#Rheingold Express

[baureihe101]

101 001 auf der linken Rheinstrecke Anfang September 2023

[aspectabundgaze]

✎... 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙎 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙎 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙎

Merriam-Webster defines "blog" as a website that contains online personal opinions, replies/comments/feedbacks, videos, pictures posted by the writer. Now although the very first blogging site could be traced from the year 1994, by a journalist named Justin Hall, it wasn't really seen as one since it was simply listed as a personal homepage. (Rioja, A. 2020)

"Is blogging still relevant when Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have been on the rise?"

Okay~ so... a quick intro on what these three holy trinity of vlogging, pictures and short videos are, TikTok is a social media platform that allows you to post short videos from 15 seconds to 3 minutes long, some going as far as 10 minutes. Because it allows you to also post stories, it is considered Instagram "lite" by some. People post fan edits, original skits, repost of other viral content from other platforms, and it has gain a lot of traction during the Covid-19 pandemic. Instagram is a platform for sharing photos, videos with anyone, as long as there's engagement, your content will get views and likes, it is the same as YouTube, although YouTube had been around much longer.

To answer the question, if you ask me, blogging is still very relevant in 2023. So many people, from writers, students, teachers, fans, business owners to organizations continues the usage of blogging sites. To think a few, other than Tumblr, Twitter or now known as X, Facebook, and Weibo, which is the Chinese version of X (Twitter), Cyworld, a now defunct Korean blogging platform, are some of the microblogging platforms these people used to share tip bits of their lives, brands, engaging with their audience through replies, likes, reposting and sharing their content, and obviously it is also used to improve their online presence. Now other social media platforms like Douyin, TikTok, YouTube has gain a significant amount of popularity, but written content and blogging remains an essential part of online communication, branding and marketing.

According to Rheingold. H, 1993, "Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on […] public discussions long enough, with sufficient

human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace” so that is what blogging actually does, it helps us form our ideas and create a safe space for the rest of us to show sides that other platforms would judge us for. For example, in my opinion, blogging platforms like Tumblr or Twitter, aka X can be a space for me to express my interest, particularly horror movies, movie analysis, movie reviews, anime, cosplay, fanarts where in spaces like Twitter (X), I get to make personal comments and engage with my mutuals with their replies through my Inner Circle without having other people who are not my followers or close friends seeing it. Comment sections in sites like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, while it can be private, it is only private if the post is private so when you leave a comment on a public account, people still get to see your comment and visit your profile, so it doesn't really offer that sense of anonymity like Tumblr or X (Twitter).

Other than that, blogs can be totally customizable to your likings! I'm personally a Royalcore type of person, therefore Tumblr or Wordpress offers me the freedom to customize my username, my layouts, the fonts I can use to make it more aesthetically pleasing. And again, blogging is still around and will always be around because people love sharing thoughts, love to tell their tales in an intricate manner with their writing style to engage with their followers. And getting responses from people who visit your blogs, and/or proceeds to follow you afterwards is actually a huge boost for a blogger's self esteem.

In conclusion, a person who blogs, is called a blogger. Some do it on a daily basis, some do it on a weekly, monthly basis or whenever they feel like it. It is still so very common for content creators and influencers, take TikTok food and lifestyle content creator Emily Mariko who updates her newsletter/blog on her lifestyle to updates on her engagement, wedding, and more for her followers. So. Is it still a thing? Yes. Yes it is!

references :

A brief history of blogging - Sean MCB, viewed 28 September, 2023, <http://seanmcb.com/projects/bhob/brief_history_of_blogging.pdf&gt>

Alejandro Rioja 2020, ‘The history of blogging and its evolution [+infographic] from 1994 to 2020’, Alejandro Rioja, viewed 28 September, 2023, <https://alejandrorioja.com/history-of-blogging/>

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Nosferatu the Vampyre

Beneath the credits of Werner Herzog’s NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979, Shudder in German, YouTube in English; watch it in German), the camera pans over desiccated bodies in a Mexican museum. It’s a bold statement that though the film is an homage to F.W. Murnau’s classic 1922 NOSFERATU, it’s not a slavish copy. In place of Murnau’s nightmarish vision of decadence, Herzog has made a meditation on death: death as release, the death of humanity and the destruction of civilization. When Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski, at his most restrained) first approaches Lucy Harker (Isabelle Adjani, utterly exquisite), he speaks of the pain of having to live forever. His two male victims, Renfield (Roland Topor) and Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz), gradually lose the trappings of humanity. And when he moves to Wismar, the city is decimated by plague. Society crumbles, and people dance in the streets out of sheer desperation. The shots of furniture littering the town square and people sharing a feast outdoors while surrounded by rats, the bearers of the plague, seem a reflection of Germany’s own devastated state at the end of World War II. In keeping with the film’s meditative air, most of the performances are remarkably restrained. Ganz may be the most naturalistic Harker on film, and Adjani barely moves her face yet expresses volumes with her body language and vocal intonations. The film is pictorially beautiful and accompanies some shots with selections from Wagner’s DAS RHEINGOLD and Gounod’s “Sanctus.” It’s a visual feast at times. But it’s also very much a product of post-war European malaise. Ultimately everything is futile. The rats and the pestilence they spread are always with us.

[hunty627]

Helga is an electric engine from Germany and she pulls express trains. She was built in 1973 and she has a top speed of 125 mph. And she pulled a very special passenger train called the Rheingold.

