Wagner's 15-hour Ring Cycle...in two and a half minutes

[@carwyn3691]

It's funny how such a short version of the plot is a thousand times harder to follow than the actual opera.

[@urmorph]

Well, duh. At the opera you have 16-18 hours for it to sink in (counting intermissions).

[@marcdupont9418]

Yeah it's a lot harder to understand when a bozo thinks he's being funny by talking too fast

[@lil4c94]

@@marcdupont9418 Hahaha yes

[@newwavepop]

perhaps i could have a 10 minute explanation, where my brain has enough time to register the words i am hearing. much less time to try and place several foreign names i am not use to hearing.

[@sethgaston8347]

It also gets part of the plot wrong, and leaves out significant parts. I’m sure if I tried to sum it this fast, I’d do a much worse job though

[@EduardoPardoFigueroaC]

This was the first time in my life I had to use the 0.75x speed function

[@msparadiva]

Haha 😂😂 me too!

[@Unfassbarer]

Me too :-)

[@alessandropetri9934]

I actually used 0.5x with subtitles lol

[@dearls921]

Just listen to more videos in fast mode, then fast ones don’t seem too quick

[@jps0117]

I take it you've never listened to Camille Paglia.

[@Willybuchanan]

Some time later, Smeagol fishes the ring out of the Rhine and shit kicks off again.

[@bazcuda]

Actually....it was Smeagol's brother, Deagol 😆

[@GenericGoogleAccount]

Indeed, some of the plot elements feel way too similar to be a coincidence

[@bearbear3793]

​@Baz Cuda they actually weren't related other than being of the same subspecies of Hobbit. One of the Stoors.

[@abc114able]

As much as I love opera, I think it would also be really cool if someone made some live action movies where the soundtrack is nothing but the orchestral parts. That would be so awesome.

[@sofia.morenska]

I also love the Ring, and I was also thinking about the movie! That would be amazing!

[@gondametzger6146]

+S A D G I R L go watch lord of the rings then

[@sofia.morenska]

+Gonda Metzger There are no valkyries in LOTR :(

[@skyabove1032]

If you have the budget I do it for you !!!

[@atomicmrpelly]

I have often thought this myself, the difficulty would be the fact that action and dialogue tend to move a LOT faster in movies than they do in the Ring so it would be tricky to get the pacing right without taking a hatchet to the music.

[@IanTheCameraGuy]

Story aside you have to admit that Wagner wrote some pretty damn good music.

[@somniansvulpes]

Yes ! I always found the stories very stupid, but I love the music

[@greatraven1]

Too noisy for me, I’m afraid! But enjoy!

[@maryk3458]

@@greatraven1 Kill the WAbbit? The great Elmer Fudd cartoon is the BEST

[@ekoi1995]

