Many years after the events described in The Valkyrie

Act one

Siegfried, the son of Sieglinde und Siegmund, was raised by Mime.

Mime calls him his son, but Siegfried doesn’t believe him and is annoyed with himself that he always returns to his constantly nagging guardian. Siegfried is furious that Mime remains silent about the secret of his birth. Finally, Mime is forced to tell him: one day he found an exhausted woman named Sieglinde and brought her to his home, where she gave birth to a son and died soon thereafter. Before dying, the mother named the child and left him his inheritance: his father’s broken sword, Nothung. Before Siegfried leaves, he demands that Mime repair Nothung for him. But Mime knows he is unable to fulfill this task.

Wotan appears to Mime, calling himself the Wanderer. He asks for shelter, but Mime refuses, startled. The Wanderer suggests that Mime pose him three riddles, as a wager he offers his own head. Mime agrees. But the guest answers the three questions with ease, so now it the Wanderer’s turn to ask the questions, and the wager is Mime’s head. Mime answers the first two questions but does not know the answer to the third. Who will forge Nothung anew? The Wanderer supplies the answer himself: the sword will be repaired by the one who knows no fear, and he will receive the wager of this dare, Mime’s head. With these words, the Wanderer disappears, and Mime is left behind, terror-struck.

When Siegfried returns, Mime explains to him that his mother asked him before dying to not let her son out into the world before he has learned to fear. Siegfried consents to learn more about this feeling, but Mime’s stories of the dragon into which Fafner transformed himself leave no impression upon him. Siegfried demands of his guardian the result of the task he has assigned him, the repaired sword Nothung. When he realizes that nothing can be expected of Mime, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

Act two

Alberich still dreams of power over the world and his revenge against Wotan. He is sure that the Ring and Tarnhelm are in Fafner’s possession, and stalks him secretly to once again get hold of the treasure.

He discovers the elderly Wotan and accuses him once again of stealing his ring. Wotan denies this, and explains that he doesn’t need an accursed ring, but that Alberich should watch out for Mime.

Mime poses a test to Siegfried, asking him to kill the dragon Fafner. Courageously and cleverly, he masters the task and kills the dragon. Before dying, Fafner warns the victor: the one who has led him to commit this deed wants to kill Siegfried himself.

A forest bird tells Siegfried that the dragon has kept the ring and helmet that will play an important role in Siegfried’s fate. Siegfried decides to take both with him. He also learns from the forest bird that Mime plans to kill him.

On the way back, he meets Mime, who offers him something to drink. Siegfried, startled, kills Mime.

The forest bird tells Siegfried of the beautiful Brünnhilde, who is sleeping an enchanted sleep and waits for a fearless hero to wake her. The forest bird shows Siegfried the way to her.

Act three

Wotan wants to meet Erda to once again learn what the future holds and to ask her how the wheel can be kept from turning, for he doesn’t know how to go on. But Erda answers, she can no longer help him, her wisdom has been handed down to their joint daughter Brünnhilde, to whom Wotan has severed all ties. Erda accuses Wotan, saying that his rash deeds have led to the threatening situation. Wotan admits that he no longer fears for his life and his power, for soon a new hero will appear, Siegfried. Wotan’s hope rests on Siegfried and Sieglinde, who will soon find one another.

Wotan encounters Siegfried on his way to Brünnhilde and poses him questions. Siegfried is angry about the delay and the inappropriate curiosity of the stranger, so he insolently mocks Wotan, making him furious. An argument results, Wotan refuses to let Siegfried to Brünnhilde, and blocks his way with his sword. To hold back the determined Siegfried, he claims that Nothung, the sword of Siegfried’s father, once broke under this sword. Siegfried destroys the shaft of Wotan’s sword. Wotan backs down.

Siegfried reaches the sleeping Brünnhilde. He wakes her with a kiss ...

Ein rauschendes Fest der Stimmen, der Klänge, der Ideen und der präzisen Personenregie. Wagner at his best.

Siegfried gilt mit seinen Rückblenden als der schwierigste [Abend]. In Berlin wird er dennoch zum Glanzstück.

