List of Bayreuth Festival productions of Der Ring des Nibelungen
This list provides details of all the performances of Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen produced at the Bayreuth Festival, from the festival's inception in 1876 up to 2022. For differing reasons, no festivals were held between 1877 and 1881, 1915 to 1923, and 1943 to 1950. There were a few other years when the festival was "rested", and some in which it was dedicated to other Wagner operas.
The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra has always been involved in these productions, and apart from some productions, the festival has since 1876 been under the overall control of a member of the Wagner family.
Since the revival of the festival after the Second World War, a general principle has been developed in which new productions are introduced to the festival at regular intervals, each such production being staged for five years followed by a "rest" year.
There have been 222 performances of the Ring cycle performed at Bayreuth from 1876 to 2017.
List of performances
| Year | Stage director | Conductor(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1876 | Richard Wagner | Hans Richter | 3 cycles of Wagner's original production were performed. |
| 1896 | Cosima Wagner | Felix Mottl Hans Richter Siegfried Wagner |
29 cycles of this production were performed under Cosima and Siegfried Wagner.
Cosima's involvement was largely symbolic after 1908. |
| 1897 | Hans Richter Siegfried Wagner | ||
| 1899 | Siegfried Wagner | ||
| 1901 | Cosima Wagner, Siegfried Wagner | Hans Richter Siegfried Wagner | |
| 1902 | |||
| 1904 | Hans Richter Franz Beidler[n 1] | ||
| 1906 | Hans Richter Siegfried Wagner | ||
| 1908 | Hans Richter | ||
| 1909 | Michael Balling | ||
| 1911 | |||
| 1912 | |||
| 1914 | |||
| 1924 | Siegfried Wagner | 14 cycles of this production were performed under Siegfried Wagner. | |
| 1925 | |||
| 1927 | Franz von Hoesslin | ||
| 1928 | Franz von Hoesslin Siegfried Wagner | ||
| 1930 | Karl Elmendorff | ||
| 1931 | |||
| 1933 | Heinz Tietjen | First Bayreuth Ring not directed by a Wagner family member
18 cycles of this production were performed under Tietjen. | |
| 1934 | Karl Elmendorff Heinz Tietjen | ||
| 1936 | Heinz Tietjen Wilhelm Furtwängler | ||
| 1937 | Wilhelm Furtwängler | ||
| 1938 | Heinz Tietjen | ||
| 1939 | |||
| 1940 | Franz von Hoesslin | ||
| 1941 | Heinz Tietjen | ||
| 1942 | Karl Elmendorff | ||
| 1951 | Wieland Wagner | Hans Knappertsbusch Herbert von Karajan |
16 cycles of this production were performed under Wieland Wagner. |
| 1952 | Joseph Keilberth | ||
| 1953 | Joseph Keilberth Clemens Krauss | ||
| 1954 | Joseph Keilberth | ||
| 1955 | |||
| 1956 | Joseph Keilberth Hans Knappertsbusch | ||
| 1957 | Hans Knappertsbusch | ||
| 1958 | |||
| 1960 | Wolfgang Wagner | Rudolf Kempe | 11 cycles of this production were performed under Wolfgang Wagner. |
| 1961 | |||
| 1962 | |||
| 1963 | |||
| 1964 | Berislav Klobučar | ||
| 1965 | Wieland Wagner | Karl Böhm | Wieland died in October 1966; his production continued under Wolfgang until 1969.[3]
12 cycles of this production were performed. |
| 1966 | Karl Böhm Otmar Suitner | ||
| 1967 | Wolfgang Wagner | ||
| 1968 | Lorin Maazel | ||
| 1969 | |||
| 1970 | Horst Stein | 16 cycles of this production were performed under Wolfgang Wagner. | |
| 1971 | |||
| 1972 | |||
| 1973 | |||
| 1974 | |||
| 1975 | |||
| 1976 | Patrice Chéreau | Pierre Boulez | Centenary Ring production
16 cycles of this production were performed under Chéreau. |
| 1977 | |||
| 1978 | |||
| 1979 | |||
| 1980 | |||
| 1983 | Peter Hall | Georg Solti | 12 cycles of this production were performed under Hall. |
| 1984 | Peter Schneider | ||
| 1985 | |||
| 1986 | |||
| 1988 | Harry Kupfer | Daniel Barenboim | 15 cycles of this production were performed under Kupfer. |
| 1989 | |||
| 1990 | |||
| 1991 | |||
| 1992 | |||
| 1994 | Alfred Kirchner | James Levine | 15 cycles of this production were performed under Kirchner. |
| 1995 | |||
| 1996 | |||
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | |||
| 2000 | Jürgen Flimm | Giuseppe Sinopoli | 15 cycles of this production were performed under Flimm. |
| 2001 | Ádám Fischer | ||
| 2002 | |||
| 2003 | |||
| 2004 | |||
| 2006 | Tankred Dorst | Christian Thielemann | 15 cycles of this production were performed under Dorst. |
| 2007 | |||
| 2008 | |||
| 2009 | |||
| 2010 | |||
| 2013 | Frank Castorf | Kirill Petrenko | 15 cycles of this production were performed under Castorf. |
| 2014 | |||
| 2015 | |||
| 2016 | Marek Janowski | ||
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | Plácido Domingo | 3 performances of Die Walküre, also directed by Castorf, were presented in 2018. This is the first time in the festival's history where it was performed apart from the rest of the cycle.[4][5] | |
| 2022 | Valentin Schwarz | Pietari Inkinen | The production was originally scheduled for 2020 but was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] |
| 2023 |
Notes
References
- ^ Skramstad, Per-Erik. "Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival - all the productions". Wagneropera.net. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
- ISBN 978-0-300-05777-5.
- ^ Spotts 1994, pp. 246–248.
- ^ "Bayreuth Festival: The 2018 Wagner celebration begins – DW – 07/25/2018". dw.com. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
- ^ "Performance Database". Bayreuther Festspiele. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
- ^ Herrmann, Hubertus (2020-03-31). "Suspension Bayreuth Festival 2020". Bayreuther Festspiele. Retrieved 2023-10-22.