0:10 "Alberich" - the Nibelung has a very powerful ring made of gold stolen from the "Rhinemaidens" 0:15 Wotan - King of the Gods - Castle in the sky 0:18 Freya - Wotan's Sister in Law 0:22 Alberich curses the ring 0:27 Fasolt and Fafner = giants 0:29 Fafner kills Fasolt and takes off with the ring. 0:26 The mysterious Erda materialises and warns Wotan on to be careful but Wotan distracted by his shiny new palace and he his family had to across the Rainbow Bridge to Valhalla. 0:41 Fricka - Wotan's Wife 0:44 Siegmund and Sieglinde have run away together - two problems: they're brother and sister and Sieglinde is already married to Hunding they're also Wotan's children but not Fricka's. 0:52 Nothung - sword 0:58 Valkyries - Helmwige, Otrlinde, Gerhilde, Waltraute, Grimgerde, Siegrune, Rossweisse, Schwertleite, Brunnhilde 1:02 Brunnhilde - She tries to save Sigmund and failed. 1:08 Wotan banishes Brunnhilde to sleep on a fiery mountain top until a fearless man wakes her up and claims her as his wife. 1:14 Sieglinde has actally survived and she's carrying her brother's child. 1:21 Hagen - Alberich's dastardly son gets the ring the gods need a hero but one who's never heard of the gods or been helped by them. 1:28 Siegfried, raised but unloved by Alberich's mother Mime, fits the bill. 1:32 Mime has other ideas he'd like Siegfried to slave Fafner, now a dragon and snatch the ring. 1:39 Nothung reforged - dispatches the dragon then kills Mime too before Mime kills him. 1:43 A little bird tells him to keep the ring and head for the mountain. 1:47 On route he meets an old man, we know it's Wotan but Siegfried doesn't. He's spectacularly rude breaks Wotan's spear and he charges off the mount to wake Brunhilde. 1:56 Siegfried set off exploring again then he's drugged by Hagen at the home of Gunther and Gutruna, siblings who share a mother with Hagen. 2:03 Siegfried forgets Brunnhilde, he falls for Gutruna and when they send him back to the mountain disguises Gunther to kidnap Brunnhilde he's happy to oblige. 2:13 A little manipulation from Hagen and now Hagen Gunther and Brunnhilde are all bent on revenge 2:18 Hagen delivers the fatal blow and everyone else immediately regrets it 2:26 She returns the ring to the Rhine and in the process throws herself on Siegfried's funeral's pyre. 2:30 The Rhine floods, Valhalla burns and earth makes a fresh start without the gods!

[@yegfreethinker]

The Germanic gods are so much funner than the Christian one 😂

[@kymberlivenegas2634]

So what I got from this was a mix of The Lord of the Rings and Oedipus Rex...

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

guess from where they got their Inspiration

[@chrismertz4359]

carlos dumbratzen, nah that can't be related, can it??

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

JRR defenitly got his inspiration from wagners epos. well and oedipus might be an inspiration for wagner

[@chrismertz4359]

carlos dumbratzen idk man I think Tolkien definitely didn't know about it. Or flip coins with CS Lewis to see who gets to use it

[@svongorsk]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien%27s_influences#Wagnerian_influences

[@bananaborealis9515]

imagine watching a 15 hour long drama... what an experience

[@VeryEvilGM]

Even Lord Of The Rings Extended or Hobbits Extended in a row weren't 15 hours, they can't even compare to this opera.

[@GenericGoogleAccount]

It's a series of 4 operas, the first one lasting about 2 hours, and next 3 about 4 hours each, so it's basically a trilogy with a prologue

[@davidbastardo4154]

Like the Oresteia by Aeschylus or Shakespeare's Henriad plays. You know, actual works of art instead of the Tolkien pastiches people like so much.

[@Iamabot31]

I have no idea what this is, but I still clicked on it I also have no idea why KZbin thought I would like it Such are the mysteries of the algorithm

[@redwolf7929]

The prelude and entry of gods into Valhalla always brings tears to my eyes.I can't listen to it in front of my kids as they don't know what's going on!

[@jsrymell]

Thank you. That’s saved me 14 hours and 57 minutes I would never been able to get back.

[@peteradaniel]

He missed out the tarnhelm, isn't that how Fafner becomes a dragon?

[@virgil7100]

Brilliant !

[@robertlehnert4148]

Chuck Jones ("Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!) once said he never knew anyone who watched all four of the operas in a row with their sanity intact. Totally unrelated, Adolph Hitler attended the Wagner Ring Cycle several times.

[@davidbastardo4154]

Such scholarly insight. Wow.

[@annaa1160]

It’s easy to watch 4 Operas in a row. I’ve done it multiple times & loved the music more after each viewing

[@maryk3458]

I watched the whole thing over the course of a week when PBS did it. {Pretty weird stuff) Never again. I like the episode with Debra Voight and the Valkeries on See Saws

[@allenjones3130]

That bigoted, racist psychotic Hitler was a fan of Wagner.

[@Tolstoy111]

@@maryk3458why never again? It’s one of the greatest theater spectacles - the music is fantastic.

