24 Gotterdammerung 2400X900
Richard Wagner

Götterdämmerung

Götterdämmerung is the epic conclusion to the Ring cycle: power struggles, betrayals, and the downfall of gods, heroes, and the world itself.

All productions in the cycle are created especially for Longborough by Amy Lane, Artistic Director of Copenhagen Opera Festival, and Longborough Music Director and eminent Wagnerian Anthony Negus.

The Longborough Ring 2024

Der Ring des Nibelungen (known as the Ring cycle) is a story of gods, giants and heroes, and their struggles for power. Wagner’s cycle is the most epic of tales, a monumental work of art with a score that is searing, desperate and sublime.

Watching a whole Ring cycle takes place across a week. The 2024 Ring was presented in three cycles:

Cycle I: 16 – 22 June 2024
Das Rheingold 16 June
Die Walküre 18 June
Siegfried 20 June
Götterdämmerung 22 June

Cycle II: 25 June – 30 June 2024
Das Rheingold 25 June
Die Walküre 26 June
Siegfried 28 June
Götterdämmerung 30 June

Cycle III: 4 – 9 July 2024
Das Rheingold 4 July
Die Walküre 5 July
Siegfried 7 July
Götterdämmerung 9 July


Praise for Götterdämmerung (2023)

a heroic final chapter

The Times ★★★★☆
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deeply satisfying

The Guardian ★★★★☆

An epic vision of Wagner

i news ★★★★☆
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a sharp and brilliant orchestra

The Telegraph ★★★★☆

Prologue

The three Norns spin the past, present and future into the Rope of Fate. They sing of Wotan felling the World Ash Tree and of Alberich’s curse. Their omniscience comes to a sudden end as the rope breaks.

On Brünnhilde’s mountaintop, Brünnhilde and Siegfried prepare to part. They exalt in their love and promises of fidelity. Siegfried gives Brünnhilde the Ring and sets off down the Rhine.

Act I

Gunther yearns for fame and asks his wily halfbrother, Hagen, for advice. Hagen points out that both Gunther and his sister remain unmarried and that Gunther should wed the greatest woman in the world (Brünnhilde). Gunther cannot woo her, however, but the hero Siegfried could on his behalf. Hagen produces a potion that can make Siegfried forget that he’s ever seen a woman and make him fall in love with Gutrune.

Siegfried is welcomed into Gibich Hall. He is offered a drink, tainted with the potion. He immediately declares his love for Gutrune, offers to help Gunther find a wife and swears a bloodbrother oath with his prospective brother-in-law. Gunther and Siegfried depart for Brünnhilde’s rock, leaving Hagen to keep watch.

Brünnhilde is visited by her Valkyrie sister, Waltraute. She has dared to incur Wotan’s wrath in order to tell her sister of the gods’ misery and to beg her to return the Ring to the Rhinemaidens. Only thus can she break its curse. Brünnhilde refuses to give up Siegfried’s pledge of love. 

Brünnhilde hears Siegfried’s horn but is horrified to be confronted with a stranger. Siegfried has used the Tarnhelm to change his shape into that of Gunther. He claims Brünnhilde as Gunther’s bride, wrestles the Ring from her and they enter the cave together.

Act II

Hagen is visited by Alberich in the deepest part of the night. His father urges him to be strong, clever and to avenge him. Hagen pacifies him, saying that the plan is already in action. 

Siegfried has sped back to claim Gutrune’s hand in marriage. Hagen is tasked with preparing for the double wedding and summons Gunther’s men. The bride and groom arrive and Brünnhilde is shocked to find Siegfried betrothed to Gutrune. She sees the Ring on his finger and realises what has happened. She accuses Siegfried of treachery, which he denies, and they both swear on Hagen’s weapon that they are telling the truth. Siegfried leaves with the bridal party.

Hagen offers to avenge Brünnhilde if she helps him defeat Siegfried. Her solution is simple: she used all her magic to protect him but left his back unguarded. Hagen tells Gunther that Siegfried has the Nibelung Ring and unites him with Brünnhilde in a pact to kill him.

Act III

The Rhinemaidens dream of a hero returning their gold to them. Siegfried is out hunting and comes across them. They offer to help him if he returns the Ring. He refuses their offer, and they tell him to watch out – he will die today and someone else will return the gold.

The rest of the hunting party arrive. To cheer up Gunther, Siegfried offers him wine and recounts tales from his life. The wine has been spiked by Hagen and he starts to recall his love for Brünnhilde. Hagen stabs him with the weapon he swore upon during the wedding. Siegfried dies thinking of Brünnhilde.

Hagen reveals Siegfried’s body to Gutrune, claiming that a boar killed him. Gunther, Gutrune and Hagen argue. In a struggle for the Ring, Hagen kills Gunther. Brünnhilde intervenes and takes ownership of both the Ring and Siegfried’s body. She demands a funeral pyre be built and meditates upon her loss. Finally, she bids Wotan eternal rest, tells the Rhinemaidens to reclaim the Ring from her ashes and rides into the flames on her horse, Grane. 

CHORUS OF VASSALS

Longborough Festival Orchestra