Wagner's 15-hour Ring Cycle...in two and a half minutes

Ever wanted to know the story of Wagner's 15-hour Ring Cycle? .... Here it is in two and a half minutes.

Now you know the story, hear the music: Sydney Symphony Orchestra -- Wagner's Ring Adventure (18 -- 21 Sep 2013).

[carwyn]

It's funny how such a short version of the plot is a thousand times harder to follow than the actual opera.

[EduardoPardoFigueroaC]

This was the first time in my life I had to use the 0.75x speed function

[Willybuchanan]

Some time later, Smeagol fishes the ring out of the Rhine and shit kicks off again.

[abcable]

As much as I love opera, I think it would also be really cool if someone made some live action movies where the soundtrack is nothing but the orchestral parts. That would be so awesome.

[ekoi]

0:10 "Alberich" - the Nibelung has a very powerful ring made of gold stolen from the "Rhinemaidens"
0:15 Wotan - King of the Gods - Castle in the sky
0:18 Freya - Wotan's Sister in Law
0:22 Alberich curses the ring
0:27 Fasolt and Fafner = giants
0:29 Fafner kills Fasolt and takes off with the ring.
0:26 The mysterious Erda materialises and warns Wotan on to be careful but Wotan distracted by his shiny new palace and he his family had to across the Rainbow Bridge to Valhalla.
0:41 Fricka - Wotan's Wife
0:44 Siegmund and Sieglinde have run away together - two problems: they're brother and sister and Sieglinde is already married to Hunding they're also Wotan's children but not Fricka's.
0:52 Nothung - sword
0:58 Valkyries - Helmwige, Otrlinde, Gerhilde, Waltraute, Grimgerde, Siegrune, Rossweisse, Schwertleite, Brunnhilde
1:02 Brunnhilde - She tries to save Sigmund and failed.
1:08 Wotan banishes Brunnhilde to sleep on a fiery mountain top until a fearless man wakes her up and claims her as his wife.
1:14 Sieglinde has actally survived and she's carrying her brother's child.
1:21 Hagen - Alberich's dastardly son gets the ring the gods need a hero but one who's never heard of the gods or been helped by them.
1:28 Siegfried, raised but unloved by Alberich's mother Mime, fits the bill.
1:32 Mime has other ideas he'd like Siegfried to slave Fafner, now a dragon and snatch the ring.
1:39 Nothung reforged - dispatches the dragon then kills Mime too before Mime kills him.
1:43 A little bird tells him to keep the ring and head for the mountain.
1:47 On route he meets an old man, we know it's Wotan but Siegfried doesn't. He's spectacularly rude breaks Wotan's spear and he charges off the mount to wake Brunhilde.
1:56 Siegfried set off exploring again then he's drugged by Hagen at the home of Gunther and Gutruna, siblings who share a mother with Hagen.
2:03 Siegfried forgets Brunnhilde, he falls for Gutruna and when they send him back to the mountain disguises Gunther to kidnap Brunnhilde he's happy to oblige.
2:13 A little manipulation from Hagen and now Hagen Gunther and Brunnhilde are all bent on revenge
2:18 Hagen delivers the fatal blow and everyone else immediately regrets it
2:26 She returns the ring to the Rhine and in the process throws herself on Siegfried's funeral's pyre.
2:30 The Rhine floods, Valhalla burns and earth makes a fresh start without the gods!

[IanTheCameraGuy]

Story aside you have to admit that Wagner wrote some pretty damn good music.

[kymberlivenegas]

So what I got from this was a mix of The Lord of the Rings and Oedipus Rex...

[bananaborealis]

imagine watching a 15 hour long drama... what an experience

[Iamabot]

I have no idea what this is, but I still clicked on it
I also have no idea why YouTube thought I would like it

Such are the mysteries of the algorithm

[robertlehnert]

Chuck Jones ("Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!) once said he never knew anyone who watched all four of the operas in a row with their sanity intact. Totally unrelated, Adolph Hitler attended the Wagner Ring Cycle several times.

[peteradaniel]

He missed out the tarnhelm, isn't that how Fafner becomes a dragon?

[FierkensFilms]

I understand the ring as a spiritual metafore
The ring (spirit/soul) that is taken out of the river (tranquility) for a castle (material world/senses). Eventually this ring moves through various owners (reincarnation) and brings jealousy and anger (emotions/sensual world) before eventually returning to the river.

[redwolf]

The prelude and entry of gods into Valhalla always brings tears to my eyes.I can't listen to it in front of my kids as they don't know what's going on!

[thewoodlandcryptid]

Just finished watching the entire opera from the met's free opera streams, and let's just say... Wagner needed an editor.

[jsrymell]

Thank you. That’s saved me 14 hours and 57 minutes I would never been able to get back.

[DaveLH]

Even more concise than Anna Russell's assessment!  -- And includes some plot points she leaves out.

Be sure to pause it at 2:33 and read it all... (Yeah, what *did* happen to "cool" Freia?? -- Maybe she migrated to a Gilbert and Sullivan piece...)

[BlackMagickMike]

This music is so culturally pervasive. I grew up with it in Loony Tunes cartoons and heard much of it when I lived in Germany. As an American Black, I cannot say that I was ever drawn to it otherwise. Today a passed in shelf in the library and WAGNER'S RING OF THE NIBELUNG: The full German text with a new translation and commentaries caught my eye. So, I thought, let me see what this is all about. I searched YouTube and found your video. Thank you for your synopsis!! The characters seem quite messy; all this incest, etc... I wonder what about this work inspired Hitler, though? If it is ever made into a mini series, I might check it out. I heard it is going to be featured at the Met in NYC this year. Thanks again for your video!!

[luizh.m.]

Funny, but I can do it in 5 seconds: Wotan's got a ring to conquest the world, but the ring was cursed, so he had siblings that were married and die, and his grandson got married with his daughter and they died too. LOL

[ThePatriotParadox]

Absolutely lovely and yet funny as well

[henrikschunk]

Now that was a lot of information to take in