At four hours, this is an immersive
opera. The Ring is a cycle of four
German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are
based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied. The
composer termed the cycle a "Bühnenfestspiel" (stage festival play),
structured in three days preceded by a Vorabend ("preliminary
evening"). It is often referred to as the Ring cycle, Wagner's Ring, or
simply The Ring.