RHEINGOLD, DAS

(The Rhine gold) Composer: RICHARD WAGNER Book by the composer First performance: Hof-und-National-Theater, 4 scenes. Munich, September 22, 1869 THE RHINE MameEns, Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flo hilde guard the Rhine gold in the depths of the Rhine. After telling Alberich, a Nibelung, that anyone able to forge a ring from the gold will po e the world and all its power, he steals the gold from them. Wotan, King of the Gods, and Fricka, his wife, are sleeping before the Valhalla, new home of the Gods, built by the Giants Fafner and Fasolt in return for Freia, the Godde of Youth and Love. Loge, the God of Fire, tells Wotan of the ring Alberich has made from the Rhine gold. The Giants and Wotan both want the ring, and the Giants take Freia away saying that they will release her if Wotan gets them the gold and the ring before evening. The Gods lose their youth when Freia departs. Wotan and Loge descend beneath the earth, and by trickery obtain the Nibelung treasure, the ring and the Tarnhelm (a magic helmet which enables the wearer to make himself invisible or change his form). Wotan refuses the Giants the ring but gives it up when Erda, the Godde of Earthly Wisdom, warns him against it, and predicts the fall of the Gods. The curse of the ring is wrought on Fasolt, the first wearer, who is killed by Fafner in a quarrel over it. Wotan leads the Gods to Valhalla over a rainbow bridge which appeared when Donner struck away the clouds.