Juni: Das Rheingold
A scene from a revival of Keith Warner's production of Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold at the Royal Opera House.
Themen: Schöpfung, Macht, Versuchung
Element: Sonnenuntergang und Industriemythologie
Why Rheingold in June?
June is the turning point into real summer. Heat rising from below, storms sweeping in, everything shimmering, swelling, intensifying. The month begins with stillness and ends with humidity. Perfect for an opera which begins underwater and ends in shimmering, uneasy triumph.
Rheingold Themes We’ll Walk Through:
Emergence: The Rhine’s depths, the slow shimmer of gold, the rise of the chord out of nothing.
Contracts & Power: Wotan’s spear, the giants’ labor deal, the theft that corrupts every bargain.
Spectacle vs Foundation: Valhalla looks magnificent, but its foundation is stolen.
Underworld economies: Nibelheim as forced labor, industrialization, extraction, and hidden infrastructure.
Ecology & Consequence: Erda’s warning, the cost of building towers atop compromised ground.
Lower Manhattan is a real-world Rheingold set. Riverbeds, tunnels, corporate Valhallas, old forts, and underground systems that function as modern Nibelheims.
South Street Seaport & Pier 15
The Rhine Before the Theft
Opera: Prelude (Vorspiel) | Duration: 5 minutes | Mood: Submerged potential
Subway:
Fulton Street (A/C/J/Z/2/3/4/5)
Walk east on Fulton until the river opens in front of us.
Walk & Listen:
Stand on Pier 15 where the river breathes under the planks. Put on:
Das Rheingold: Prelude (E-Flat Riverbed)
What to Look At:
The East River shifting from slate to silver.
The tidal pulse, absolutely central to the opera’s opening.
The silhouette of Brooklyn as the far shore of mythic space.
Ferries creating long wakes, Wagner’s string undulations.
Why Here:
This is the closest place in Manhattan where you can feel a horizontal plane of shimmering water, the literal thing Wagner tried to sonify. Ross writes often about Wagner’s obsession with elemental beginnings. This is that.
Micro-Direction:
First 2 minutes: Just gaze at the water. No walking.
Minutes 3–5: Begin walking slowly north along the esplanade as the sound thickens into gold.
This is where Rheingold’s world begins.
The Deep Gold: Under the Brooklyn Bridge
The Gold That Should Never Be Taken
Opera: Rheinmaidens’ music, Alberich’s renunciation | Duration: 12–15 minutes
Move north to under the Brooklyn Bridge, between Piers 15–17.
Listen:
The Rhine Maidens and the Gold (Any complete Rheingold track from 0’00–15’00; the Solti or Karajan recordings are perfect.)
What to Look At:
The way the bridge cables cascade downward like shimmering tendrils (mirroring the maidens’ playful teasing).
The pillars rising out of the river like mythic supports.
The sound of traffic overhead, a modern distortion of Alberich’s rage.
What to Think About:
The maidens guard a treasure they do not understand.
Alberich steals the gold only after renouncing love. The first catastrophic bargain in the Ring.
Underneath all financial centers is some moment where value is extracted by force.
This becomes your Wagnerian thesis for June.
Federal Hall, Wall Street and Broad Street
The Contract with the Giants
Opera: Nibelheim music → Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla
Walk from Old Slip → Water Street → Broad Street → the canyon of the NYSE.
Listen:
What to Look At:
The NYSE façade as a literal Valhalla: Columns, pediment, allegorical sculptures.
Federal Hall opposite, Wotan’s spear. The law that binds others but not himself.
The bronze markers in the pavement showing where early markets stood.
What to Think:
Wotan owes the giants (labor) a payment he cannot honor.
So he uses stolen collateral, just as American finance has historically done through extraction, exploitation, and unequal benefit.
Stand in the center of Broad Street when the Valhalla theme hits. Let the contradiction land. Triumph built on theft.
The Underworld: Subway Descent (Broad Street J/Z)
Nibelheim Under Manhattan
Opera: Continuation of Nibelheim
Enter: Any downtown subway station. Wall Street is perfect.
Listen:
Continue the Nibelheim track.
What to Notice:
The industrial hum as anvils.
The wind tunnels as Wagnerian stage machinery.
The service workers as the real Nibelungs keeping the city functioning while others ride above.
Reflection:
Every great city has an unseen, exploited labor force. Wagner knew this intuitively.
Optional Add-Ons for Superfans
New York Aquarium (Old Battery Park Aquarium)
Where Wagner concerts were held in the 19th century.
Listen: Reprise the Prelude. Think of water in captivity.
Governors Island (Ferry Loop)
Perfect for playing the entire Rheingold on a 90-minute walk.
Feels like Valhalla’s island keep.
The Oculus (Fulton Center)
A modern Valhalla interior. Vast, white, radiant, expensive, precarious.
Stone Street
Dutch mercantile origins and Nibelheim-like underfoot infrastructure. Perfect for a drink while Alberich rages.
Thematic Summary
Element: Water turning into gold, gold turning into contracts, contracts turning into corruption.
Axis: East River tide → Bridge shimmer → Old Slip commerce → Wall St. Valhalla → Underground Nibelheim → Harbor spectacle → Ecological warning.
Mood: Beginnings that already contain their endings.
Quote to pair with June: Alles was ist, endet. (Everything that is, ends, Erda’s warning)
