Do you know that:

1. Wagner first created the libretto of “Siegfried’s Death” (“Götterdämmerung”) in 1848 followed by “The Young Siegfried” (“Siegfried”) and then by “Die Walküre” and “Das Rheingold”. The text for “Der Ring des Nibelungen” was completed in 1852. The entire work on the tetralogy took 26 years: from 1848 till 1874.

2. The orchestra ensemble which performs “Der Ring” is very big and includes an expanded brass section with instruments such as a Wagner tube, bass trumpets and a contrabass trombone, some of which the composer himself ordered to be crafted.

3. An opera theater was built in Bayreuth where only operas by Richard Wagner are set. King Ludwig II of Bavaria provided the main funding. Construction began on the 22^nd of May, 1872, on the composer’s 52^nd birthday. The theater opened with its first festival where from the 13^th till the 17^th of August, 1876, all four parts of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” were set for the first time. The hall has 1925 seats; it took 428 384, 09 German marks to build the theater (approximately 3,29 million Euro). The theater’s area is 3319 square meters. 

4. Present at the premiere were the German Emperor Wilhelm I, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and the Bavarian king Ludwig II (who was present incognito), composers Ferenz List (Wagner’s father-in-law), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Anton Bruckner, Edward Grigg and Camille Saint Saens as well as philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who at the time was a close friend of Wagner’s; critics, musicologists and journalists from France, England, Italy and America were also present.

5. In Bulgaria, the entire tetralogy was first performed from the 22^nd till the 29^th of June, 2013, in honor of the 200^th anniversary of Wagner’s birth. Conductor was Erich Wechter; director: Plamen Kartaloff. A new production was set from the 8^th till the 13^th of June, 2023, in honor of the 210^th anniversary of Wagner’s birth, with conductor Konstantin Trinks and director Plamen Kartaloff.