La Scala’s Das Rheingold

Das Rheingold begins Wagner’s four-opera epic, Der Ring, or “The Ring Cycle,” as it commonly called in the United States. The Nibelung dwarf Alberich attempts to woo the lovely Rheinmaidens, but they only mock him. Out of bitterness, he steals their magical Rheingold and forges the Ring out of it. He enlists his brother, Mime, to forge a magical helmet out of the gold as well. Wotan, the king of the Gods, along with Loge, the god of fire, descend upon the underground realm of the Nibelungs and trick the dwarves into capitivity. Wotan ransoms Alberich in exchange for his gold. Wotan uses the gold, including the ring and magic helmet, to pay the ransom on his sister-in-law, Freia, whom the giants Fasolt and Fafner seized as payment upon the completion of Wotan’s new castle in the sky. The angry and humiliated Alberich curses the ring, saying that whoever does not possess will desire it, and whoever possess it will only find unhappiness and death. Soon after, Fafner and Fasolt right over the ring, and Fafner kills his brother in order to keep it—the Ring’s curse has already begun to manifest.