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The Ring of the Nibelung 1976–2026

On sale on April 9 at 2:30 p.m.

BOOK

© Schnorrer

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the premiere of The Ring of the Nibelung by Richard Wagner, the Opéra national de Paris will present two complete cycles of the Tetralogy in November 2026. As a prelude to this event, the Opéra invites audiences to (re)discover the legendary 1976 Ring production by Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau, with a complete screening of the work at Studio Bastille on June 6 and 7.

10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

© Siegfried Lauterwasser / Bridgeman

Das Rheingold

Duration: 2h 26m | No intermission

In Das Rheingold, Patrice Chéreau transposes Wagner’s myth into the world of the Industrial Revolution and the early days of capitalism. He reimagines the mythical Rhine as a hydroelectric dam and the gold as an allegory of capital. Alberich appears as a humiliated proletarian, while Wotan, dressed in a statesman’s tailcoat, negotiates and deceives in order to consolidate his power at the expense of the Nibelungs.

Cast

Wotan

Donald Mclntyre

Donner

Martin Egel

Froh

Siegfried Jerusalem

Loge

Heinz Zednik

Fricka

Hanna Schwarz

Freia

Carmen Reppel

Erda

Ortrun Wenkel

Alberich

Hermann Becht

Mime

Helmut Pampuch

Fasolt

Matti Salminen

Fafner

Fritz Hubner

Woglinde

Nortma Sharp

Wellgunde

Lise Gramatzki

Flosshilde

MargaSchimi

3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Discussion about the production

Discussion about the production

From 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

With

Anne François Benhamou, theatre scholar; Richard Peduzzi, French scenographer and painter; Laurent Bayle, cultural manager and Marion Mirande, moderator.

Laurent Bayle

Richard Peduzzi

Marion Mirande

4:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

© Siegfried Lauterwasser / Bridgeman

Die Walküre

Duration: 3h 35m | No intermission

Hunding’s home is a bourgeois interior dominated by a dead ash tree and a gigantic gear, evoking the industrial reality. Siegmund and Sieglinde are two hunted, almost wild beings who recognize themselves in their shared suffering; their scandalous love arises almost involuntarily, in the spirit of “those who have nothing left to lose.” For Chéreau, it is Siegmund—not Siegfried—who embodies the true free hero of the Tetralogy. If Wotan consents to Siegmund’s death as demanded by Fricka, it is because, in his words, “they are politically aligned; they are of the same water, they belong to the same world.”

Cast

Siegmund

Peter Hofmann

Hunding

Matti Salminen

Wotan

Donald Mclntyre

Sieglinde

Jeannine Altemeyer

Brünnhilde

Gwyneth Jones

Fricka

Hanna Schwarz

Gerhilde

Carmen Reppel

Ortlinde

Karen Middleton

Waltraute

Gabriele Schnaut

Schwertleite

Gwendolyn Kilebrew

Helmwige

Katie Clarke

Siegrune

Marga Schmil

Grimgerde

Lise Gramatzki

Rossweisse

Elisabeth Glauser

10:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.

© Siegfried Lauterwasser / Bridgeman

Siegfried

Duration: 3h 50m | One 25-minute intermission

The “hero without fear” becomes, under Chéreau’s vision, an anti-hero. An instrument of Wotan, Siegfried appears as a naive and brutal figure, spreading confusion around him. His forge, made of steam hammers and machinery, evokes that of the 19th-century industrial era, while Mime, far from being a monstrous figure, appears as a victim of a world that exploits him.

Cast

Siegfried

Manfred jung

Mime

Heinz Zednick

Der Wanderer

Donald Mclntyre

Alberich

Hermann Becht

Fafner

Fritz Hûbner

Brünnhilde

Gwyneth Jones

Erda

Ortrun Wenkel

Waldvogel

Norma Sharp

3:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

© Siegfried Lauterwasser / Bridgeman

Götterdämmerung

Götterdämmerung

Duration: 4h 11m | With two 20-minute intermissions

Siegfried, in mythical rags, appears in a bourgeois palazzo where Gunther wears a tuxedo and Hagen a rumpled suit: the encounter sparks a collision between the world of legend and that of a decadent modernity. The Rhine dam, now dilapidated, provides the setting for Siegfried’s assassination. The final scene unfolds on New York docks, where a crowd—spanning all social classes and eras—watches the ultimate catastrophe unfold, powerless.

