abundantly in Eddic contexts, as with

3783-458: The Eddas and the section of Ynglinga saga regarding Sveigðir lack prominence in their narratives and cohesive identity. Based on this, he puts forward the idea that dwarfs in these sources are set apart from other beings by their difficulty to be defined and generalised, ultimately stemming from their intrinsic nature to be hidden and as the "Other" that stands in contrast with humans. Based on

3880-539: The Grinkenschmied . These craftsmen can be referred to explicitly as dwarfs or terms that describe their roles such as Swedish : bergsmed ('mountain smith'). Mounds in Denmark can also be referred to by names derived from their inhabitants, such as 'smedsberg' or 'smedshoie' ('smith's hill' or 'smith's mound'). Anglian folklore tells that one can hear a forge from within a mound and feel furnace fires under

3977-475: The Hylestad Stave Church . Dwarf names in Eddic sources include Fullangr ('tall enough') and Hár ('high'); however, the terms are ambiguous and do not necessarily mean the dwarfs were conceived of as tall relative to a human. Some names suggest a small size, such as Nori and Nabbi, which have been translated as "tiny" and "little nub", respectively; however, it has been argued that this

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4074-549: The National Theatre in Munich , before the rest of the Ring . Thus, Das Rheingold premiered on 22 September 1869 and Die Walküre on 26 June 1870. Wagner subsequently delayed announcing his completion of Siegfried to prevent this work also being premiered against his wishes. Wagner had long desired to have a special festival opera house, designed by himself, for the performance of the Ring . In 1871, he decided on

4171-462: The Ring tells the story from the viewpoint of Brünnhilde and has a distinct feminist angle. For example, in a key scene in Die Walküre , it is Sieglinde and not Siegmund who manages to pull the sword Nothung out of a tree. At the end of the cycle, Brünnhilde does not die, but instead gives birth to Siegfried's child. San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera began a co-production of

4268-405: The Ring were originally conceived by Wagner to be free of the traditional operatic concepts of aria and operatic chorus . The Wagner scholar Curt von Westernhagen identified three important problems discussed in "Opera and Drama" which were particularly relevant to the Ring cycle: the problem of unifying verse stress with melody; the disjunctions caused by formal arias in dramatic structure and

4365-514: The Sigtuna amulet I and Canterbury charm that seek to drive away a "lord of þursar " that is causing an infection, the latter explicitly with the help of Thor. A similar inscription dating between the 8th and 11th century is found on a lead plaque discovered near Fakenham in Norfolk , which reads "dead is dwarf" ( Old English : dead is dwerg ), and has been interpreted as another example of

4462-724: The Ynglinga saga describes a dwarf sitting, standing, and speaking, leading to the proposal that at the time of writing, dwarfs were believed to, at least sometimes, have a human-like form. It nonetheless appears to have been recognised as a dwarf; however, that may have been due to its behaviour instead of its physical appearance. In skaldic and Eddic sources, it has been noted that their roles are what define them rather than their physical appearance, which has no significant relevance. Many dwarf names in Eddic sources relate to light and brightness, such as Dellingr ('the gleaming one') and Glóinn ('glowing'). Stories do not explain these names, but it has been theorised that they refer to

4559-556: The folktale retold by the Brothers Grimm . Most dwarfs in modern fantasy fiction closely follow those of J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , where the dwarves (Tolkien's spelling) were distinguished from elves : most modern fantasy has continued this distinction. Dwarfs are also present in other fantasy literature such as C. S. Lewis 's Narnia stories, Terry Pratchett 's Discworld and

4656-474: The sons of Ívaldi , and Fjalarr and Galarr . The inscription on the 8th century Ribe skull fragment has been interpreted by some scholars as explicitly referring to a dvergynja ('female-dwarf') that may have been believed to have been causing harm to the user of the fragment. This interpretation is paralleled in Wið Dweorh XCIIIb ( Against a Dwarf XCIIIb), in which a harmful dwarf's sister

4753-630: The Canterbury charm in which an infection is caused by the 'wound-spear' ( Old Norse : sár-þvara ) used by the "lord of þursar". In the case of dwarfs, this association has continued in places into the modern period, such as in the Norwegian words dvergskot or dvergskott which refer to an 'animal disease' and translate literally as 'dwarfshot'. Placenames derived from dwarf or cognate: England Dwarfs feature in modern tellings of folklore such as Walt Disney 's 1937 film based on

4850-683: The Dwarf-Crag", "Thought's Drink of the Rock-Folk", "the Drink of Dvalinn", "the Dwarves' ship" and the "Ale of the Dwarves". John Lindow noted that stanza 10 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá can be read as describing the creation of human forms from the earth and follows a catalogue of dwarf names; he suggests that the poem may present Ask and Embla as having been created by dwarfs, with

