Nature & Magic: Ring Cycle Highlights

Welcome to our specially curated playlists, highlighting the essential moments within Wagner’s mighty operatic cycle The Ring of the Nibelung. Through each of our four playlists, you’ll discover the major themes and motifs that make The Ring such a compelling experience. And for those using the Apple Music Classical app, we offer an exclusive Listening Guide commentary as each track plays. The Ring would be unthinkable without Magic and Nature. In the opening bars to Das Rheingold, Wagner conjures images of the River Rhine, home to the Rhinemaidens and to the sacred gold whose misuse ultimately leads to downfall and destruction. You’ll meet Erda, goddess of nature, whose motif threads through The Ring, and in Siegfried the Woodbird who warns Siegfried of imminent dangers, while guiding him to the sleeping Brünnhilde. Act II of Siegfried features one of music’s most beguiling evocations of nature: the enchanting “Forest Murmurs” episode. Das Rheingold introduces us to the Tarnhelm, a magical helmet that can transform and teleport anyone who wears it. And in Die Walküre, the magic sword, Nothung (with its octave-leap motif) first appears, ultimately to be reforged by Siegfried before slaying the dragon Fafner and shattering Wotan’s spear. All the music is taken from Georg Solti’s landmark studio recording, made between 1958 and 1965—the first ever made of the complete Ring, its legendary status secured by a matchless cast and orchestra, and pioneering sound that has now been remastered in superb Spatial Audio.