[esthers--blog]

The Media Regarding Liam Payne's Passing

This past weekend, Liam Payne, a member of one of the most famous boybands, One Direction, passed away at the age of 31. When I first got a text from one of my childhood best friends telling me about this information, I was shocked and did not believe her. It wasn’t until I started to search it up and saw big news outlets such as CNN, New York Times, and TMZ make reports and then I believed it. This news came as such a shock, and it is something that is truly devastating to hear. On top of this news outlets also take advantage of this and share information that is unnecessary. I want to write about how cruel it is for these new outlets to come out with this information. As someone who was and is still currently a fan of this band, I grew up listening to the band’s music and Liam. I can happily say that their music made a great impact on my youth. It also seems as if I grew up with the members since they also were so young when they started as a band. Knowing this and relating it to Liam’s passing, I cannot help but feel like a part of my childhood was also killed. My big problem that comes with when famous people pass away is the ability of news outlets to release photos and information about certain cases. In this instance, TMZ was the first to release photos of substances he may have been using and even went as far as showing the body images of his tattoos to prove that it was him who passed away. It is very inhumane and wrong for these new outlets to be reporting such photos and information, and they should not be doing this. It was very evident that Liam had been suffering through some issues, but now that all his information is out in the media, it just makes this situation a lot more painful and difficult. The media needs to learn when to have their boundaries; they need to treat celebrities with respect and sadly that is not the case. I hope that by talking about this topic, more people can realize the harm and how wrong it is to be displaying unwanted information to the public. Although this blog post is a bit more serious, I believe that it is important to talk about it so that hopefully new outlets don’t repeat their actions when another case like this happens.

I would love to hear any comments you may have about this topic. You can leave them by replying to this post or messaging me!

Reflection of why my blog meets Rheingold’s definition of “connective blogging”.

In Chapter 3, Rheingold really reflects on what connective blogging entails. Connective blogging is “a way to find your voice and public, connect with like-minded communities, improve your digital profile, influence others, and contribute to commons.” In my blog, I believe that I was able to find my voice as I was talking about a serious topic. This is a topic of one that not many people often think about, and I was able to express how I emotionally felt when I heard about the passing of Liam Payne and how wrong it is for news outlets to release such explicit information. I was able to connect with like-minded communities by stating how I was and still am a fan of the band. By doing that I can also find fans who share similar interests in the band, and we can connect through that mutual interest and childhood memories we might have had growing up. By writing about such a new and recent topic it can help my digital profile as it will pop up more through someone’s feed since it is such a new subject matter that has occurred. The topic of new outlets such as TMZ being problematic has been an ongoing conversation for many years, the information that TMZ reported towards Liam’s passing is extremely inhuman and I hope that by talking about it, it may help influence others to believe how wrong it is for the media to be doing this. If any other normal person were to have their unwanted information out like that it would cause many issues; so just because news outlets are reporting about a famous person there should be no difference in how things are handled. Similarly in the chapter, Rheingold also writes about the importance of getting people to participate in your blog. He stated, “even if their form of participation consists of ranting on their blogs, bloggers need publics to read, comment, and link to them.” Based on that information my blog aimed to reach a specific amount of group so they may read and also relate to the topic. I also included how I would love to hear any comments about my article so I can help engage with the people reading. By including these different types of ways for connective blogging, I believe that my blog truly reflects what Rheingold is talking about.  

[etrippy12]

Connective Blogging

In today’s digital age, blogging has evolved beyond mere self-expression; it has become a powerful tool for building connections and fostering meaningful dialogue. Howard Rheingold defines connective blogging as the practice of using blogs to form networks of ideas and people, where individuals contribute, share, and collaborate on common interests. This concept highlights the transformative potential of blogging to create communities bound by shared passions and goals.

Connective blogging thrives on interaction and engagement. It goes beyond personal narratives to embrace the exchange of diverse perspectives and insights. Each blog post becomes a node in a larger network, inviting readers to connect through comments, shares, and discussions. This interactive nature enriches the blogging experience, transforming it into a dynamic conversation rather than a static monologue.

At its core, connective blogging empowers individuals to amplify their voices and expand their influence. Whether discussing the latest trends in technology, sharing tips on fitness and wellness, or debating social issues, bloggers can catalyze change by uniting like-minded individuals and sparking collective action.

Moreover, connective blogging cultivates a sense of belonging and community. Readers who resonate with a blogger’s content often form virtual communities, where bonds are forged over common interests and shared values. These communities transcend geographical boundaries, bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds who might not otherwise have connected.

For instance, a fitness enthusiast blogging about their journey to achieve personal fitness goals can inspire others facing similar challenges. Through shared experiences and advice exchanged in the comments section, a supportive community emerges, motivating each member to strive for their best.

In conclusion, connective blogging represents a paradigm shift in how we communicate and collaborate online. It empowers individuals to build networks of knowledge, empathy, and mutual support. By embracing Rheingold’s vision of connective blogging, we can harness the potential of digital platforms to foster meaningful connections, spark creativity, and drive positive change in our interconnected world. So, whether you’re a seasoned blogger or just starting out, consider the impact your words can have and the communities you can help build through the power of connective blogging.

[mica-dmss]

Blog Post 10

Virtual Reality: What are the limits?

In this day and age, we consumers are privileged to witness the advancement of technology. The people of our century have the opportunity to utilise many provided tools that previous generations never even considered to be possible, as well as the capabilities that come along with it. Devices, software and social media are consistently evolving. So, from now, how long would it take for media to become fully embraced by the real world?

In the fields of entertainment, likely not very long. Games have been on a rise of popularity since its focus in CGI, and signs show how they continue to thrive; their integration into real-life has been recently introduced to the mass audience through the wonders of Virtual Reality (VR).

