Just finished a recorded production of Wagner's Nibelung.
Jul 9, 2022 20:55:09 GMT -5
President Ackbar mini™ and Salzackbar mini™ like this
Post by Weirdraptor mini™ on Jul 9, 2022 20:55:09 GMT -5
Wagner's play about Norse Mythology in which everyone is a total freaking douchebag. Except Brunhilde, the only nice person, and she's gets punished for being nice.
So while helping dad clear out some room in the attic, I found a bunch of old tapes, including a blank VHS tape with a pair of productions of the Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods operas of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle (there are four operas which make up the whole story) which a local Chicago theater put on in the 90s. I've always put off doing more than reading summaries until this point, but with a production of it literally at my fingertips, I decided to use this as a jumping-on point to finally become more familiar with one of J.R.R. Tolkien's inspirations for his books.
If you're not familiar with Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, I can at least assure you you've seen it referenced and parodied a million times.
It's the opera with Vikings that's the source of the "It's not over until the fat lady sings," phrase. You've probably heard "Flight of the Valkyries" used in parodies:
You've likely seen the Loony Toons parody of it, What's Opera, Doc?: (the whole skit is not available on YouTube)
After watching productions of the latter half of the opera, it was uncanny how much of that story has inspired other creators over the last century and the half since its original creation. It's kind of Tolkien effect before Tolkien. Once you've read Lord of the Rings and then read any fantasy story written since then or played any fantasy video game (or Dungeons and Dragons), you can't unsee the influence. Except a lot of the things we rip off from Tolkien actually originate in Wagner's plays and the various pieces of Norse Mythology it was based/inspired by (not entirely sure how to categorize that, since Wagner played pretty loose and free with Nordic folklore at certain points).
An evil ring which curses its wearer with destruction if they don't get rid of it? Check.
Said evil ring driving people to killing each other it? Check.
Said ring having been forged by an evil bastard who used it to seize power before it was taken from him? Check.
A dragon with a soft underside someone takes advantage of?
Dwarves using someone else to take care of the dragon that's stolen their horded gold? Check.
A bird giving someone the information they need to not die? Check.
An immortal celestial being pretending to be an old man going around giving people advice and sending people on adventures? Check. (He even has the big hat)
A broken heirloom blade that is reforged? Check.
I've also seen other elements not used by Tolkien in other works. One example is a dwarf coming on a dying human mother and her infant son and taking in the child after the mother passes away. There's a video game titled Tales of Symphonia which stole that one, wholesale. Except adoptive father and son actually love each other in that one and doesn't end with the latter murdering the former.
As stated, Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of the Nibelung") consists of four operas:
Prologue: Das Rheingold (The Rhine-Gold)
Day I: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Day II: Siegfried
Day III: Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)
I won't go into a full recap of the story, but I highly, highly recommend somehow watching at least one of these operas. They're so culturally rich almost to the same extent as Shakespeare is that it'd be a shame if you let your entire life go by without doing so.
Salzackbar mini™ You have any familiarity with these plays, Kazbork?
So while helping dad clear out some room in the attic, I found a bunch of old tapes, including a blank VHS tape with a pair of productions of the Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods operas of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle (there are four operas which make up the whole story) which a local Chicago theater put on in the 90s. I've always put off doing more than reading summaries until this point, but with a production of it literally at my fingertips, I decided to use this as a jumping-on point to finally become more familiar with one of J.R.R. Tolkien's inspirations for his books.
If you're not familiar with Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, I can at least assure you you've seen it referenced and parodied a million times.
It's the opera with Vikings that's the source of the "It's not over until the fat lady sings," phrase. You've probably heard "Flight of the Valkyries" used in parodies:
You've likely seen the Loony Toons parody of it, What's Opera, Doc?: (the whole skit is not available on YouTube)
After watching productions of the latter half of the opera, it was uncanny how much of that story has inspired other creators over the last century and the half since its original creation. It's kind of Tolkien effect before Tolkien. Once you've read Lord of the Rings and then read any fantasy story written since then or played any fantasy video game (or Dungeons and Dragons), you can't unsee the influence. Except a lot of the things we rip off from Tolkien actually originate in Wagner's plays and the various pieces of Norse Mythology it was based/inspired by (not entirely sure how to categorize that, since Wagner played pretty loose and free with Nordic folklore at certain points).
An evil ring which curses its wearer with destruction if they don't get rid of it? Check.
Said evil ring driving people to killing each other it? Check.
Said ring having been forged by an evil bastard who used it to seize power before it was taken from him? Check.
A dragon with a soft underside someone takes advantage of?
Dwarves using someone else to take care of the dragon that's stolen their horded gold? Check.
A bird giving someone the information they need to not die? Check.
An immortal celestial being pretending to be an old man going around giving people advice and sending people on adventures? Check. (He even has the big hat)
A broken heirloom blade that is reforged? Check.
I've also seen other elements not used by Tolkien in other works. One example is a dwarf coming on a dying human mother and her infant son and taking in the child after the mother passes away. There's a video game titled Tales of Symphonia which stole that one, wholesale. Except adoptive father and son actually love each other in that one and doesn't end with the latter murdering the former.
As stated, Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of the Nibelung") consists of four operas:
Prologue: Das Rheingold (The Rhine-Gold)
Day I: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Day II: Siegfried
Day III: Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)
I won't go into a full recap of the story, but I highly, highly recommend somehow watching at least one of these operas. They're so culturally rich almost to the same extent as Shakespeare is that it'd be a shame if you let your entire life go by without doing so.
Salzackbar mini™ You have any familiarity with these plays, Kazbork?