Norse and Germanic mythology is often described as a series of cycles—each a collection of stories about a particular character, object, or event. In the case of Wagner’s operas, the series depicts the Götterdämmerung, or the fall of the gods. It begins with the construction of Wotan’s hall, Valhalla, which he pays for with gold stolen from three river goddesses and fashioned into a ring of power by malevolent sorcerer. For two operas, various figures scheme to gain control of it, a lengthy saga of blood and betrayal that ends only when the trinket is cast into the hero’s funeral pyre, with the gold to be taken from the ashes and returned to the Rhine.

The cycle itself is an epic undertaking. Composed of four operas—The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and The Twilight of the Gods—the Ring of the Nibelung, as the story in entirely is called, includes over 16 hours of music and, as the Washington National Opera’s recent production shows, involves a cast of dozens of singers.