Wagner’s Ring Cycle

Step into the Ring! This app is aimed at anyone with an interest in Wagner’s monumental operatic achievement Der Ring des Nibelungen (‘The Ring of the Nibelung’).

Whether you are intimately acquainted with the cycle or a newcomer to it, you can enjoy a clearly and beautifully presented outline of the work’s so-called ‘leitmotifs’. These musical calling-cards are woven in a sophisticated web throughout all four operas – Das Rheingold (‘The Rhinegold’), Die Walküre (‘The Valkyrie’), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (‘Twilight of the Gods’): here is the chance to get to grips with them, refresh your memory, and enhance your listening experience.

Of course the Ring is about more than motif-spotting, and there is plenty of background material here as well (see Features below).

With its particular recording and publishing expertise, Naxos is perfectly placed to celebrate Richard Wagner’s anniversary year with this ground-breaking app.


FEATURES
• 130 audio clips: 65 different leitmotifs isolated from the operas.
• Extended audio clips: eight tracks, two from each opera.
• An explanation of each leitmotif example.
• Each leitmotif example in musical notation.
• Biographical text about Richard Wagner.
• Clear synopses of the operas.
• Information about the operas in performance.
• Comments from renowned tenor, Simon O’Neill.
• Photographs
• Further Reading