Opening of Bayreuth Festival

Date: August 13, 1876 • Location: Bayreuth, Germany

A performance of Das Rheingold (scene pictured) opened the first performance of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at the inaugural Bayreuth Festival, attended by emperors and other composers.

Das Rheingold, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. It premiered as a single opera at the National Theatre of Munich on 22 September 1869, and received its first performance as part of the Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 13 August 1876.