[@FierkensFilms]

I understand the ring as a spiritual metafore The ring (spirit/soul) that is taken out of the river (tranquility) for a castle (material world/senses). Eventually this ring moves through various owners (reincarnation) and brings jealousy and anger (emotions/sensual world) before eventually returning to the river.

[@shadmium3471]

dont care

[@evaviolinist]

alternatively: fantasy world go brr

[@nautilusstopmotion8304]

That's retarded. Why would someone have to renounce love for a soul to enter the material world. It's a political metaphor. They renounce love(interpersonal ties) to get the gold (being on top of a new financial system based on capital instead of human relationships)

[@JaguarStar999]

Amazing video, and really funny!

[@DerekWilliamsMusic]

Utterly brilliant!

[@DaveLH]

Even more concise than Anna Russell's assessment! -- And includes some plot points she leaves out. Be sure to pause it at 2:33 and read it all... (Yeah, what *did* happen to "cool" Freia?? -- Maybe she migrated to a Gilbert and Sullivan piece...)

[@peteradaniel]

Yeah and who is Siegmund and Sieglinde's mother? (Some random mortal woman)

[@allenjones3130]

In all likelihood, Fries died along with all the other 'gods'. (And they're supposed to be 'immortal'!) P

[@celesteburley4035]

WOW!! NOW I understand!! Thanks!!

[@akechijubeimitsuhide]

This is perfection :D

[@ThePatriotParadox]

Absolutely lovely and yet funny as well

[@luizh.m.9552]

Funny, but I can do it in 5 seconds: Wotan's got a ring to conquest the world, but the ring was cursed, so he had siblings that were married and die, and his grandson got married with his daughter and they died too. LOL

[@Erox006]

what is it with germans and !ncest ?

[@BlackMagickMike]

This music is so culturally pervasive. I grew up with it in Loony Tunes cartoons and heard much of it when I lived in Germany. As an American Black, I cannot say that I was ever drawn to it otherwise. Today a passed in shelf in the library and WAGNER'S RING OF THE NIBELUNG: The full German text with a new translation and commentaries caught my eye. So, I thought, let me see what this is all about. I searched KZbin and found your video. Thank you for your synopsis!! The characters seem quite messy; all this incest, etc... I wonder what about this work inspired Hitler, though? If it is ever made into a mini series, I might check it out. I heard it is going to be featured at the Met in NYC this year. Thanks again for your video!!

[@fedegwagwa]

The only things that inspired Hitler were Wagner's antisemitism and nationalism

[@thewoodlandcryptid]

Just finished watching the entire opera from the met's free opera streams, and let's just say... Wagner needed an editor.

[@Dan474834]

You didn't watch shit

[@henrikschunk5732]

Now that was a lot of information to take in

[@blairhakamies4132]

Congratulations 🌹

[@mickeureka]

AWESOME!

[@vakar9779]

very interesting so much in common with viking myths yet so different

[@mikecronis]

It ends with Ragnarok? Sweet.

[@allenjones3130]

The plot of Wagner's "Ring" is no doubt one of the most complex and convoluted plots in operatic literature. No wonder these folks tried to condense it!

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great!

[@Krapoutchniek]

Next time do it in 5 minutes, or 10. Even with subtitles it's impossible to follow...

[@greatraven1]

Look up Anna Russell on KZbin. She does it in 20 minutes…

[@davidbastardo4154]

​@@greatraven1 No. Go jerk off to your boomer Russel Crowe lady yourself.

[@allaboutmyart5706]

Okay, now we need to slow it way down... and get a copy of that diagram.

[@HarisFianos]

had to watch it 4 times to get the key points but you saved me 14 hours and 50 mins,so i suppose i have to thank everyone for this video, i didn't like wagner to start with, not i have some valid points that i can back up with some valid points too haha, +1 for the effort, definately +2 for the idea

[@allenjones3130]

I was under the impression that Erda was supposed to be the mother of the Valkyries!