For this text, I would like to introduce the topic of virtual reality (VR) and explore the both the promises it could hold, as well as the precedent it could set for the future of gaming, let alone media consumption. VR was essentially a developmental concept "aptly termed by Jaron Lanier" during the 1980s, when the computer interface offered viewers a 'virtual world' that they could enter in (Heim, 1994, p. 17). However, the development of VR itself was derived from various products dating further back into the 20th century. Myron Krueger developed Videoplace (circa 1975) to assess artificial reality, as well as publishing a pioneering book titled after the term, Artificial Reality (1983). Earlier events featuring the development of VR stems from the inventions of both Ivan Sutherland and Bob Sproull's Sword of Damocles (1965-1968) and Morton Heilig's Sensorama (1955-1962). Regarded as the first VR head-mounted computer display invented, Sutherland is arguably the historical predecessor to today's VR helmets. (Rheingold, 1991, p. 58) (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Despite this, the creations of VR has evolved and preceded overtime; it can been argued that the earliest traces of VR are set back into the nineteenth century, through attempts of 'real-life' illusions using panoramic paintings (Figure 2). Their purpose was to provide their viewers an entire field of vision, which has now evolved into 'point of view' (POV), a crucial asset in creating immersion within games.

Figure 2: Battle of Borodino (Roubaud, 1812)

More could be further explored if we were focused on exploring the concept and foundations of VR, as well as the theories behind it. However, I will prioritise the subject of VR as a tool and potential for gaming media in this submission. Regarding the various products of VR that were mentioned, they communicate a specific aim: to immerse viewers into a different world. In Rheingold's words, creating a "completely convincing illusion that one is immersed in a world that exists only inside a computer" (Rheingold, 1991, p. n1).

With this in mind, current games involving VR are exactly that; a compelling cyberspace allowing people to become immersed in. Immersion is a definite trait associated with VR, and is utilised heavily in VR games we can purchase today.

An example of immersion within VR is a popular community game VRChat (2014), an online platform where multiple users can interact with one another through VR. Users can integrate themselves within a fictional setting and customise their 3D avatars to express themselves (Figure 3). The idea of immersion within this product refers to the idea of escapism, by implementing yourself into a 'world' representing the opposite of real-life. Thus, this game holds many possibilities for creativity, such as skits, roleplays, and entertaining interactions with users from all around the internet. YouTube holds a massive category of videos exploring VRChat, as well as a consistent fanbase for it, despite many years since its release.

Figure 3

Thus, the prospect of VR could imply a future involving a more integrative approach to media. The possibilities that VRChat has brought to gaming encourages a precedent where products aside from this medium may be compatible with VR technology, and even sooner than we think; VRChat has already demonstrated a new capability of VR, through the socialisation of its community. This aligns with the predictions found within the foreword of Rheingold's book: that virtual reality will soon affect everyone's daily life - "in everything from communication to education, from business to sex" (Rheingold, 1991, p. n1). This example shown in later years from the book's release presents a credible point from Rheingold that this generation is indeed going through a technological revolution through VR, which could further progress and "take us into the next century - and beyond" (ibid, p. n1).

Despite this, with the new shift in technology, comes with new setbacks to resolve. It can be argued that the reason for the success of VRChat is because of its socialisation feature - had it not offered its users that, the virtual worlds inside its gameplay would not be as exciting or revolutionary. Thus, without any stimulants of interactivity, VR would merely resemble a husk of a game; an empty shell of a product.

This makes sense, given the origin of VR. It was not invented for entertainment, but rather for education. Rheingold states that part of VR technology was derived from flight simulators that the United States Air Force trained their pilots with (Rheingold, 1991, p. 16). Within these simulators, pilots learn about the basic mechanism of aircrafts "without leaving the ground, by practicing with a replica of airplane controls" (ibid, p. 16).

In relation to military use, Rheingold also claims The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) involvement within VR technology, regarding their contribution to VR models. NASA configured a system for VR technology by providing "high-tech" helmets to pair with "electronic-shutter glasses" during the 1980s (ibid, p. 17). In addition, NASA's provided system allowed the feasibility of affordable VR sets, thus peaking the mass' interest in pursuing research and development (R & D) into VR, resulting in the establishment of VR industries to be founded within the 1990s (Ibid. p. 133). Due to NASA's involvement, VR sets could be produced inexpensively, which Rheingold speculated this being behind the success of VR within the aforementioned simulators; "the Air Force had been flying million-dollar helmets for years" (Ibid. p. 133).

All of these variables further corresponds to the fact that VR technology was, while still in development, never intended for entertainment. This is further cemented by the fact that Ivan Sutherland, leading pioneer of VR, had a specific motive behind his invention. Originally, Sutherland envisioned VR to allow its users the experience to "create the mathematical model of the virtual world in the computer", enabling them to "look, feel, and sound as much as possible like a real world to the human mind that is coupled with it" (Ibid. p. 38). Therefore, the initial purpose behind VR was to integrate simulation with reality, not just simply representing it, hence the educational factors surrounding VR at the time.

That said, it could be argued that Sutherland's view would never have come to fruition, due to the threat of uncanny valley within such a simulation; Masahiro Mori theorises that if a representation of human likeness increases, the viewer's affinity decreases (Rhee, 2013, p. 303). Mori argues that concepts like prosthetic arms are a combination of human and non-human features, thus causing an eerie and cold sense of feeling in the viewer (MacDorman, and Chattopadhyay, 2016, pg 190). Recent scholar studies applying uncanny valley to three-dimensional (3D) film characters closely resembling humans found that their viewers "failed to identify with the characters, experiencing them instead as soulless or vacant" (Ibid. p. 190).

