Die Götterdämmerung

Siegfried, the world’s bravest hero, has liberated Brünnhilde, the world’s wisest woman, and they’ve fallen in love. They don’t realise that the thread of the world’s future has already snapped: darkness is gathering, and courage, love, and a pure heart are no match for human greed, jealousy, and an untrammelled lust for power. Sinister forces ensnare the lovers, and even the gods of Valhalla can only watch in horror as events accelerate toward an apocalyptic conclusion. Gotterdämmerung (1876) translates literally as “Twilight of the Gods”, and in the fourth and final opera of his epic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, Wagner draws on the Norse myth of Ragnarok, bringing together all the musical and psychological threads of the story so far in some of the most spectacular scenes in 19th-century opera. “Siegfried’s Rhine Journey” and the monumental “Siegfried’s Funeral March” are both concert-hall favourites. But although the imagery (and the setting) is mythological, the psychology and the emotions are strikingly modern and profoundly real. This is a story about the cruelty of power, the fallibility of love, and the meaning (and responsibility) of being fully human. As Wagner’s mighty allegorical drama comes full circle, the soaring final payoff has truly been earned, offering both warning and hope at the end of one of the greatest journeys in world theatre. About Wagner’s Ring Cycle The four operas of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen constitute one of the supreme achievements in Western art. Composed between 1848 and 1876, and first performed over four nights in a specially built opera house in Bayreuth, Germany, in 1878, the Ring cycle brings together every aspect of theatre—music, poetry, acting and visual imagery—to create what Wagner called a “complete artwork”: a universal drama of all-embracing richness and depth. Based on ancient Germanic myths, it’s a true modern epic: an eternal story of love and power, humanity and nature, told in music of overwhelming originality, insight and emotion.