[@dancingshiva7008]

Well done!

[@terrydooley8639]

Question from Terry.

[@greatraven1]

And I thought Anna Russell was speedy with 20 minutes! Well done!

[@urmorph]

For a longer and much funnier synopsis, listen to Anna Russell (on YT)

[@justincoleman3805]

No.

[@michaelexman5474]

some how aspects of this story seem very familiar

[@akshaygayakwad8741]

Tolkien was inspired by this and made lord of the rings

[@mariamann8292]

@@akshaygayakwad8741 Tolkien always said, he hated Wagner adaption of Norse mythology and has never watched the ring cycle. Tolkien and Wagner were inspired by the same mythology but not by each other.

[@davidbastardo4154]

​@@mariamann8292 You know, if you actually watched the Ring and read the Eddas and the Nibelungenlied, you will realize just how stupid your comment is. Wagner created many things that are not in the myths. Not to mention that the structure of his dramas is Greek, while Tolkien just assembled scribbles together.

[@michaelexman5474]

why do parts of this feel very familiar

[@williamtrently9629]

Got it! Thanks.

[@sinthology]

ohhhh, so THAT's what happens in wagner's 15-hour ring cycle!

[@HitBoxMaster]

Should have subtitles.

[@FierkensFilms]

So story short, without all the twists and side stories: Gollem finds the ring in a river Wotan, a God, steals the ring to pay for a castle Gollem curses the ring and the ring ends up in a dragon's lair Meanwhile Wotan has several children on Earth that seems to partake in incest Wotan's wife gets jealous and tries to kill his children One of Wotan's daughters wants to warn them but gets prisoned At the same time, Wotan believes that if Gollem's child finds the ring, the world is gonna end So Wotan needs a hero, who is someone that is related to him but does not know him He finds his hero in Siegfried, a bastard child of Wotan's incest children Siegfried kills the dragon, gets the ring and falls in love with Wotan's prisoned daughter Later Siegfried gets killed by Gollem's child and Wotan's daughter returns the ring to the river which results in the ending of the Earth...

[@wigburgflossapientiae2308]

LOL good explanation, i heared a shorted form of the ring and make Fanfiction basing on this, the Edda and the japanese Anime Kamigami no Asobi. Brünnhilde got no nine sisters, but two Brothers Thor (full brother) & Balder (Half-Brother) and Siegfried is not her nephew XD

[@phoenixnyc]

Then who's Siegfried's grandather, if not Wotan/Odin?

[@canman5060]

The ring fast forward !

[@Warp75]

Wagner was insane

[@brassysounds]

Speed kills......

[@justincoleman3805]

but beauty lives forever.

[@daman7387]

at -1:33 is that a david bowie reference?

[@blukmage19typeR]

Well, what do you expect in this opera? A happy ending?

[@richardwagner6460]

funny its funny!!!

[@TheJargonKing]

+Richard Wagner 26 years of writing an opera paid off now didn't it?

[@urmorph]

You go, Dickie!

[@1stPCFerret]

Thus proving that there's about 14 hours and 56 minutes of the Ring Cycle that's superfluous. Was Wagner being paid by the note?

[@twilightcyber4543]

So, anyone from Army of Thieves?

[@TheJohnnyCalifornia]

Yeah, that story is a bit touched in the head, but the music really sells it. No mention of Loki, though?

[@OfficerMurdoch]

His name is Loge!

[@richardwagner6460]

Johnathan Henning hahahahaha you mean loge?

[@natheniel]

+Richard Wagner hahahahaha you mean doge?

[@urmorph]

That day he (Loki) was out boozing with Chris Hemsworth.

[@lashropa]

❤

[@karli5151]

Could be a good video if it would have half the speed. So it is not possible to follow even if you have knowledge of The Ring before.