So, what does this mean for the VR technology and its future?

While the reasons behind the creation of VR may not have panned out the way its pioneers had imagined, that is not to say that the current expansion of VR and its promises of 'reality' is all for not. VR still has the potential to completely renovate how we consume media, though the process of its simulation will no longer be focused on capturing reality itself, but rather representations of it. Furthermore, this leaves a lot of concepts to experiment with in 'bringing to life'. Since nothing in VR is real anyway, why merely stick to realistic elements, when creators could produce a world for viewers to fully experience their fiction?

This is where the revolution of VR takes place; if its technology refrains from mimicking reality and instead embraces its fictionality, then the advantage of its immersion would perform best. Entirely fictional, even two-dimensional (2D) based works could be revolutionised through the use of VR; Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (2017) proves this statement. Despite the obvious cartoon style, the show's VR adaptation allows fans to experience a depiction of Rick and Morty (2013-2023) as if they are part of an episode (Figure 4). This corresponds to Rheingold's recollection of his experience with VR: "Cyberspace was everywhere I looked - above me, below me, behind me. I wasn't just watching it. I was in it" (Rheingold, 1991, p. 133).

Figure 4

In conclusion, while its conventions are still relatively new to the mass, VR has long been studied and finally figured out. The prospect it holds for media is profound, with the success of gaming experience being evident. The diversion in the initial perspective for VR has ended up giving this promising piece of technology a second chance, through further development within the entertainment industry (Ibid. p. 46). Overall, this generation can witness the breakthrough of technological experience, in which VR has the capability to provide.

Sources:

Adult Swim Games (2014) Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality [Video game]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/469610/Rick_and_Morty_Virtual_Rickality/ (Accessed: 27 December 2023).

Franz Roubard (1812) Battle of Borodino [Painting]. Borodino Battle Museum Panorama, Moscow (Viewed: 27 December 2023).

Heim, M. (1994) The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

MacDorman, K.F. and Chattopadhyay, D. (2016) ‘Reducing consistency in human realism increases the uncanny valley effect; increasing category uncertainty does not’, Cognition, 146, p. 190.

Norman, J.M. (2024) HistoryofInformation.com. Available at: https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=861 (Accessed: 27 December 2023).

Norman, J.M. (2024) HistoryofInformation.com. Available at: https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2785 (Accessed: 27 December 2023).

Norman, J.M. (2024) HistoryofInformation.com. Available at: https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=4699 (Accessed: 27 December 2023).

Rhee, J. (2013) ‘Beyond the Uncanny Valley: Masahiro Mori and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’, Configurations (Baltimore, Md.), 21(3), pp. 301–329.

Rheingold, H. (1991) Virtual reality. Secker & Warburg.

'Videoplace' (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videoplace (Accessed: 27 December 2023).

Virtual Reality Society (2017) History of Virtual Reality. Available at: https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html (Accessed: 27 December 2023).

VRChat, Inc. (2014) VRChat [Video game]. Available at: https://hello.vrchat.com/ (Accessed: 27 December 2023).

[harry679009]

Riding the Wave of Connective Blogging: Why Surfing Is More Than Just a Sport

I know from experience that riding the waves can be exhilarating and life-changing. Yet, surfing is about much more than just being outside and being active. The lifestyle, culture, and community it represents unites individuals from all over the world.

That's why I believe that surfing is a perfect example of connective blogging, as defined by Howard Rheingold. Connective blogging is about building and participating in online communities through the exchange of ideas and resources, and that's exactly what the surfing community does every day.

On my blog, I share my own experiences and insights as a surfer, but I also link to and comment on other blogs and websites that offer valuable information and perspectives on the sport. I connect with other surfers on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, sharing photos and videos of my favorite waves and learning from others who are passionate about surfing.

But connective blogging is not just about self-promotion or self-expression. It's also about collaboration and mutual support. I've participated in online forums where surfers from around the world exchange tips, advice, and stories about their surfing adventures. I've also collaborated with other bloggers to create online resources for new surfers, such as instructional videos and articles.

Through connective blogging, I've discovered new surfing spots, made new friends, and deepened my love for this amazing sport. So if you're a surfer, or just curious about surfing, I invite you to join me on this journey of connective blogging, and let's ride the wave of community and creativity together.

[cologne1049]

Ein Packwagen. Kein Orient-Express, kein Rheingold, kein Henschel-Wegmann-Zug, nur ein Packwagen, ein ganz normaler Packwagen. Ein ganz normaler Packwagen? Gleich auf den ersten Blick fiel mir der stromlinienförmige Dachaufbau auf. Mit seinen eingezogenen Einstiegstüren muß es sich um einen ehemaligen Pw4ü-37 handeln. Die Deutsche Reichsbahn hat den Wagen dann modernisiert: neue einflügelige Ladetüren und die Seitenfenster zwischen den Ladetüren wurden verschlossen. Sehr interessant finde ich die Drehgestelle, die mir erst auf den zweiten Blick auffielen. Nach meinem Kenntnisstand liefen diese Wagen auf Drehgestellen Görlitz III leicht. Die in diesen Wagen verbauten Drehgestelle sehen allerdings eher nach einer ehemaligen Länderbauart aus, vermutlich preußisch. Vielleicht hat jemand nähere Informationen zu diesem Wagen?!

[skarsgard-daydreams]

Voices Carry

Ch. 1: “Keep it Down Now”

[ Eins | Zwei | Drei | Vier | Fünf | Sechs | Sieben | Acht | Neun | Zehn | Elf ]

Description: Merkel accepts a job to smuggle a young woman out of East Berlin, and it turns out to be more than he bargained for.

