The first evening of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen was recorded last fall at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Johannes Martin Kraenzle is Alberich, who gives up Love for the Rheingold. Gerhard Siegel is his brother Mime, who covets the power of the Rheingold, and John Lundgren and Alan Oke are Wotan and Loge, who plot and steal the Rheingold to pay for a new home for the gods, Walhalla.

The production from 1980, an early Live from the Met broadcast, has stood up to time in very good health. Isabel Leonard is our latest Blanche de la Force, Karita Mattila is the Old Prioress, Mme. de Croissy, and Adrianne Pieczonka is the new Prioress, Mme. Lidoine.

The final segment of Der Ring des Nibelungen begins 2 hours early, at 10 a.m. central time. Christine Goerke and Andreas Schaeger are Brunnhilde and Siegfried.