4947-798: The Eddur, the Völsunga saga and Thidrekssaga . The final Götterdämmerung draws from the 12th-century German poem, the Nibelungenlied , which appears to have been the original inspiration for the Ring . The Ring has been the subject of myriad interpretations. For example, George Bernard Shaw , in The Perfect Wagnerite , argues for a view of The Ring as an essentially socialist critique of industrial society and its abuses. Robert Donington in Wagner's Ring And Its Symbols interprets it in terms of Jungian psychology , as an account of

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5044-564: The English noun and its cognates ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic * dwergaz . A different etymology of dwarf traces it to Proto-Germanic * dwezgaz , with the r sound being the product of Verner's Law . Anatoly Liberman connects the Germanic word with Modern English dizzy , suggesting a link between the etymology and their role in inflicting mental diseases on humans, similar to some other supernatural beings in Germanic folklore such as elves . For forms earlier than

5141-480: The Indo-European root * dhreugh (whence, for example, modern English "dream" and German Trug "deception"), and scholars have made comparisons with Sanskrit dhvaras (a type of "demonic being"). Modern English has two plurals for the word dwarf : dwarfs and dwarves . Dwarfs remains the most commonly employed plural. The minority plural dwarves was recorded as early as 1818. However, it

5238-580: The Proto-Germanic reconstruction, the etymology of the word dwarf is highly contested. Scholars have proposed theories about the origins of the being by way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology , including the idea that dwarfs may have originated as nature spirits, as beings associated with death, or as a mixture of concepts. Competing etymologies include a basis in the Indo-European root * dheur- (meaning "damage"),

5335-891: The action in a world of nineteenth-century theatricality; it was initially controversial in 1985, it sold out its final performances in 1995. Conductors included Armin Jordan ( Die Walküre in 1985), Manuel Rosenthal (1986) and Hermann Michael (1987, 1991 and 1995). Ring 3 , 2000–2013: the production, which became known as the "Green" Ring , was in part inspired by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest . Directed by Stephen Wadsworth, set designer Thomas Lynch, costume designer Martin Pakledinaz , lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski ; Armin Jordan conducted in 2000, Franz Vote in 2001 and Robert Spano in 2005 and 2009. The 2013 performances, conducted by Asher Fisch , were released as

5432-421: The basis of an organising principle in music. In summer 1848 Wagner wrote The Nibelung Myth as Sketch for a Drama , combining the medieval sources previously mentioned into a single narrative, very similar to the plot of the eventual Ring cycle, but nevertheless with substantial differences. Later that year he began writing a libretto entitled Siegfrieds Tod ("Siegfried's Death"). He was possibly stimulated by

5529-433: The composition draft of Das Rheingold . Unlike the verses, which were written as it were in reverse order, the music would be composed in the same order as the narrative. Composition proceeded until 1857, when the final score up to the end of act 2 of Siegfried was completed. Wagner then laid the work aside for twelve years, during which he wrote Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg . By 1869, Wagner

5626-543: The compositions. For the full list, see List of compositions by Richard Wagner . Dwarf (mythology) Dwarfs continue to feature in modern popular culture, such as in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Terry Pratchett , where they are often, but not exclusively, presented as distinct from elves . The modern English noun dwarf descends from Old English : dweorg . It has a variety of cognates in other Germanic languages , including Old Norse : dvergr and Old High German : twerg . According to Vladimir Orel ,

5723-448: The correspondence of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn in 1840/41 reveals that they were both outlining scenarios on the subject: Fanny wrote 'The hunt with Siegfried's death provides a splendid finale to the second act'. By 1850, Wagner had completed a musical sketch (which he abandoned) for Siegfrieds Tod . He now felt that he needed a preliminary opera, Der junge Siegfried ("The Young Siegfried", later renamed to "Siegfried"), to explain

5820-582: The cycle takes place over four nights at the opera, with a total playing time of about 15 hours, depending on the conductor's pacing. The first and shortest work, Das Rheingold , has no interval and is one continuous piece of music typically lasting around two and a half hours, while the final and longest, Götterdämmerung , takes up to five hours, excluding intervals. The cycle is modelled after ancient Greek dramas that were presented as three tragedies and one satyr play . The Ring proper begins with Die Walküre and ends with Götterdämmerung , with Rheingold as