Warnings: strong language, references to violence, poor grasp of the German language, possible historical liberties, probable sexual content in the future

Notes: This is the first chapter of a longer story. Let me know if you want to be tagged for future installments. The song referenced below is “Anarchy in the U.K.” and if any of the German is not clear based on context, I can add translations.

It started with convincing their stout little grandmothers to smuggle in copies of the latest Sex Pistols records from the West. Merkel, then seventeen, was the one who thought to disguise the records as copies of Wagner’s Das Rheingold. It was a perfect plan—at least until his own grandmother wanted to play the record one evening as his family enjoyed a few drinks after dinner. Everyone had been stunned when they were treated to the thrumming electric guitar and Johnny Rotten’s shamelessly punk declaration, “I am an Anti-Christ.” Merkel’s father had snapped the record in half and hauled him upstairs to deliver a beating that, to this day, easily eclipsed the worst ass-kicking he’d ever received in his chosen profession. His father’s talents had been wasted as a postman, Merkel often said with a wry grin when he told the story.

Next came subversive Western novels and VHS tapes of movies and television that were verboten in the East. These were too dangerous for anyone in Merkel’s crew to risk their grandmother, so they recruited American college boys who got conservative haircuts and dressed up as businessmen, carrying the contraband in special briefcases with hidden compartments so they could later go home and brag about how they were doing their part to fight the communists.

Merkel figured they got off on it. Maybe they all did. It was a game in those days, of cat and Maus, suppression and rebellion, action and reaction. By the time he was twenty-two, they had begun to smuggle people. They weren’t just playing punk music in underground garages and running the streets of East Berlin with ink-dyed hair and grungy leather jackets anymore. Now lives were on the line.

They spent years perfecting their techniques. They modified vehicles to conceal a person in a secret compartment so tiny that someone as tall as Merkel couldn’t dream of squeezing into it. When smuggling wasn’t an option, they resorted to forgery instead—falsifying passports and travel authorizations in an old warehouse on the outskirts of town. But staying on top of the constant changes to the documents needed to cross the checkpoint was a battle, one which required an extensive network of contacts willing to provide them with intelligence and supplies.

At twenty-five, Merkel would now be completely unrecognizable to the greasy little punk he’d been when he started playing this game. His survival depended on remaining cautious. The sort of people he ran with weren’t rebellious little boys any longer. They were either assets or liabilities, loyal to each other in theory, but in practice, more loyal to their own self-preservation than anything else. Merkel knew it was only a matter of time before he was betrayed by one of his friends and declared an enemy of the state. He planned to be long gone before the Stasi came for him.

~

It was on a frigid morning in January that he received the call. The heating in the entire building—one of those Brutalist blocs that began to look dilapidated the moment they were erected—had been out for the past week. Merkel had taken to sleeping fully clothed for once, wearing three pairs of socks and a knit cap pulled down so far over his head it could’ve doubled as a sleeping mask. The phone echoed in his sparsely furnished apartment. Merkel stirred under the mountain of blankets and groped blindly on the nightstand. His fingers were stiff with cold as he closed them around the telephone and yanked it to his ear.

“Ja?”

Bastian was already telling him to meet at their usual place in ten minutes.

“Nein,” Merkel argued. “Zwanzig.”

He heard Bastian scoff. “Fünfzehn.”

Merkel hung up without another word. He groaned as he rolled out of bed and padded over to the bathroom. The hot water had been out all week too. He vaguely wondered if his landlord was trying to freeze him out. Even though Merkel paid his rent on time every week and was always polite to the man and his wife, he’d once made the mistake of coming home with his shirt collar soaked in blood. “Nosebleed,” he’d tried to explain, but he could never figure out if Frau Werner had believed him. Merkel splashed his face with the freezing water and changed into some fresh socks and a clean shirt before he donned a large blue overcoat and headed downstairs.

The street was nearly empty this late in the morning. Merkel tucked his hands into the pockets of his coat and crossed in front of the ruins of an old bombed out building, heading down into the spiderweb of tunnels that made up the S-Bahn. Ten minutes later, he was across town, sitting on top of a short metal filing cabinet and warming his hands with a mug of foul coffee in a dingy warehouse with Bastian.

“I thought I said fifteen minutes,” Bastian complained. He was a strapping young blonde man with icy blue eyes. Merkel liked to tell him he looked like the Aryan ideal come to life. Bastian liked to tell Merkel he looked like a bug-eyed ogre.

“I never agreed.” Merkel smirked over the rim of the ceramic mug and took a sip of the bitter drink. He wondered if he could convince Sonja to let him take a hot shower at her apartment later in exchange for that Bowie record she’d been asking about.

“Johannes König contacted me.”

“The writer?” Merkel confirmed. He recognized the name immediately. König was an infamous playwright who’d had several productions shut down by the state for promoting Western ideas.

Bastian nodded. “He found out his house is bugged and he thinks they’ll be coming for him soon.”

Merkel maintained a neutral expression as he listened, though he wondered where Bastian was going with this. They had an unspoken rule that once someone was under intense state surveillance, they weren’t getting out. At least not with the help of Merkel’s crew. They couldn’t risk their entire operation for one Dummkopf who’d been careless.

“König knows he’s done for,” Bastian said, sensing his hesitation. “He wants us to move his daughter.”

Merkel made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. “We’re not babysitters.”

“She’s in her twenties,” Bastian interrupted. “And he’s offering us a lot of money to get her out as soon as possible.”

