Photo: Arve Dinda/Bayreuther Festspiele, via EPA
They say that opera is “the most expensive human endeavour, with the possible exception of war”. And Wagner’s Ring cycle is the most expensive opera of all.
It runs over four evenings and 15 hours of music, from the opening ripples of the river Rhine to the crashing down in flames of Valhalla in the “twilight of the gods”. The range of sets and special effects required is of mythic proportions. Wagner commissioned a special building – the festival theatre in Bayreuth – to stage the cycle. It would have been impossible without the deep pockets of King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
Not much has changed in 150 years.