Much that is new in Wagner's Ring

Like few other works, the Ring des Nibelungen may not be a life's work, but it is at least a life's work. Wagner spent around a quarter of a century creating this 17-hour cycle. From the conception to the completion and premiere of all four parts was not only a great deal of personal biography, but also significant compositional and poetic creativity as well as eventful European history.

The result was a powerful amalgam of ideas that Wagner packed into this tetralogy: The social vision of a holistic social theater based on the ancient Greek model was at least temporarily in the room; political and subversive considerations repeatedly intruded into the creative process; and of course philosophy, whereby Ludwig Feuerbach's critical examination of religion was of some importance, the sparkling relationship with Friedrich Nietzsche was a stage in itself and Wagner thought he could find his own writings and thoughts in Arthur Schopenhauer's work. However, Wagner's primary intention of creating a one-part Nibelung drama from all this, based primarily on episodes from the Edda saga collection, failed on his first attempt. He recognized the dramaturgical necessity of expanding the initially sketched story with the central figure of the youthful hero Siegfried - by adding events that took place before the originally conceived plot in order to conclusively underpin the motivation of the characters and the thematic structures. Wagner preceded Götterdämmerung (originally Siegfried's Death) with Siegfried (originally The Young Siegfried), which in turn was preceded by Die Walküre. Finally, a grand prelude - Das Rheingold - was to introduce the three dramas as a kind of prelude and complete the tetralogy.

In the coming weeks, two cycles of the complete Nibelung tetralogy will be offered at the Vienna State Opera, which will also feature a series of exciting role and house debuts: for example, Pablo Heras-Casado, one of the most influential conductors of our time, will also introduce himself as a Wagner conductor at the Vienna State Opera with the tetralogy. (Since his Parsifal triumph in Bayreuth, he has been in particular demand worldwide for this role) As Wotan and Wanderer, Michael Volle - probably one of the most important Wagner singers of our time - is in demand for the first time on this stage; the same applies to KS Camilla Nylund, who will present herself to Viennese audiences as Brünnhilde. And Michael Spyres - who made his successful debut as Tristan at the New York Met in March - will give his first Viennese Siegmund. Georg Nigl's Alberich also promises interpretative highlights, and with Wiebke Lehmkuhl as Erda, one of the best female altos will celebrate her house debut. Other important role debuts include Matthäus Schmidlechner as Loge, Szilvia Vörös as Fricka, Günther Groissböck as Hagen, Attila Mokus as Gunther, Matheus França as Fafner, Simonas Strazdas as Fasolt, Florina Ilie as the voice of the Waldvogel, Jenni Hietala as Freia, Alma Neuhaus as Siegrunde and Wellgunde, Stephanie Maitland as Schwertleite and Margaret Plummer as 2nd Norn.