“We can’t move anyone until Sunday,” Merkel argued. He had a bad feeling Bastian was going to suggest they do something stupid because he wanted to fuck this girl.

“We can hide her until Sunday,” Bastian said with a shrug. He definitely wanted to fuck this girl.

Merkel shook his head. “No, she’s on her own until we have a car or a passport.”

His friend took out a thick wad of cash and slapped it on the filing cabinet. “This is König’s down payment,” Bastian said, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he grinned. “He’s offering us four times this amount if we do it.”

Merkel took the cash in his hands and counted it quickly. He sucked his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Bastian. “How many days is it until Sunday?”

“Drei.”

Merkel swore. “Scheiße.”

German Glossary:

Dummkopf - dummy

Scheiße - shit

@skrsgardspam​ @b-afterhours​ @emmyrosee​ @flowers-in-your-hayr​

[passionate-reply]

“Why did Kraftwerk stop making albums?” they all ask, as though Karl Bartos isn’t right here, consistently kicking ass and making great music. If you’re hungry for more Kraftwerk goodness, specifically with an early 90s techno flair, you probably won’t do better than Esperanto, so come check it out! (Also featuring special guest star Andy McCluskey from OMD.) Full transcript below!

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’ll be talking about an album not too many people have heard, but that I think more people really should--especially fans of Kraftwerk. It’s Esperanto, the 1993 debut of Kraftwerk alumnus Karl Bartos’s project, Elektric Music. The production of the final classic-lineup Kraftwerk LP, 1986’s Electric Cafe, had been dominated by frustrating delays, rewrites, and remixes, and when all was said and done, the resulting album was a relative flop. By the time of the 1991 remix album The Mix, which seemed to end Kraftwerk’s career with a whimper, Bartos had grown alienated from founding members Ralf Huetter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, and fed up with their apparent lack of work ethic. He set out on his own, partnering with Lothar Manteuffel of the Neue Deutsche Welle act Rheingold, to form Elektric Music.

What I think really stands out about Esperanto first is its sense of freewheeling, unrestrained immediacy. For nearly a decade leading up to this album, Bartos had been working at the whim of others, waiting around, and feeling like he was spinning his wheels. Esperanto feels like a tightly coiled spring that’s finally being released. It’s dense, busy, in-your-face music that positively demands to be paid attention to.

Music: “Lifestyle”

Vibrating at the core of Esperanto is an undeniable Kraftwerk-esque sonic template: textural synth side-swipes, chattering vocoder-driven vocals, and hypnotic, mechanical rhythms. It’s natural to expect that rhythmic quality from Bartos, since he was chiefly brought on to provide percussion parts for Kraftwerk, but it’s also important to remember that he’s as interested in pop music as he is in classical. Both Bartos’s solo work, as well as the Kraftwerk tracks he had a hand in, emphasize melody, in a poppy, easy to love manner. The melodies here have some precedent in Bartos’s earlier work, but they’ve never been quite as punchy and vibrant before.

“Lifestyle” also makes early use of vocal chops, which contribute to that tight and busy feel, while also being a marked attempt at pushing this core sound into the musical future. Some of these specific samples are actually repeated across multiple tracks, if you listen closely--a sort of callback to the repeated melodic motives of the early Kraftwerk albums. “Information,” a high-concept eight-minute epic that the rest of the tracklisting pivots around, is even closer to being structured like “Trans-Europe Express”:

Music: “Information”

Bartos has never really ceased struggling under the weight of his Kraftwerk past, torn between indulging in these ideas and themes that come so naturally to him, and feeling obligated to set himself apart--as well as obligated to push the envelope and break new musical ground. Esperanto radiates and burns with that sense of conflict, which feels fresher and more raw, given the timeframe involved. This tension between working with and working against the Kraftwerk legacy is not only musical, but also thematic. Like the Kraftwerk albums, Esperanto is deeply concerned with the role technology plays in our lives...but it’s a lot less optimistic. Take, for instance, the opening track, “TV”:

Music: “TV”

“TV” is Esperanto at its most gloomy or melancholy, portraying the detached haze of modern lotus-eaters transfixed by the glowing screen. It’s an image that’s readily familiar and relatable to us today, of course, and it’s also one that runs contrary to the techno-utopianism of Kraftwerk, where home technologies offer hope of bringing people together rather than splitting them apart, and disconnecting them from the real world. If that wasn’t enough to convince you to read “TV” as an anti-Kraftwerk screed, the lyrics even point to “computer graphics” and “electric bands” as fodder for that destructively distracting entertainment. Ouch! Along somewhat similar lines is the track “Kissing the Machine”:

Music: “Kissing the Machine”

“Kissing the Machine” is also a sort of rebuttal of Kraftwerk tracks like “Computer Love,” demonstrating the pitiful perversion it really is to expect human, emotional fulfillment from a cold and sterile mechanical contraption. Whereas “TV” is more overtly downbeat, “Kissing the Machine” takes the route of dramatic irony, going for an eerily cheerful, naive sort of sound, painting its narrator as utterly oblivious to what they’re missing out on. You probably noticed that the vocalist on this track is actually not Bartos--it’s Andy McCluskey, best known as the frontman of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Like Manteuffel, McCluskey is a younger synth-pop artist whose career began in the 1980s, making music that owed quite a lot to what Kraftwerk had achieved before. Bringing on some slightly younger talent is not only a nod towards keeping up with the times, but also another jab at the legacy of Kraftwerk, who refused to collaborate with any other musicians, and at times even seemed loath to acknowledge how the art of electronic music had evolved in their wake. As the title of Esperanto implies, the theme of language is also prominent here, and that serves as yet another way in which the Kraftwerk philosophy is turned on its head, most notably in the title track:

Music: “Esperanto”

While many people assert that it’s more “authentic” to listen to Kraftwerk in German, they made consistent attempts to incorporate a wide variety of languages into their work. Besides the English-language versions of their LPs, Kraftwerk also sang in French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and even Japanese, to varying degrees. They were selling a vision of “Europe Endless” that was multicultural and multilingual, and seemed to have wanted people from all over the world to connect with them and feel included and represented in their future, rather than view them as some distant and peculiarly Teutonic phenomenon.

