What Are You Listening To?

[Tiggi]

Mrs Tiggi & I have a couple of weeks' holiday from work, so we've opted to listen to the entire Ring Cycle.

This is the first Opera, and is the first studio recording, from about 1960.

The Rhein maidens have their stash of Rheingold stolen by Alberich the gnome. At about the same time, two giants complete the construction of Valhalla, a castle in the sky made for the Gods. Fricka the Goddess finds that Wotan - her husband - has arranged to pay the giants using Freia, her sister. This is not a good deal, since Freia is the expert gardener who tends the orchard from which the Gods get the apples which grant them eternal youth. Without her they are doomed.

Much wrangling follows, as Wotan tries to extricate himself from the deal. The giants hear about the stolen gold, and agree to return Freia if Wotan can pay them with the gold before sundown. Wotan & his wily advisor Loge set off to Niebelheim.

In the caves where the Niebelung reside, they find that Alberich has already had some of the gold forged into a ring which will give him untold power, and a tarnhelm which can make him invisible, or transform him into any creature he desires. They trick him, take him prisoner, and recover the gold. Alberich puts a curse on the ring.

The deal is finally done, Freia is returned, and the giants fight over their spoils. One kills the other, and the curse has taken its' first victim.

The Gods ascend the Rainbow Bridge into Valhalla, and all live happily ever after...

Lord of The Rings, anyone ??