5917-515: The development of unconscious archetypes in the mind, leading towards individuation . In his earlier operas (up to and including Lohengrin ) Wagner's style had been based, rather than on the Italian style of opera, on the German style as developed by Carl Maria von Weber , with elements of the grand opera style of Giacomo Meyerbeer . However he came to be dissatisfied with such a format as

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6014-416: The dwarf Eugel, who is the son of the dwarf king Nibelung , originator of the Nibelung's treasure. The hero Dietrich von Bern is portrayed in adventures involving dwarfs. In Laurin , he fights against the dwarf King Laurin at the dwarf's magical rose garden. He later rescues a woman whom Laurin had kidnapped. A similar plot occurs in the fragmentary poem Goldemar . In Virginal , Dietrich rescues

6111-468: The dwarf queen Virginal from a force of invading heathens . The dwarfs Eggerich and Baldung play a role in aiding Dietrich in the poem Sigenot : Baldung gives Dietrich a magical gem that prevents him from being bitten when thrown into a snake pit , whereas Eggerich helps Dietrich and Hildebrand escape. In the Heldenbuch-Prosa , a dwarf takes Dietrich out of this world after the death of all

6208-589: The early Old Norse sources, dwarfs are typically described vaguely, with no reference to them being particularly small; in the legendary sagas and later folklore, however, they are often described as short. Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri are four dwarfs, potentially depicted as four anthropomorphic figures on the hogback stone in Heysham in Lancashire , that according to the Prose Edda , each holds up

6305-590: The early 11th century in Sweden . Dwarfs, on the other hand, according to these sources, are asocial, and there are no records of them receiving blóts or other gifts in this period. Dwarfs maintain their roles as reluctant donors of their possessions in some later Old Norse legends such as Volsunga saga and Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks , where they are forced to give up Andvaranaut and Tyrfing respectively. Some legendary and romance sagas diverge from this, with dwarfs acting friendlily and helpfully; however, this

6402-534: The earth, while in Switzerland, the heat can be attributed to the underground kitchens of dwarfs. In one example, the furnace's heat is believed to increase soil fertility. Rather than existing a "true" single nature of a dwarf, they vary in their characteristics, not only across regions and time but also between one another in the same cultural context. Some are capable of changing their form entirely. The scholar Ármann Jakobsson notes that accounts of dwarfs in

6499-463: The entire world. The drama and intrigue continue through three generations of protagonists, until the final cataclysm at the end of Götterdämmerung . The music of the cycle is thick and richly textured, and grows in complexity as the cycle proceeds. Wagner wrote for an orchestra of gargantuan proportions, including a greatly enlarged brass section with new instruments such as the Wagner tuba , bass trumpet and contrabass trombone . Remarkably, he uses

6596-536: The etymology of dwarf, it has been proposed that the oldest conception of a dwarf was as exclusively a formless spirit, potentially as in the case of disease-causing dwarfs; however, this view is not seen in the oldest manuscript accounts. In the quotation of Völuspá in the Prose Edda, the dwarfs emerge as beings with human form ( mannlíkun ), while in the Codex Regius manuscript the first two dwarfs created either dwarfs or people with human forms. The prose of

6693-585: The events in Siegfrieds Tod and his verse draft of this was completed in May 1851. By October, he had made the momentous decision to embark on a cycle of four operas, to be played over four nights: Das Rheingold , Die Walküre , Der Junge Siegfried and Siegfrieds Tod ; the text for all four parts was completed in December 1852 and privately published in February 1853. In November 1853, Wagner began

6790-466: The famous illustrations by Arthur Rackham . It was performed twice each summer, once in German, once in Andrew Porter's English adaptation. Henry Holt conducted all performances. Ring 2 , 1985–1995: Directed by Francois Rochaix, with sets and costumes designed by Robert Israel, lighting by Joan Sullivan and supertitles (the first ever created for the Ring ) by Sonya Friedman . The production set

6887-514: The father with treasures. Conversely, in Sigurðar saga þǫgla , the human Hálfdan is cursed after he throws a rock at a dwarf child, breaking its jaw, and is subsequently visited by the child's father in a dream who curses him. Hálfdan's brother later gives the child a gold ring to atone for the harm and is rewarded by the father, once more in a dream. Together, this suggests that dwarfs could be conceived of as loving and protective of their children by

6984-510: The fires in the forges the dwarfs work, or to haugaeldar ('grave mound fires') that are found in later Icelandic folklore. In contrast, Snorri describes dökkálfar (which are typically identified as dwarfs) as "blacker than pitch". Alvíss is described by Thor in Alvíssmál as being as unsuitable for wedding his daughter Þrúðr as he was "pale about the nostrils" and resembled a þurs . In Middle High German heroic poetry, most dwarfs have long beards, but some may appear childish. In