“Esperanto” flies in the face of the dream of linguistic unity. Esperanto itself is an artificial, constructed language, created by L. L. Zamenhof in the late 19th Century. Combining features from the most commonly spoken languages across the globe, and streamlining away things like irregular verbs, Esperanto was built from the ground up to become a true “universal language” for all of mankind, that was easy to learn and use. But despite the hopes of Zamenhof, whose name for his new tongue translates to English as “one who hopes,” it obviously never caught on. The most beautiful utopian vision in the world is still just a vision, and you can end up failing even if “you’ve got the perfect pitch.”

Kraftwerk’s longtime graphic designer Emil Schult, whose contributions to Kraftwerk’s signature aesthetic are nearly as important to their legacy as any of their music, returned to create the cover art of Esperanto. With its bright and simple red tone and strong use of diagonals, Esperanto’s cover art is clearly evocative of the iconic cover of Kraftwerk’s 1978 LP The Man-Machine, arguably the finest hour for the band as well as Schult. However, its abstract, non-figurative qualities set it apart from the work Schult and Bartos had done before, as Kraftwerk hadn’t made an album that didn’t feature their own faces front and center since 1975’s Radioactivity. The image of a rising sun is fitting for the idea of Bartos’s empowered return to music after a period of dormancy.

The world is full of people bemoaning the fact that Kraftwerk gave up on making new music, and the apparent irony of this band who appeared to be visiting from the future being absent from the world they helped create, in which “electronic music” has ceased to be a novelty and become a default. Karl Bartos may not be the most prolific artist in the world, but I’ve always seen him as the rightful heir to the Kraftwerk legacy, and I think his string of solo albums since leaving the band are the most worthy follow-ups that could ever have been paired with Kraftwerk’s classic run. Esperanto does everything you could possibly want a 1990s Kraftwerk album to do, staying true to that musical heritage while also pushing forward, and staking a place in the broader artistic conversation. I think everyone who identifies as a fan of Kraftwerk owes it to themself to give Esperanto a spin.

My favourite track on Esperanto is the closer, “Overdrive.” Unlike the readily apparent cynicism purveyed by tracks like “TV” and “Kissing the Machine,” “Overdrive” reads as a more complex perspective about technology and everyday life. It’s a portrayal of that all-too-modern scourge of overstimulation, that’s still ultimately a very exciting one, that sweeps you up in its triumphant “kiss of life.” Listening to its chaotic instrumental outro, I can’t help but feel that it leads directly into Bartos’s follow-up to Esperanto, 2003’s Communication--an album that would tackle the Internet age, and its inescapable virtual hustle and bustle, head-on. That’s all for today--thanks for watching!

Music: “Overdrive”

[trainsinanime]

Orient Express

Nord-Express

Simplon-Express

Étoile du Nord

Vindobona

Rheingold

The first three are defunct long-distance night trains, which we don't have enough of in Europe. The rest now exist as high-speed trains, but without good names and with boring liveries.

As a special note, for the Rheingold, I demand the full and exact original route, no matter the cost. That means I do want this international long-distance train to run over the tracks of the Rotterdam Metro.

What are some named passenger trains you want to make a return? Even if not under that name.

[call-me-noa]

Fate lore: Fafnir

A hero who defeated the shining, greedy Fafnir of Gnitaheidr unabated. The ultimate person who had obtained the wisdom of the gods and invincible power, by eating the dragon’s heart.

An examination/summary of the “Evil Dragon Phenomenon”, Fafnir, and why he is not a single individual but the concept of greed incarnate.

This is going to be a long post so more below the break.

Fafnir originates from the Völsunga saga, an Icelandic saga that tells the story of Sigurd and Brynhild (among other things). In the story Fafnir is originally a dwarf but he is consumed by greed for the cursed treasure of Andvari, especially the ring Andvaranaut, and he becomes a dragon to hoard and protect his gold. Incidentally, this story was one of the inspirations for The Lord of the Rings.

In the Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelungs), which is a medieval German story telling the tale of Siegfried, it is briefly mentioned that Siegfried killed a dragon before the story properly starts. This dragon is not actually named in the Nibelungenlied, but is often associated with Fafnir from the Völsunga saga because of the next story:

Richard Wagner’s opera Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs) combines elements from both the Völsunga saga and the Nibelungenlied. In this story Fafnir (here spelled “Fafner”) is a giant who kills his brother after they are paid by the gods with the Rheingold, a cursed treasure stolen from the dwarf Alberich. He takes the treasure all for himself and becomes a dragon to protect it.

That’s Fafnir’s mythological/literary background. Now for Fate:

Fafnir first appears in Fate/Apocrypha, where he is part of Siegfreid’s backstory. Fate’s Siegfried is largely based on the Nibelungenlied but has a few aspects of Wagner’s opera as well, such as the dragon being named Fafnir, and the presence of the cursed Rheingold. Always doing what people ask of him, Siegfried kills Fafnir at the request of the Nibelungen family and is awarded their cursed treasure, Das Rheingold. After killing the dragon he is bathed in its blood and his body becomes invulnerable.