Cast

Siegfried

Manfred Jung

Gunther

Franz Mazura

Hagen

Fritz Hûbner

Alberich

Hermann Becht

Brünnhilde

Gwyneth Jones

Gutrune

Jeannine Altmeyer

Waltraute

Gwendolyn Killebrew

Première Norne

Ortrun Wenkel

Deuxième Norne

Gabriele Schnaut

Troisième Norne

Katie Clarke

Woglinde

Norma Sharp

Wellgunde

Lise Gramatzki

Flosshilde

Marga Schiml

1. Wolfgang Wagner’s Gamble

In 1976, to celebrate the centenary of the premiere of The Ring at Bayreuth, Wolfgang Wagner entrusted the musical direction of his grandfather’s monumental work to Pierre Boulez. Boulez had already made a mark at the festival in 1966 with an innovative interpretation of Parsifal, which freed itself from heavy-handed lyricism by working on the timbral relief of the orchestra and rhythmic precision. After successive refusals from Ingmar Bergman, Peter Brook, and Peter Stein, Boulez suggested Patrice Chéreau’s name to Wolfgang Wagner for the staging. At thirty-one and still little known in the opera world, Chéreau was then co-directing the TNP in Villeurbanne alongside Roger Planchon. He embodied a new generation of artists influenced by the intellectual debates of post-1968 France, Marxist thought, and the theatrical legacy of Bertolt Brecht.

In opera, Chéreau had directed only two productions: Rossini’s L’Italienne à Alger (1969) and Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (1974). He had never seen or heard the Ring before discovering it at Bayreuth in 1975. In this high temple of Wagnerian tradition, fiercely protective of its codes, the choice of this Franco-French duo was surprising. Together, Boulez and Chéreau embodied the artistic and international openness that Wolfgang Wagner sought to bring to the festival, continuing the innovative spirit of the “New Bayreuth” initiated by his brother and predecessor, Wieland Wagner.

2. A New Interpretation of the Work

In the pit, Pierre Boulez broke with the traditional interpretation of the work. He rejected the continuous “mezzofortissimo” that buried the voices beneath a uniform, monotonous orchestral mass. His conducting lightened the textures, stripped the orchestra of its melodramatic veneer, and emphasized textual intelligibility and melodic clarity. The leitmotifs were no longer highlighted as didactic “signposts”; they flowed organically within a musical stream propelled by andante tempi, giving the drama a renewed vitality.

On stage, Patrice Chéreau introduced theatre-based methods at Bayreuth. He required singers to work at a table, focusing on a precise reading of the libretto and its relationship to the music. By rejecting hieratic and redundant gestures, he reconciled dramatic action with musical nuance. His meticulously precise direction restored the characters’ corporeal humanity. Breaking with Wieland Wagner’s metaphysical abstraction, Chéreau offered a historical and political reading of the Tetralogy: set in the imagination of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, it becomes a fresco depicting the birth of capitalism, the brutality of power relations, and the corruption brought by authority.

3. A Turbulent Reception

The premiere at the Bayreuth Festival triggered one of the most famous controversies in opera history. The audience greeted the first performance with boos and whistles; some denounced it as a betrayal and desecration of this mythical work. Wolfgang Wagner’s wife was attacked, and Chéreau received death threats. Despite this, Wagner stood by the production and maintained its schedule until 1980.

Time, however, brought a radical transformation in reception. Over successive performances, what had initially seemed provocative gradually became recognized as a dramaturgical revelation. By the final performance in 1980, the production was met with 85 minutes of applause and 101 curtain calls. The production then entered history, paving the way for critical, political, and contemporary interpretations of the Ring. Since then, the diversity of stagings has continued to renew the work’s relevance, as evidenced by Calixto Bieito’s new production, which will be presented in its entirety twice at the Opéra de Paris from November 6 to 22.

RING Festival

The Ring of the Nibelung Festival makes its grand return to the Paris Opera.

An event bringing together an exceptional cast of performers in a production by Calixto Bieito and under the musical direction of Pablo Heras-Casado.

Immerse in the Paris Opera universe

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