Das Rheingold

Written under the strict precepts of Oper und Drama that Richard Wagner himself established, Das Rheingold–the first of the four operas that compose the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen – seems much more a present day drama than a remote fable. The composer already had a certain intuition with regard to the incompatibilities between the laws of nature and those of human beings, and could foresee the consequences that that this would cause.

The production which is now to be presented by the Teatro Real places us in a world that is in a state of seige, irreversably contaminated, and so devastated by the greed for power of man that, in an effort to control his environment, has ended up doomed to his own destruction. It is a world of people blinded and grey whose existence appears to lack any significance or direction whatsoever. The Rhine, in addition to storing the gold that is to be stolen in order to manufacture the magic (and accursed) ring, becomes a sewer where the remains of the failed civilization are dumped. Das Rheingold is the perfect antechamber to become familiar with the dynamics and conflicts that surround the characters of the tetralogy, and whose travels we will discover in the up-coming seasons with the premières of the other three titles. 

Production by the Oper Köln