Three `Ring’ circus
The Lyric Opera makes a trek up Wagner’s summit — all 16 glorious, daunting hours of it
By John von Rhein [Chicago Tribune, 27 Mar 05]
Ringheads, rejoice! The end of the world is nigh.
So, for that matter, are the flying Valkyries, swimming Rhinemaidens, spinning Norns, fearless heroes, empowered heroines and all the other mythic characters that make Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (“The Ring of the Nibelung”) the greatest, most monumental fairy tale ever composed.
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The timeless appeal of Wagner’s epic
BY WYNNE DELACOMA [Chicago Sun Times, 27 Mar 05]
“We’re getting jazzed,” said a top Lyric staffer last week about the company’s upcoming immersion in Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung.”
They aren’t the only ones. Music lovers throughout the world have been getting jazzed, or the linguistic equivalent appropriate to their era, about Wagner’s four-opera saga since its premiere as a complete cycle in the Franconian town of Bayreuth, Germany, in August 1876.
Loosely based on Nordic mythology, the first “Ring” cycles were presented in a brand-new theater built to Wagner’s specifications. Among the audiences in 1876 were Kaiser Wilhelm, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Liszt and a tribe of 60 international music critics, including critics for London’s Daily Telegraph and the New York Times.
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