From the depths of the Rhine, from a slowly building E-flat major chord, rises in the prelude to "Das Rheingold" a cosmos of mythic proportions, containing within itself worlds of gods, men and dwarves. At the beginning of his Nibelungen saga, Richard Wagner sets violence and deceit: The gold of the Rhine is stolen from the Rhinemaidens by the underworld dweller Alberich and forged into a ring over which an ominous power struggle ensues. The ring is cursed by Alberich and is henceforth only to bring world domination to the one who renounces love. In 1896 George Bernard Shaw clairvoyantly described the "Ring" as a "drama of the present", which could only have been written after the second half of the 19th century, under the impression of imperial power struggles and advancing industrialization. The political and socio-critical content of the work has not lost its topicality to this day. In the rise of the gods, which culminates in the building of Wallhall, their deep fall is already laid out. "The injustice they pursue clings to themselves", Wagner says in his prose draft of the drama.
Text source and further information about the event:
http://www.staatstheater-wiesbaden.de/programm/spielplan/2016-11/das-rheingold-2016-2017/2185/
