götterdämmerung

"The term Götterdämmerung is occasionally used in English, referring to a disastrous conclusion of events."

Well. Yes, Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) was something of a pompous old f@ck. That much is incontestable. And given that those same hoary Norse ideals and mythologies form the cornerstone to the Third Reich's warped appropriation of an Ayran Valhalla, the spectre of jackboots and swastikas are also scarcely inescapable.

I am not, either, overly fond of Opera.

"Götterdämmerung" ("Twilight of the Gods") is the final installment in those four operas which comprise "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung"), composed by Wagner over the course of twenty-six years in total, between 1848 and 1874. It received its first public airing as summer drew to a close at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17th August, 1876; the epic finale to Wagner's monumentally romantic vision of betrayal and sacrifice.

"The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase Ragnarok, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war of the Gods which brings about the end of the world in Völuspá. However, as with the rest of the Ring, Wagner's account of this apocalypse diverges significantly from his Old Norse sources."

Eminently enjoyable theatrical pish nonetheless; quite appropriate for the Halloween season, I feel. Ed Woods would have made a choice candidate, too, as director-in-chief on a budget civic production, with your local high school orchestra lending said event unwelcome gravitas. Assuming you have time to waste.

And, of course, if one happens to be somewhat intoxicated - on nefarious substances or not - it has the potential to change in tone to something altogether less comedic.

▼ RICHARD WAGNER: SIEGFRIED'S DEATH & FUNERAL MARCH from "Der Ring Des Nibelungen: IV, Götterdämmerung" 1848 - 1874 (Germany)

PURCHASE DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN