The Ring Without Words
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) / Compiled by Lorin Maazel

THE STORY

There are few in the history of Western art who possessed the sheer ambition (and the ego to match) of Richard Wagner. He once said, “I am not made like other people… I must have brilliance and beauty and light. The world owes me what I need.” Whether or not his words seem excessive, it is indisputable that Wagner created astounding artistic spectacles, including the monumental Ring cycle. 

Der Ring des Nibelungen consists of four operas: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. Based on German, Nordic, and English mythology, they tell an epic fantasy tale. A cursed ring grants its wearer the ability to rule the world; gods, monsters, and heroes struggle to gain possession of it. Wagner composed the four operas, writing both the music and the librettos, over the course of 26 years. In performance, the entire work spans approximately 15 hours. 

The orchestral forces required are massive—nearly 100 musicians are required to execute the full opera score. Wagner’s innovative and captivating use of the orchestra has made performances of individual sections of the cycle popular with concert-going audiences ever since the premiere of the full cycle in 1876. 

In 1987, American conductor and composer Lorin Maazel was asked to compile orchestral selections from the work to be recorded by the Berlin Philharmonic. After considerable acclaim for the recording, the dramatic sweep of the 75-minute work earned a concert premiere in 1990 with Maazel leading the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he was Music Director. He would go on to conduct The Ring Without Words with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic, and it has joined the orchestral repertoire with performances around the world, including concerts in 2024 with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. 

As he began his arrangement, Maazel laid out for himself four rules: “One: The synthesis must be free-flowing (no stops) and chronological, beginning with the first note of Rheingold and finishing with the last chord of Götterdämmerung. Two: The transitions must be harmonically and formally justifiable... Three: Most all of the music originally written for orchestra without voice must be used, adding those sections with a vocal line essential to a synthesis but only where the line is either doubled by an orchestral instrument or when it can be reproduced by an instrument. Four: Every note must be Wagner’s own.” 

LISTEN FOR

• Recurring melodies called leitmotifs which represent characters, themes, and settings
• The Wagner tuba, a brass instrument invented by Wagner that sits sonically between the horn and trombone

• The opening of the work, with undulating strings, woodwinds, and brass representing the flowing Rhine river where the cursed ring is guarded by the magical Rhinemaidens

• The sound of anvils from the percussion section to represent the Nibelungen, a race of dwarves who created the ring

• Horns representing the main hero of the cycle, Siegfried, who carries with him a hunting horn as well as his sword

• Rhythmic strings and woodwinds followed by the famous brass call that heralds the Ride of the Valkyries, as the warrior princess Brünnhilde flees her angry father Wotan, king of the gods

• The finale, in which Brünnhilde rides her horse into the funeral pyre of the hero Siegfried—fulfilling a prophecy and bringing about the end of the gods as the Rhinemaidens return to reclaim the ring from the ashes

INSTRUMENTATION

Two piccolos, three flutes, three oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, eight horns, four Wagner tubas, three trumpets, bass trumpet, three trombones, bass trombone, tuba, two timpani, percussion, two harps, strings