Christian Thielemann am Pult lässt die Staatskapelle leuchten und musikalische Bögen spannen, auch in ungewohnt langsamen Tempi. Die jedoch heben Nuancen hervor, die festgefahrene Hörgewohnheiten aufheben.

(BR Klassik)

[Die Staatsoper hat] mit Andreas Schager einen Heldentenor, wie ihn die Welt sucht: eine klangschöne Stimme mit heldischem Metall und Sinn für Legato, Mühelosigkeit über drei Akte Dauerpräsenz unter Begleitung eines großen romantischen Orchesters […]

(Berliner Morgenpost)

Berückender Klangzauber, präzise austarierte Dynamik und kluge Tempi.

Die Feinnervigkeit dieses Ring ist verblüffend.

Getragen wird das Drama von den bis in die Nebenrollen stark besetzten Sängerinnen und Sängern, die Tcherniakov brillant spielen lässt: Wagners endlose Problemgespräche und monologisierende Erklärungen stehen hier unter Dauerspannung.

Was er [Christian Thielemann] aber an diesen vier Ring-Abenden mit der ihm bislang nicht sonderlich vertrauten Berliner Staatskapelle kreiert, ist atemberaubend.

[…] immer wieder berückender Klangzauber, präzise austarierte Dynamik und kluge Tempi.

Frenetischer Jubel nach gut 16 Stunden

Selten war Wagner so bezwingend und ergreifend zu erleben.

(DIE ZEIT)

Spektakulär, atemberaubend präzise durchleuchtet Thielemann das Motivgeflecht der Wagner-Partituren und verleiht ihm eine beinahe gestochene Plastizität und Tiefenschärfe: ein ›High Definition‹-Wagner in 3 D.

Im Ganzen ist dieser Ring ein Triumph für die Staatsoper

(NZZ)

All of the renovated Staatsoper’s state-of-the-art stage machinery is tested to its limits. The outcome is breathtaking.

The cast is formidable

His [Dmitri Tcherniakovs] handiwork is unimpeachable; every person on stage is a fully rounded, complex character, and the social dynamics are directed with scrupulous attention to detail.

(Financial Times)

Ein echter Rausch, Musik mit physischem Erleben und tatsächlich psychotischer Wirkung.

Diese beiden Abende [Rheingold und Walküre] waren eine ganz eigene Klasse, Liga, Welt.

Tcherniakovs Inszenierung ist mehr als gelungen, die Bühne hinreißend, die Ideen klug und kühn.

(DIE WELT)

Tcherniakov inszeniert klug und selbstbewusst

(DIE WELT)

Die Präzision, mit der Tcherniakov und seine Ausstatterin Elena Zaytseva die feinen Unterschiede innerhalb dieser Gesellschaft zeigen, ist fesselnd.

Beide [Anja Kampe als Bünnhilde und Michael Volle als Wotan] sind das Wunderpaar dieser Premiere

(F.A.Z.)

Schließlich kann kein Haus der Welt eine bessere Besetzung für Richard Wagners Weltumbruchsvierteiler Der Ring des Nibelungen aufbieten.

An der Staatsoper hat sich ein Wunder ereignet

(Süddeutsche Zeitung)

Tcherniakov, as usual, manages details on a level rarely seen in opera.

And Tcherniakov demonstrates, through his own scenic design and lighting by Gleb Filshtinsky, how easily history can be taken for granted or erased, whether Wotan’s legacy or architecture of E.S.C.H.E.

(The New York Times)

Es besticht und überwältigt, wie schön belcantoverliebt und textverständlich in Berlin gesungen wird.

(Süddeutsche Zeitung)

Über diesen grandiosen Ring des Nibelungen in der Berliner Staatsoper wird man lange, richtig lange sprechen.

(DIE WELT)

Fantastische Bläsersoli entfalten sich, die Streicher betören mit samtiger Dichte – das pure Glück.

(DER TAGESSPIEGEL)

Outstanding singing from the entire cast.

(The Guardian)

Eine starke Idee, getragen zudem von grandiosen Bühnenbildern.

(rbb24)

Vorwort 45 Minuten vor Vorstellungsbeginn im Apollosaal

In German language with German and English surtitles