Götterdämmerung

This is the final installment of Wagner's Ring Cycle. The final Immolation Scene has already been Legoed, so this is a scene from Act One. Siegfried arrives in Gibichung Hall to meet Gunther (who I imagine is surrounded by hunting dogs). Gunther's sister Gutrune, who as Anna Russell points out is the only woman that Siegfried ever meets who is not his aunt, prepares a fateful love potion.





Read more about this opera here.

Listen to the recording here.

Siegfried

In this third installment of The Ring Cycle, Siegfried, the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, forges himself a sword in Mime's workshop, which is in a cave in a forest. Siegfried has broken every sword that Mime has tried to forge him, but this sword, Nothung, will be different.



You can read more about this opera here.

You can listen to the beautiful recording here.

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)

In this second installment of Wagner's Ring, we meet the ill-fated sister/brother/lover duo Siegmund and Sieglinde. They meet each other, fall in love, realize they are twins, and do it anyway. In this scene, Sieglinde (who, most inconveniently, lives in a house with a tree growing in the middle of it) tells Siegmund how she longs for a hero to come pull the sword out of the tree and rescue her from her husband, who is currently in a drugged sleep. Scandalous!




You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the recording here.

Das Rheingold

Each of the four Fridays in June, Sean is playing us one opera of the Ring Cycle. Das Rheingold is first. I have Lego'ed the first scene already (See October 23, 2009). Below is the third scene of the opera, in the underground workshop where Alberich oversees the other dwarves as they create the ring and helmet out of the magical Rheingold.


This is of course the magic helmet of Elmer Fudd fame.

You can read more about the opera here. You can listen to the recording here.

Don Giovanni

Mozart's Don Giovanni blends melodrama, dark action, and comedy. I think you probably have to see it in person to find it comic - just listening to it, Don Giovanni seems like the worst kind of human being. Cleveland Opera's production was beautiful nonetheless.

Here, I have depicted a scene from the first act: a wedding party proceeding through a plaza in front of Don Giovanni's castle. Don Giovanni stands to welcome them into his home (with nefarious intent, of course).



You can read more about the opera here.

You can listen to the Cleveland Opera performance here.

Ernani

Verdi's Ernani takes place in Spain in 1519 , based on a play by Victor Hugo. In the scene shown here, a plot is hatched (and overheard) in the burial crypt of Charlemagne. Nathan Davis helped recreate Charlemagne's sarcophagus, which can be seen in non-Lego form here.



You can learn more about Ernani here. You can listen to tonight's gorgeous recording here.

Don Pasquale

Don Pasquale is an enjoyable comic opera by Gaetano Donizetti. In the scene here, Norina spends some time on her terrace.













You can read about the opera here. You can listen to the broadcast here.