[@aresgodofwar1427]

Im here because of Army of Thieves

[@HarisFianos]

i am a Verdi person,makes more sense to me and in a reasonable amount of time:)

[@pega17pl]

To understand this short story you need knowledge of whole Wagner Ring. ;-)

[@GenericGoogleAccount]

Not easy to cram a over 900 minutes of plot into a 2.5 minutes video though!

[@LordDeShadow]

Anyone else is here to see where Tolkien took his inspiration?

[@Mattiac1980]

:-( The Vikings didn't wear helmets with horns!

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

those were no vikings

[@justbeyondthecornerproduct3540]

The myth of vikings with horns on their head came from this opera

[@joeturton6627]

Why does Alberich want the ring back when he cursed it to kill anyone who wears it? Just seems like a bit of a plothole

[@randomguyoudontknow]

How could you not like Wagner?

[@urmorph]

Beethoven didn't like Wagner, for two very good reasons.

[@bunaioara]

@@urmorph What are the reasons, i´´m dying to know - it is for sure a joke as beethoven never heard of him

[@ozguroyus]

You can ask jews about that

[@phoenixnyc]

@@bunaioara Rossini once served a Wagner fan a dish of sauce with no meat - the perfect meal, he said, for someone who liked harmony without melody. He was also heard to do a 19th century version of "SML" while saying, "This is the man for whom the German people forgot Mozart."

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Been listening to the music of the Ring for 40 years and never gave a crap about the dumb plot. So, thanks for this.

[@ElizabethMcCormick-s2n]

How Hitler managed to sit through all 15 hours of these operas is something I will never understand!

[@bearbear3793]

Problem I have is that Fafnir wasn't a giant, but a dwarf...

[@idjennings]

You must be gigantic!

[@tepsoram]

I think you're confusing him with Alberich.

[@bearbear3793]

@tepsoram im not. Fafnir is a dwarf.

[@maztergamer1016]

So this is where the story of lord of the rings came from.

[@yannickramouillet3742]

No, and Tolkien has clearly stated that the one ring is NOT the ring of the Nibelungen

[@Krayzillepaigee]

Was here because of the Netflix film, "Army of Thieves"

[@maddasher8471]

Shit I do to understand genshin story

[@emileeeeeee]

you too huh

[@maydavalle]

❤️‍🔥

[@harishmehla]

Slow it down, it would be easier already if the composition itself wasnt long enough to remember.

[@ryanharper8711]

bugs bunny brought me here

[@thomastakesatollforthedark2231]

That was NOT about the ring for most of it.

[@gabrielzachmann9332]

This funny video nicely shows how badly Wagner was at creating plots. He was a good composer, at least the instrumental parts, but he wreaked havoc on all the nordic myths.

[@Dan474834]

This is an incredible story. This parody video just makes a mockery out of it, watch the operas.

[@davidbastardo4154]

What a fucking idiot. His poetry was praised by Schopenhauer, Thomas Mann and even Nietzsche, who wrote The Birth of Tragedy as a result. What do you know of anything?

[@alexmoore3676]

Fafner became a dragon with the Tarnhelm. Siegmund and Sieglind's mother wasn't some mortal woman, she was Erda the goddess of the earth who Wotan seduced to find out more about her warning.

[@urmorph]

No, no, no. Erda was the the mother of Brunnhilde and the rest of the equestrienne troop. The twins' mother was some random thot.

[@bearlyplayinggames5252]

Erda is Brunnhilde's mother, not Siegmund and Sieglind's. Their mother was a Volsung, the opera is partially based on the Volsung saga

[@clairee4939]

Lol! Thanks

[@JamesAuseten]

Is there a summary a little more extensive you can recommend? This brushes over a huge amount of things including, settings, characters, and pretty much everything except some of the major plot points.

[@ZephLodwick]

God! Imagine having to follow this 4 part plot while its all being sung. I can barely follow the _Les Miserable_ story, and that's just one part. I guess it must be easier for Germans. They must be more familiar with the plot.

[@fabianchavez3444]

Imagine having to write a video summary, yeah.

