Das Rheingold

Background

Das Rheingold begins with a little over four minutes of a sustained E♭ major chord played by strings and horns. Some say that the opening chord is the "sound of the universe". There is an actual scientifically observed phenomenon called "baryonic acoustical oscillations" created just after the Bing Bang but still detectable today. It's theorized that these "sounds" were 47 octaves below human hearing. Nonetheless, the impact of this sustained, dark and sombre tone does achieve Wagner's prupose in signalling the emergence of the world from the nothingness from whence it came.

Not only does Das Rheingold introduce the gods, giants and dwarves, it also introduces the leitmotifs (short musical phrases) that represent these characters, places or concepts (see below for more on the leitmotifs). The characters in Das Rheingold are:

Character	Vocal part	Role
Wotan	Bass-baritone	main god, think Zeus in Roman mythology, Odin in Norse
Fricka	Soprano	Wotan's wife, goddess of marriage
Freya	Soprano	Fricka's sister, goddess of youth and beauty
Loge	Tenor	Demi-god of fire, advisor to Wotan
Donner	Baritone	God of thunder
Froh	Tenor	God of spring and happiness
Wogelinde	Soprano	Rhine maiden
Wellgunde	Soprano	Rhine maiden
Flosshilde	Mezzo	Rhine maiden
Fafner	Bass	Giant, older of the two
Fasolt	Bass-baritone	Giant, younger of the two
Alberich	Bass-baritone	Dwarf who steals the Rhine gold
Mime	Tenor	Dwarf, brother of Alberich, master metal worker
Erda	Contralto	Goddess of Earth itself, knower of all: past, present, and future

Wagner's musical concepts were so strongly set in his sound world that he commissioned the creation of a new instrument to fill the tonal range needed for the Valhalla leitmotif. This horn, called the Wagner horn, is positioned between a tuba and a french horn.

Wagner was a deeply flawed individual and wrestled with many demons, but he was obviously self-aware as well. He wrote himself or his psychoses into many of his characters. It's possible to argue that all his operatic characters are parts - large or small - of him. For example, the name of the dwarf who kicks it all off: "Alb"="elf" , "er"="he", "ich"="I". He is also certainly Wotan, Fafner, Fasolt, Donner and Froh (as well as most of the other characters in his other operas).

Wagner was a megalomaniac and wanted to re-create - at least the musical world - to his liking. His concept of opera was called gesamtkunstwerk (making use of all art forms). He wanted the artwork, music, costumes, performers to all be specifically designed or chosen to represent his work. To this end, he designed his own venue, Bayreuth, for his music festival at which he premiered Das Rheingold and the rest of his works. (This was also done because he couldn't get bookings in Paris, the then centre of the opera world.) But we owe to Wagner innovations that are with us still. His attention to acoustics led to the below seating level orchestra pit. Before Wagner, musicians were either on the stage or just in front of it. Many smaller European venues are still simply salons all at one level. If you're lucky a portable 6-inch "stage" will be set to place the orchestra, but most audience members in the salon don't actually see the orchstra during the performance - only the back of heads in front of them. Wagner also turned the conductor's back to the audience.

Short Synopsis

Please refer to the synopsis item below for a fuller synopsis. The story is about a dwarf who steals gold after learning of it's mystical power if he forges it into a ring. Meanwhile, Wotan, the main god has engaged two giants to build a new home for the gods, Valhalla, at the urging of h is wife. When the giants finish they want their payment - Freya. But Wotan had intended to alter the agreement and with Loge's help hears about the Rhine gold stolen by Alberich. Wotan and Loge descend to the dwarves' realm and steal the gold and kidnap Alberich. They present the gold to the giants who had agreed on the alteration to the contract. Wotan had wanted to keep the powerful ring, but the giants insist upon it to fulfill the agreement. Erda arises to convince Wotan to let go of the ring, foretelling woe to its posessor. The giants fight over the gold and one is killed. The other one takes the gold away and the gods take possession of Valhalla.

At the end of the fourth opera, Gotterdammerung, Valhalla burns and the gods are destroyed as a result of the ring being returned to the Rhine maidens.

Okay, enough! More words are written and published about Wagner and his works than about all other musicians and their works combined. Now, on to practical information.