Ring of the Nibelung

British  

noun

1. German myth a magic ring on which the dwarf Alberich placed a curse after it was stolen from him

2. Often shortened to: The Ring.  the four operas by Wagner, Das Rheingold (1869), Die Walküre (1870), Siegfried (1876), and Götterdämmerung (1876), based on this myth

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Ring of the Nibelung Cultural  

1. A series of four operas by Richard Wagner, based on stories from Norse mythology; the central story is that of Siegfried and Brünnhilde. As the Ring ends, the gods are about to be overcome. The four operas of the Ring are The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and The Twilight of the Gods.

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Example Sentences

"One further example is Richard Wagner's opera 'The Ring of the Nibelung'," explains Simon Hauke.

From Science Daily

Stagings of Richard Wagner’s cycle of four interlinked operas, together known as “The Ring of the Nibelung,” are what put Seattle Opera on the international map almost half a century ago.

From Seattle Times

But when the Bayreuth Festival Theater opened in 1876, with the premiere of his full “Ring of the Nibelung” — a four-opera, 15-hour mythic tale about nature and power with a cast of gods, warriors, dwarves, giants, talking birds and spitting dragons — Wagner was still unsatisfied.

From New York Times

On Feb. 27, during the final performance at Teatro Real of Twilight of the Gods – the last opera in Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung series – artists on stage wrapped the corpse of the protagonist, Siegried, in the Ukrainian flag.

From Seattle Times

For opera lovers, familiarity with Norse mythology eases a gateway into Richard Wagner’s four-piece cycle “Ring of the Nibelung.”

From Washington Post