7081-804: The first staging in the United Kingdom of the Ring cycle, conducted by Anton Seidl and directed by Angelo Neumann . The first production of the Ring in Italy was in Venice (the place where Wagner died), just two months after his 1883 death, at La Fenice . The first Australian Ring (and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg ) was presented in an English-language production by the British travelling Quinlan Opera Company, in conjunction with J. C. Williamson's , in Melbourne and Sydney in 1913. The Ring

7178-454: The gods rather than dwarfs and that female dwarfs were not conceived of as of great relevance to the gods, given their primary interest in obtaining goods from dwarfs, which does not depend on their gender. Humans, being of lower power and status, cannot control dwarfs as easily and require alternative strategies to obtain treasures from them, potentially explaining why female dwarfs are more prominent in saga literature. Female dwarfs feature in

7275-594: The gods such as Mjölnir , Sif 's hair, Draupnir , Gullinbursti , Skíðblaðnir , Gleipnir and Gungnir , while in Sörla þáttr they craft Brísingamen for Freyja. They further created the Mead of Poetry from the blood of Kvasir , which grants skill in poetry to those who drink from it. According to Skáldskaparmál , due to the role of dwarfs in crafting the drink, poetry can be referred to by kennings such as "the Billow of

7372-475: The ground, while in saga literature, such as Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar they commonly live in individual stones, which could also serve as workshops, such as in the forging of Brísingamen in Sörla þáttr . The presentation of dwarfs living within stones continued into modern folklore surrounding specific landscape features such as the Dwarfie Stane , a chambered tomb located on the island of Hoy , and

7469-476: The high-water mark of our art form, the most massive challenge any opera company can undertake." Wagner's title is most literally rendered in English as The Ring of the Nibelung . The Nibelung of the title is the dwarf Alberich, and the ring in question is the one he fashions from the Rhinegold. The title therefore denotes "Alberich's Ring". The cycle is a work of extraordinary scale. A full performance of

7566-580: The human aspects of the drama in a more abstract setting. Perhaps the most famous modern production was the centennial production of 1976, the Jahrhundertring , directed by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez . Set in the Industrial Revolution , it replaced the depths of the Rhine with a hydroelectric power dam and featured grimy sets populated by men and gods in 19th and 20th century business suits. This drew heavily on

7663-619: The late Gibbons saga , Bósa saga and Þjalar-Jóns saga , where they are referred to by the term " dyrgja ". In these cases, female dwarfs are only mentioned alongside males and are not independently important to the plot. Beyond Svama, the named dyrgja in Þjalar-Jóns saga, the only other explicitly named dwarf woman in saga literature is the daughter of Sindri in Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar , Herríðr. In saga material, dwarf children are also seen. In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar and Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana , central characters help these children and are rewarded in return by

7760-412: The literary works produced there. Opinions on the degree of continuity in beliefs on dwarfs before and after Christianisation differ significantly. Some scholars, such as Rudolf Simek , propose that the folk beliefs remained essentially intact in the transitional period, making later sources exceedingly informative on pre-Christian Germanic religion . In contrast, others, such as Schäfke, argue that there

7857-510: The long performances. Wälsungs Neidings Gibichungs Rhinemaidens Giants Nibelungs The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens in the river Rhine . With the assistance of the god Loge, Wotan – the chief of the gods – steals the ring from Alberich, but

7954-451: The more optimistic originally planned ending. Wagner also decided to show onstage the events of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre , which had hitherto only been presented as back-narration in the other two parts. These changes resulted in some discrepancies in the cycle, but these do not diminish the value of the work. On King Ludwig's insistence, and over Wagner's objections, "special previews" of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre were given at

8051-593: The other heroes, a role given to Laurin in some different versions of Dietrich's end. Dwarfs feature in the modern folklore of Germanic-speaking regions of Europe, such as the Simonside Dwarfs in Northumberland , who are sometimes believed to use lights to lure people off paths, akin to a will-o'-the-wisp . Some dwarfs in modern folklore have been argued to belong to a broader group of smith-beings living within hollow mountains or in caves such as

8148-445: The previous operas, so that a viewer could watch any of them without having watched the previous parts and still understand the plot. However, Wagner intended them to be performed in series. The first performance as a cycle opened the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, beginning with Das Rheingold on 13 August and ending with Götterdämmerung on 17 August. Opera stage director Anthony Freud stated that Der Ring des Nibelungen "marks

