Organization

Bayreuther Festspiele

Conductor

Pierre Boulez

Stage director

Patrice Chéreau

Set designer

Richard Peduzzi

Costume designer

Jacques Schmidt

Singer

Tenor

Manfred Jung

Siegfried

Heinz Zednik

Mime

Baritone

Donald McIntyre

The Wanderer

Bass

Hermann Becht

Alberich

Soprano

Gwyneth Jones

Brünnhilde

Fritz Hubner

Fafner

Contralto

Ortrun Wenkel

Erda

Orchestra

Bayreuther Festspielorchester

Bayreuth

Germany

Ö1 tip:
Many productions of Richard Wagner's monumental cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen" with a wide variety of interpretive approaches have taken the world's stages in recent decades, but hardly any of these new interpretations, sometimes more or less successful, have gone down in performance history as much as the "Ring "-Production 1976 at the Bayreuth Festival. Back then, 40 years ago, the 100th anniversary of the festival was celebrated, at the same time the 100th anniversary of the first complete cyclic "Ring" performance - and for the first time the production outside the Wagner family was awarded for this special event. After two "Ring" productions each, directed by Wagner's grandsons Wieland and Wolfgang in the post-war years in Bayreuth, the 31-year-old film and acting director Patrice Chéreau was hired for the anniversary production. His radical interpretation of the “ring” (located in the early industrialization period) as a parable of the upheavals of the 19th century, as “a description of the perversion of society based on the preservation of power” (Chéreau’s own quote) is vehement at first rejected, only to be celebrated more and more (until 1980) thanks to the strong imagery, the stringency of the production and the intensity of the performances. This production has gone down in music history as the “Ring of the Century”. It was first vehemently rejected as "a description of the perversion of society based on the preservation of power" (Chéreau's own quote), and then (until 1980) more and more thanks to the strong visual language, the stringency of the production and the intensity of the performances to be celebrated. This production has gone down in music history as the “Ring of the Century”. It was first vehemently rejected as "a description of the perversion of society based on the preservation of power" (Chéreau's own quote), and then (until 1980) more and more thanks to the strong visual language, the stringency of the production and the intensity of the performances to be celebrated. This production has gone down in music history as the “Ring of the Century”.

Siegfried Wagner,Richard

Public

Approved

Photos