Wagner: Das Rheingold (1980)
• August 12th, 1980 • 2h 23min
Music
Overview
This is a beautifully conducted and thoughtfully staged performance of the first opera (the prologue) in Wagner's Ring Cycle. As soon as the clouds of mist have dissipated, while the daring, long-held opening chord is still reverberating, the screen clears to show not only the River Rhine and the three maidens (dressed like prostitutes in this production) assigned to guard the gold hidden there. It also shows an enormous dam (not mentioned in Wagner's text). This is the underwater base of a hydroelectric plant, and its presence tells us two things immediately: that this production takes the story out of the vaguely medieval fantasy world in which Wagner had placed it, and that a basic theme of the four-opera cycle would be power. Alberich, the Nibelung, is willing to renounce the love of women, after stealing the gold from the Rhine, to become the ruler of the world. Another basic theme is greed.
Make sure to check your pop-up blocker!!
Trailer
Similar Movies
Don Pasquale (Royal Opera House)
Released on: 2019-10-24
Music, Comedy
Royal Opera favourite Bryn Terfel heads the cast for this new production of Donizetti’s comedy of do...
Confession of the Vanished
Released on: 2015-04-02
Documentary, Music
The film follows the staging of the opera Olimpiade while at the same time exploring the dramatic li...
Verdi La Traviata
Released on: 2005-02-04
Music
This DVD of a live 2005 performance from the Zürich Opera under the musical direction of Franz Welse...
The Phantom of the Opera
Released on: 1925-09-22
Horror, Music
The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make...
Arena di Verona: Il Trovatore
Released on: 2020-01-12
Music
It's an event that draws many thousands of music lovers to one of the most beautiful cities in the w...
Amadeus
Released on: 1984-09-19
History, Music, Drama
Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the...
Tancredi
Released on: 1992-06-01
Music
Live performance from Schwetzinger Festspiele, 1992. Based on Voltaire's tragedy, TANCREDI is a sto...
The Metropolitan Opera: The Marriage of Figaro
Released on: 2014-10-18
Music
Richard Eyre’s elegant production, which opened the Met’s 2014–15 season, sets the action of Mozart’...
Brainland
Released on: 2024-12-05
Music, Drama
In 1935, renowned Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz visits psychiatrist Sobral Cid, trying to convin...
Der Freischütz
Released on: 1999-03-01
Music, Drama
The legendary director Ruth Berghaus created this staging of Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz a...
Macbeth
Released on: 2004-01-01
Music
Carlos Álvarez takes the title role in the first of Verdi's Shakespearean operas, with Maria Guleghi...
Manon Lescaut
Released on: 1983-12-28
Music
The sets and costumes by Ponnelle are truly reflective of the 'grand style'. Plus the fact that the ...
Ballads of the Exodus
Released on: 2020-06-04
Drama, Music
The life of Moses as told through the Book of Exodus, the imagination of a dying boy, and the ballad...
Semiramide
Released on: 1990-12-22
Drama, Music
In ancient Babylon, SEMIRAMIDE (Anderson) encourages her lover Assur (Ramey) to murder her husband, ...
La Finta Giardiniera
Released on: 2006-01-01
Music
The Zurich Opera gathered a superb cast for this production: Italian soprano Eva Mei sings the Count...
Figaros Hochzeit
Released on: 1949-11-25
Romance, Music, Comedy
Shortly after WWII, the DEFA Studios produced a series of operas and operettas which belonged to the...
The Metropolitan Opera: The Exterminating Angel
Released on: 2017-11-18
Fantasy, Music
After the acclaimed Met premiere of Thomas Adès's "The Tempest" in 2012, the composer returned with ...
The Metropolitan Opera: Tosca
Released on: 2018-01-27
Drama, Music
Sir David McVicar’s bold new staging of Tosca, Puccini’s operatic thriller of Napoleonic Rome, thril...
The Metropolitan Opera: Norma
Released on: 2017-10-07
Music, Drama
Deep in a forest where druids and warriors seek revenge against the conquering Romans, Norma is scor...