The Rheingold

Gold or rather love? At the beginning of Wagner’s tetralogy, there appears to be a momentous choice, which strictly speaking is not a choice at all. Because Alberich is denied love, he renounces it forever and takes possession of the glittering raw material that, forged into a ring, promises dominion over all creatures. With this cardinal mistake, Wagner sets in motion his grand world narrative, in which other characters will continue to exchange love – if ever so briefly – for the prospect of power, which sooner or later leads to collapse. Stephan Kimmig interprets the mythical beginning as a sadly grotesque end-time saga. Gods, giants and dwarves meet in the ruins of a night circus: a playground for exploring dizzying flights of fancy and fears of falling, but also a metaphor for a world stuck in a frenzied standstill, where three Rhine maidens of the postmillennial generation unflinchingly search for new paths into the future.