13th August 1876: The premiere of Wagner's complete Ring cycle takes place in Germany скачать в хорошем качестве

13th August 1876: The premiere of Wagner's complete Ring cycle takes place in Germany

Richard Wagner was born in the city of Leipzig in 1813 and developed a love of theatre after his mother began a relationship with Ludwig Geyer following the death of his father. Although he initially found his creative outlet as a playwright like his stepfather, the young Wagner soon became heavily influenced by the work of Beethoven and began composing music. Wagner first came up with the idea of what would become his famous Ring Cycle in 1848. He intended his creation to be as a ‘total work of art’ that would combine music, dance and dramatic storytelling. Basing the work on early Norse and German heroic poetry, Wagner wrote both the libretti and the music. Combined with a 12-year hiatus from the project, this meant he didn’t complete the fourth and final part of the cycle until November 1874. By the time Wagner had finished composing the entire cycle, ‘special previews’ of earlier parts had already been staged despite Wagner’s insistence that the four parts should be unveiled together as a four-night sequence. Nevertheless, the composer had already set about preparing for the premiere by building a new opera house for the purpose. The town council of Bayreuth gave him a plot of land, and the building opened on 13 August 1876 after Ludwig II of Bavaria provided a financial loan. The opening night of the new opera house hosted a performance of Das Rheingold, the first part of the Ring cycle. Despite a number of technical problems, Wagner finally got to show his 15-hour masterpiece as a complete series over the course of the next week. It continues to be performed today.