Wagner - The Ring of the Nibelung

Very briefly

For the series of four works presented in a prologue and three days called the "Tetralogy" which constitutes "The Ring" (Der Ring des Nibelungen), Wagner draws inspiration from German medieval myths and legends.

The gold is the ideal protagonist of the mythical saga and is considered a source of corruption, destruction, and death.

In Das Rheingold, the Nibelung Alberich (a demonic dwarf) seizes the gold lying at the bottom of the Rhine. The Rhine maidens reveal a secret to him: "He who knows how to forge a ring with this gold will have dominion over the world but must renounce love." Alberich forges the ring but it is taken from him by Wotan (King of the gods), who lives in a grand castle, "Valhalla"; however, Alberich casts a curse on whoever comes into possession of the ring.

In Die Walküre, the exaltation of love is presented. Sigmund, son of Wotan, gives himself to an incestuous love with Sieglinde (initially he does not know their familial relationship) and fathers Siegfried, a great hero. Sigmund is killed in a duel while Sieglinde, before giving birth to Siegfried, takes refuge in a forest thanks to the help of Brünnhilde, the Valkyrie, Wotan's beloved and rebellious daughter. For violating Wotan's decrees, Brünnhilde is reduced to a mere mortal forced into a deep sleep surrounded by a wall of flames that only an intrepid and pure hero could cross, and she will be prey to the one who awakens her.

In the second day titled Siegfried, the young hero appears, raised in a cave by the dwarf Mime after his mother's death. Siegfried wishes to take possession of the fatal ring guarded by the giant Fafner (in the guise of a dragon). Siegfried, with the invincible sword, kills the dragon and takes possession of the magic ring, then manages to reach the place where Brünnhilde lies, who, after being awakened by the hero, is overwhelmed by passion.

Twilight of the Gods: Siegfried entrusts the magic ring to Brünnhilde, then abandons her and, after drinking a magic potion that erases memory, the hero falls in love with Gutrune, the half-sister of Hagen, the genius of evil and son of Alberich. Siegfried is killed in a duel by Hagen with the help of Brünnhilde, who, torn by remorse, has a funeral pyre built upon which the hero's body is placed; she then enters beside him while the enchanted ring is returned to the Rhine river. The flames rise so high that they reach Valhalla, which collapses, causing the death of Wotan and all the gods.

DanielePiano wrote:

Hello everyone

In a week I have to take the State Exam and the external Italian professor, knowing that I study music and that in my thesis I am covering the Holocaust, said that he will ask me about the relationship between Wagner and Hitler, with particular regard to the opera the Ring Cycle (the Nibelung tetralogy).

[...] is there anyone who can explain the plot to me???

Take a look here: there is a link to each of the 4 operas with a detailed explanation.

Good luck with the exam

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27anello_del_Nibelungo

you must tell the external Italian professor that if it is not in the thesis and in the program, then he shouldn't ask you for it

If he is stubborn and still wants to ask you, then tell him interesting things, not the plot... let's look at a few things:

1) the plot of the tetralogy is complex; it is unlikely that you will start to remember it without having ever truly studied or listened to it. If that professor is an Italian teacher, however, he will be pleased to know certain things. For example, that the libretto for the 4 operas was written by Wagner himself, a very rare thing for the time, considering that writing a libretto is something for a poet, not a composer. The sources of the Wagnerian Tetralogy are essentially two: the Old Norse poem (in the Old Norse language, an ancient Germanic language) "Edda" by Snorri Sturluson ( http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda_in_prosa ), which has a long part regarding Germanic cosmogony, and the medieval novel "Nibelungenlied" (the Song of the Nibelungs http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_canzone_dei_Nibelunghi ), by an unknown author, which takes up the so-called Volsunga Saga (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_dei_V%C3%B6lsungar ) and brings it to a tragic conclusion. This passion of Wagner's for Germanic mythology is typical of the cultured German environment; in short, it is a re-presentation of pre-romantic and romantic themes of the exaltation of ancient history and ideals of heroism, and explicitly refers back to Goethe, so much so that the libretto is in a clear Goethian style. Instead of learning the plot, which is extremely complicated, memorize these things: the literary sources and the "aesthetic-literary" landscape.

2) Consequently, anyone who says that within the Wagnerian Tetralogy there are themes that anticipate Nazism is simply IGNORANT. The continuous pairing of Wagner-Hitler is annoying, really... Richard Wagner died in 1883! The point is that his is the first truly "German" opera, with heroic themes that LATER became dear to the Third Reich but which already exist in medieval Germanic literature... The real links between Hitler and Wagner occurred through WINIFRED WAGNER, wife of Siegfried Wagner (Richard Wagner's son). In short, Richard Wagner opens a theater and founds the Bayreuth Festival; then he dies, leaving management to his son Siegfried (who was gay) who marries Winifred very late. She lives through the entire period of the Reich and becomes a fervent supporter of Hitler and Goebbels, who in turn subsidize the Bayreuth Festival with huge amounts of money. It is DURING THIS PERIOD that the connection between Wagner's music and the Nazi regime is born; therefore, it is not Richard Wagner's "fault" (who was actually an anarchist...) but that of his descendants (not all of them, though...).

3) Wagner and antisemitism... it is a complex issue that often becomes an urban legend. Wagner was an antisemite. There is no doubt about this. And so were Liszt, Schumann, and probably millions of other people. Antisemitism was very common in the 1800s and before. It was especially common in politics, where the first racist sociological theories began to develop—those that analyze historical movements as consequences of the race to which the inhabitants of a state or group belong. If the German economy was doing poorly, or if music was doing poorly, or sports, or whatever, there was a tendency to blame a race, an entire ethnic group. And the Jews, who were present almost everywhere, were the most affected ethnic group. Wagner also wrote a famous treatise, "Jewishness in Music," and his contemptuous judgments of Mendelssohn have gone down in history (we have discussed this on the forum somewhere). But talking about Wagner's antisemitism in relation to the Holocaust means mixing apples and oranges, in my opinion... there are at least 70 years between the two things!

4) So, if you have a bit of courage (I know it is hard to have it in adulthood), when the Italian professor asks you "tell me about Wagner and Hitler," the first thing you must say is "Wagner died in 1883. Limiting Wagner's figure to what the Nazis thought of him is incorrect, especially historically. And this too is one of the violences that the Nazi regime committed against GERMAN culture."