God is Dead: Sebastian Kranner hails the stimulating opening of Munich’s new ‘Ring’ cycle

The Bavarian State Opera is forging a new Ring after more than ten years. In the Munich National Theatre, the venue of the first performance of Das Rheingold (1869), expectations were noticeably high.

The evening begins in absolute darkness. Even the lights of the orchestra have gone out when the deep E-flat major chord introduces the Prelude to the Vorabend of Richard Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen. Little by little it gets brighter and we see a church, and Alberich with a spray can. He has used it to write ‘God is dead’ on a wall and he slowly turns towards us. He takes a gun out of his pocket, wanting to take his own life, but is interrupted by the Rhinemaidens.