Yesterday, the radio opera was Wagner’s “Das Rheingold,” the prologue to his Ring Cycle, but the last of the four libretti written, as he wrote them so to speak, backwards. He didn’t intend there to be four of them, but with each of the first three, he wasn’t satisfied, feeling more backstory was needed (he was right about that). However, since he wrote all the libretti before even a note of music, this one was the first one composed and the first one performed. It’s short for a Wagner opera – under three hours. The production is interesting – the only colors in it are the bright gold, and people’s skin tones (the skin which is visible – there are a lot of tattoos.) Everything else is black, gray, or white. (The Rainbow Bridge scene wasn’t photographed – I don’t know what they did with that.) I remember in the late seventies the Met tried a black and whie production, but for some reason they did it with Carmen. The run was a success because they had Jon Vickers and Marilyn Horne, but they never did that again. It does suit Das Rheingold a bit better – it’s a sordid story, and the beauty of the music can’t conceal that, even had he wanted to. In my opinion, which with $5.00 or se will get you a cup of coffee, the easiest of the four to listen to is “Die Walkure,” but “Das Rheingold” is the next easiest. After those, it gets complicated.\u00a0 I’m off to see Virgil now.\u00a0 I’ll comment when I get back.<\/p>\n