Comprising four separate operas, Wagner’s (1813-1883) Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) took 25 years to complete. Centred on a ring of power and the attempts of various people to acquire it, the Ring cycle explores the relationship between love and earthly power and the themes of yearning and loss, all within a setting of medieval legend. The second part, Die Walküre, tells the story of the meeting of Siegmund and Sieglinde, children of Wotan, and the death of Siegmund through Wotan’s unwilling intervention. Stuttgart State Opera has been voted Opera Theatre of the Year four times by critics in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. `Lothar Zagrosek offers a masterclass in the art of swift but sonorous Wagnerian conducting.´ The Independent.