Sometimes you have to wonder what Odin would have thought. Specifically about Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung a version of the Nibelungenlied. Now some readers may wonder what this opera is and why they might care.
The thing is that far more people know this famous opera than think they do. It has been the subject of multiple stroylines (including an interesting take in the anime Cyborg 009) in film. The music from the various operas have lasted over a century now, and can be heard in fare as diverse as a Bugs Bunny cartoon
to Apocalypse Now – a great scene in the film.
So it’s worth just discussing for at least a moment. And this all came up because the Washington Natioal Opera has just decided to cancel the performance of all 4 operas that make up the Ring. They are doing so because of the current financial difficulty that we all are expereincing. And that is a shame.
To see the full opera is to understand the full story of the Norse Gods and their demise. In total the 4 parts can take up to 4 nights and 15 hours in total. The sheer magnitude of the entirety is unmatched, and perhaps the only medium and story that comes close to the same degree of enormity would be Star Wars (though elements of the story seem to have inspired parts of the Lord of the Rings). Yet this has no special effect, and has been performed long before film existed.
Thus to hear that Washingon National Opera was planning this was a joy. Plácido Domingo would have had his work cutout for him no matter the economy. To hear that Odin, The Norse and Midgard have been destroyed yet again by mere money is sad in a manner.
This means that likely the only way to see the complete Ring cycle will have to be in Seattle in 2009, unless the economy ends that as well. For an opera that has inspired and touched so many for so long, I was hoping for better.
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