Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen is
commonly referred to in English as The Ring Cycle.
The individual operas are 1) Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), 2) Die
Walküre / Die Valküre (The Valkyrie), 3) Siegfried and 4)
Götterdämmerung (The Twilight
of the Gods).
Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic
Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that
"the names and conduct of the gods are largely consistent with the
descriptions given in the Prose Edda of Óðinn,
Frigg, Freyja, Freyr, Þórr and Loki (SnE G20-35). The names have, however,
existed in various different forms in Germanic dialects, and Wagner creates
their characters with considerable freedom" (134).
Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic
Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that "the plural word
Nibelungen (Icelandic Niflungar) has various meanings in medieval sources.
In the Prose Edda, Niflungar is a name for the
Gjúkungar (the sons of Gjúki), Gunnar and Hǫgni. In the first part of Das Nibelungenlied they appear as human heroes, living
in Nibelunge lant [sic], served by both giants and dwarves. In the latter
part of the poem, and in Þiðreks saga, the name is
used of the royal family of the Burgundians, as in several of the eddic
poems. In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, on the other
hand, the Nibelungs are dwarves, whose ancestor was called Nibelung. Wagner
appears to adopt this idea, although he also imbues his Nibelungs with
various attributes of dark-elves and dwarves, as described in the Poetic and Prose Eddas...The
genitive singular Nibelungen refers to Alberich...And in the Prose Edda, dwarves and black elves down in the earth
are often said to own precious metals, and to be unusually skilful smiths.
They were commissioned, for instance, to make various magical items for the
gods” (130-131).