8245-511: The reading of the Ring as a revolutionary drama and critique of the modern world, famously expounded by George Bernard Shaw in The Perfect Wagnerite . Early performances were booed but the audience of 1980 gave it a 45-minute ovation in its final year. Seattle Opera has created three different productions of the tetralogy: Ring 1 , 1975 to 1984: Originally directed by George London , with designs by John Naccarato following

8342-485: The ring. In the process, the gods and Valhalla are destroyed. Details of the storylines can be found in the articles on each music drama. Wagner created the story of the Ring by fusing elements from many German and Scandinavian myths and folk-tales. The Old Norse Edda supplied much of the material for Das Rheingold , while Die Walküre was largely based on the Völsunga saga . Siegfried contains elements from

8439-438: The saga authors. In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, this family love is extended to the human Hálfdan who develops a fostering relation with the dwarf Litr, likely with Hálfdan as the foster son. In German heroic legend, male dwarfs are often portrayed as lusting after human women. In contrast, female dwarfs seek to possess the male hero in the legends. In Eddic sources dwarfs are attributed with creating magical treasures for

8536-402: The text or presented onstage. Wagner referred to them in "Opera and Drama" as "guides-to-feeling", describing how they could be used to inform the listener of a musical or dramatic subtext to the action onstage in the same way as a Greek chorus did for the theatre of ancient Greece . Wagner made significant innovations in orchestration in this work. He wrote for a very large orchestra, using

8633-502: The three gods then giving them life. In Eddic and some saga sources, rather than being exchanged, items of value move from dwarfs to others, often through extortion. This has been suggested to be a critical differentiator between dwarfs and elves in pre-Christian Germanic religion , who maintain reciprocal and positive relationships with gods and humans; Kormaks saga describes how food was to be shared with elves to heal sickness and Austrfararvísur records an álfablót being held around

8730-534: The true Emotional (not the Critical) Understanding of spectators who shall have gathered together expressly to learn it. This is his first public announcement of the form of what would become the Ring cycle. In accordance with the ideas expressed in his essays of the period 1849–51 (including the "Communication" but also " Opera and Drama " and " The Artwork of the Future "), the four parts of

8827-411: The way in which opera music could be organised on a different basis of organic growth and modulation ; and the function of musical motifs in linking elements of the plot whose connections might otherwise be inexplicit. This became known as the leitmotif technique (see below), although Wagner himself did not use this word. However, Wagner relaxed some aspects of his self-imposed restrictions somewhat as

8924-412: The whole range of instruments used singly or in combination to express the great range of emotion and events of the drama. Wagner even commissioned the production of new instruments, including the Wagner tuba , invented to fill a gap he found between the tone qualities of the horn and the trombone , as well as variations of existing instruments, such as the bass trumpet and a contrabass trombone with

9021-400: The work progressed. As George Bernard Shaw sardonically (and slightly unfairly) noted of the last opera Götterdämmerung : And now, O Nibelungen Spectator, pluck up; for all allegories come to an end somewhere... The rest of what you are going to see is opera and nothing but opera. Before many bars have been played, Siegfried and the wakened Brynhild, newly become tenor and soprano, will sing

9118-489: The work's huge structures. Tonal indeterminacy was heightened by the increased freedom with which he used dissonance and chromaticism . Chromatically altered chords are used very liberally in the Ring and this feature, which is also prominent in Tristan und Isolde , is often cited as a milestone on the way to Arnold Schoenberg 's revolutionary break with the traditional concept of key and his dissolution of consonance as

9215-405: Was later popularized by the fiction of philologist and legendarium author J. R. R. Tolkien , originating as a hypercorrective mistake. It was employed by Tolkien for some time before 1917. Regarding his use of this plural, Tolkien wrote in 1937, "I am afraid it is just a piece of private bad grammar, rather shocking in a philologist; but I shall have to go with it." Scholars have noted that

9312-413: Was living at Tribschen on Lake Lucerne , sponsored by King Ludwig II of Bavaria . He returned to Siegfried and, remarkably, was able to pick up where he left off. In October, he completed the final work in the cycle. He chose the title Götterdämmerung instead of Siegfrieds Tod . In the completed work the gods are destroyed in accordance with the new pessimistic thrust of the cycle, not redeemed as in

9409-641: Was not necessarily the general rule. Not all late sagas involving dwarfs describe their size, but all that do describe them as short. In some German stories, the dwarf takes on the attributes of a knight but is most clearly separated from normal humans by his small size, in some cases only reaching up to the knees. Despite their small size, dwarfs in these contexts typically have superhuman strength, either by nature or through magical means. Anatoly Liberman suggests that dwarfs may have been initially thought of as lesser supernatural beings, which became literal smallness after Christianisation. Diversity in appearance

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