[@leeruddphoto]

Got it! I think...

[@NatalieShonk]

Would have been nice if you spoke clearer, not necessarily slower, but more articulate.

[@ValzainLumivix]

What

[@corsaircarl9582]

What is it about these old mythologies and incest?

[@JamesDavidWalley]

A few lines of this were shamelessly borrowed from Anna Russell's famous routine.

[@fcamiola]

Too fast but good.

[@Bigslam1993]

And all of that because Wotan couldn't keep it in his pants.

[@gino7lord]

Forgot to mention the fact that Gutrune gave Siegfried a love potion that made him forget Brunhilde. Always found it weird the characters especially Brunhilde know about this but don't care and still want to kill him

[@greatraven1]

Well, as Anna Russell says, Gutrune is the only woman he has ever met who wasn’t his aunt… so maybe just as well.

[@jsrymell]

I preferred ‘Sands of Time’.

[@ctcoet]

Pity you trivialise this huge master peace like this. There is so so much more to it than this makes it sound

[@vibraphonics]

I think it's obvious to anyone with half a brain that a 15-hour long cycle has more to it than can be condensed into 2 1/2 minutes.

[@aikigeorge3]

trivialize? Wagner elevated a tawdry tale of procurement, theft, adultery, incest, to one of the greatest musical accomplishments .... this is also the story of the founding of the ubermenschen the founding couple were nephew and aunt ( and half siblings) so much for the master race.....W took himself too seriously do not make the same mistake. it is just an entertainment.....

[@alxjones]

aikigeorge3 It's art.. art is not meant for entertainment, and anyone who trivializes art by saying that it's simply entertainment is, at best, uneducated.

[@aikigeorge3]

Alexander Jones you remind me of a person who rebuked me for laughing out loud at a performance of merry wives of Windsor......the actor doing malvolio was brilliant.....and this is exactly why we must never let academia spoil the fun you speak of art like it is some kind of civic duty.....like jury duty, ( which can be very entertaining) now, really, I could unlimber all my cannon but that would be cruel.....you humorless person, a worse condition than lacking education, which I don't....I've been to college, tradeschool, summer camp, the circus, a bar fight and a billy graham crusade....so spare me your contempt....it is wasted effort....

[@DaveLH]

aikigeorge3 *Looks up "ubermenschen"* Oh, okay -- So this was like a Wagnerian philosophical precursor to the concept of "Transhumanism"? And also, the nephew was the result of the union of brother and sister.

[@MrFarnanonical]

Wagner obviously ripped off Lord of the Rings.

[@r-no4259]

Even this is too long. :)

[@ЕленаАлексеевна-ч5у]

And one more time it's all about incest, robbery, murder and promiscuity. HBO?😅

[@thomasalexanian927]

So... This inspired the lord of the rings... Cool

[@richardcleveland8549]

Well, they're certainly faster than Anna Russell, but not NEARLY as funny!

[@josephnunes868]

Here because of Tolstoy ....he basically wrote a book explaining why this is Garbage

[@Dylonely_9274]

Too slow.

[@SM-Flyers]

And John Snow still knows nothing!

[@patriciaweiss4446]

A voice major who loves/appreciates all but about 3 music genres. But never cared for the snatches of this I've heard, so intense and grandiose. And now very glad I never bothered to plow through this insane scenario. Sorry, Wagner!

[@davidbastardo4154]

Shut the fuck up, pleb.

[@williamkopanchuk]

Slow down.

[@MrAM4D3U5]

Why? This is such a bastardized telling of this epic, told in a deliberately incomprehensible manner, helping approximately no one understand Wagner better. Has our society really degraded to the point where all things must be condensed into short little snippets?

[@kaanpiyano1]

dude, create this video again and talk FUCKING SLOWLY

[@abc114able]

I think you missed the bit about "in two and a half minutes"

[@0mfgitzramzi]

+kaan karahan just turn the video speed to 0.5x