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© Bernd Uhlig
The Ring of the Nibelung, The Rhinegold
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Der Ring des Nibelungen – Das Rheingold
Richard Wagner [1813 – 1883]
The Eve
Scenic festival for three days and an eve
First performance on 22nd September, 1869 in Munich
Premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 12 June 2021
2 hrs 30 mins / No interval
In German with German and English surtitles
Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance
About the performance
Richard Wagner considered RHEINGOLD a "pre-evening" to his stage play DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, a label that certainly deliberately refers to the prologues of the Baroque operas. Because here, as well as there, the gods are in control and create the conditions under which the fates of man will be decided. And just like the ancient deities of Monteverdi, their northern counterparts of Wagner are beings who embody the drives of human existence. All of the feelings, urges and thoughts that determine our own existence also appear in the two and a half hours of RHEINGOLD. Starting with the innocent games played by the Rheinmaidens whom the Nibelung Alberich robs of their gold, to this dwarf's unbridled lust for power and the scornful nihilism of the fire god Loge, to the father of the gods Wotan's attempt to create something that will last with his palace of Valhalla. And not lastly, the gold itself is a mute lead character: an item of gleaming fascination, it is simultaneously a touchstone by which each character is manifest and which divides gods and man alike into good and evil.
With its claim of explaining the world through its sheer expanse across time, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN is the greatest challenge for any opera director. At the Deutsche Oper Berlin Stefan Herheim is taking on the task of translating the mindset of Wagner's tetralogy into the 21st century. The winner of multiple awards, the Norwegian director is one of the most important directors today: in his work he frequently illustrates the ideological historical connections and effective history of the respective operas. This approach has shaped his celebrated PARSIFAL in Bayreuth, among others, and has predestined him for an interpretation of RING.
Program and cast
Conductor: Sir Donald Runnicles
Director, Set design: Stefan Herheim
Set design: Silke Bauer
Costume design: Uta Heiseke
Video: Torge Møller
Light: Ulrich Niepel
Dramaturgy: Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach
Dramaturgy: Jörg Königsdorf
Wotan: Iain Paterson
Donner: Thomas Lehman
Froh: Kieran Carrel
Loge: Thomas Blondelle
Alberich: Michael Sumuel
Mime: Ya-Chung Huang
Fasolt: Albert Pesendorfer
Fafner: Tobias Kehrer
Fricka: Annika Schlicht
Freia: Martina Welschenbach
Erda: Lauren Decker
Woglinde: Nina Solodovnikova
Wellgunde: Arianna Manganello
Flosshilde: Karis Tucker
Orchestra: Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Photo gallery
© Bernd Uhlig
© Bernd Uhlig
© Bernd Uhlig
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
The company's history goes back to the Deutsches Opernhaus built by the then independent city of Charlottenburg—the "richest town of Prussia"—according to plans designed by Heinrich Seeling from 1911. It opened on November 7, 1912 with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, conducted by Ignatz Waghalter. After the incorporation of Charlottenburg by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act, the name of the resident building was changed to Städtische Oper (Municipal Opera) in 1925.
Deutsches Opernhaus, 1912
With the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933, the opera was under control of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Minister Joseph Goebbels had the name changed back to Deutsches Opernhaus, competing with the Berlin State Opera in Mitte controlled by his rival, the Prussian minister-president Hermann Göring. In 1935, the building was remodeled by Paul Baumgarten and the seating reduced from 2300 to 2098. Carl Ebert, the pre-World War II general manager, chose to emigrate from Germany rather than endorse the Nazi view of music, and went on to co-found the Glyndebourne opera festival in England. He was replaced by Max von Schillings, who acceded to enact works of "unalloyed German character". Several artists, like the conductor Fritz Stiedry or the singer Alexander Kipnis followed Ebert into emigration. The opera house was destroyed by a RAF air raid on 23 November 1943. Performances continued at the Admiralspalast in Mitte until 1945. Ebert returned as general manager after the war.
After the war, the company in what was now West Berlin used the nearby building of the Theater des Westens until the opera house was rebuilt. The sober design by Fritz Bornemann was completed on 24 September 1961. The opening production was Mozart's Don Giovanni. The new building opened with the current name.
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