Siegfried has been in battles ever since he was a young man, and he has gained an invincible body from his victory over Fafnir in battle for the treasure of the Nibelungen family. But when he bathed in the dragon's blood, a tree leaf stuck to his back, making it his one weak point.

-Siegfried’s profile in Fate/complete material IV

Over the course of Fate/Apocrypha, the homunculus Sieg - whom Siegfried placed his heart inside to save his life - slowly takes on draconic aspects until he fully becomes Fafnir in the climax and takes the Greater Grail to the Reverse Side of the World where it will be unable to grant Amakusa’s wish to use the Third Magic on humanity.

Several years after Apocrypha’s release, Fate/Grand Order introduced Sigurd, based on the Völsunga saga. Like Siegfried he, too, killed Fafnir; he did it for his adopted father, the dwarf Regin, Fafnir’s brother who wanted the treasure of Andvari. Sigurd consumed Fafnir’s heart and was awarded great wisdom which is represented by the glasses he wears.

Or rather, the knight that had a calm expression like he was a demon that was born from a glacier. Did his brisk tone resemble Hjordis or King Sigmund, or did it resemble his blacksmith teacher, the Dvergr Regin who was even more of a wicked strategist than his parents, or, I thought faintly that his form and nature were probably handed down to him from some much distant ancestor, as I thought this, I looked at those honest eyes of his. I was fascinated by them.

...

A hero who defeated the shining, greedy Fafnir of Gnitaheidr unabated. The ultimate person who had obtained the wisdom of the gods and invincible power, by eating the dragon’s heart.

-Brynhild’s thoughts on Sigurd from Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Blue and Silver

But how can there be so many Fafnirs? Why does he keep popping up?

Grand Order greatly expanded on Fafnir, starting as early as the launch of the game. In Siegfried’s first interlude, he explains that his existence is irrevocably tied to Fafnir’s. Whenever one is summoned, the other will be too. This is why both of them were in the first singularity in FGO, Orleans, and why Sieg became Fafnir in Apocrypha.

And not only that. Siegfried also explains in this interlude that Fafnir’s offspring have the potential to become new Fafnirs.

But this actually isn’t why Fafnir is known as the Evil Dragon Phenomenon.

In the second Lostbelt, Götterdämmerung, we learn that the reason Fafnir keeps reoccurring, the reason he is known as a phenomenon, is that people will transform into him when showing extreme greed. Recall how the original Fafnir, the dwarf from the Völsunga saga, became a dragon to protect his treasure. Recall how Fafner from Wagner’s opera became a dragon after killing his brothers to claim the Rheingold for himself.

In Lostbelt 2, Surtr becomes consumed by greed and starts taking on aspects of Fafnir.

(…The unseen dragon’s wings)

(Could it be that the Evil Dragon Phenomenon, Fafnir, has occurred?)

When he achieves his perfect form, he transforms into a winged giant of frost and flame. It is enough to be convincing. That is a hybrid of giant and dragon.

-Ophelia’s thoughts in Lostbelt 2 Section 15

And lastly (as of this writing), in the fourth FGO Halloween event, Oniland, the legend of the Kamuy’s gold merges with the legend of Das Rheingold because the Ainu hero Sitonai is possessing the body of Illyasviel von Einzbern, and the Einzberns are the current owners of Das Rheingold. As a result a golden dragon that possesses aspects of both Fafnir and the Ainu monster Moshirechikuchiku Kotanechikuchiku is born. Sitonai specifically references the Evil Dragon Phenomenon upon seeing it.

So, in summary.

Fafnir was originally a dwarf, and he became the first known victim of the Evil Dragon Phenomenon when his greed for Andvari’s treasure transformed him into a wicked dragon. Said dragon was eventually slain by Sigurd at the pushing of Fafnir’s brother, Regin.

But ever since then, Fafnir has become the very personification of greed. The Evil Dragon Phenomenon transforms people who show extreme greed into the dragon Fafnir once again. A pseudo-Fafnir was born in Oniland, Surtr becomes Fafnir in Cosmos in the Lostbelt, and someone (perhaps the giant Fafner from Wagner’s opera, though this has never been explicitly stated) became the Fafnir that Siegfried killed.

This is not the only way Fafnir can reappear. Sufficiently powerful dragons can bear offspring without a partner, and if Fafnir’s children grow powerful enough they will become a new Fafnir. Furthermore, because Siegfried and Fafnir are so tied together, whenever Siegfried is summoned as a Servant Fafnir will always appear too in some form, which is why Sieg became him in Fate/Apocrypha.

The wicked dwarf who killed his father for gold, the fire giant who sought to burn the entire world, the Evil Dragon which is the very personification of greed, the gentle dragon who stole immortality from humans.

That is Fafnir in the Fate series.

[uss-protostar]

@gmdhc tagged me to post my top 8 albums of last year!

So, in no particular order;

1) Dis-Tanz - Rheingold

2) Liaison Dangereuses - Liaison Dangereuses

3) Halber Mensch - Einstürzende Neubauten

4) Razzmatazz - I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

5) Dreaming - Michael Rother

6) Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! - DEVO

7) Trans Europe Express - Kraftwerk

8) Electric Music - Elektric Music

I tag whoever wants to! Sorry, this took me a long to get around to doing >.<

[beckmessering]

scrambled review no.5

das rheingold / bayreuth 1980 / directed by patrice chéreau

Characters

Alberich (Hermann Becht) – overall, far less animalistic than others. Vocally demonstrates an actual romantic effort in the opening scene, and otherwise stays far away from howling or barking. The few times he does snarl, it works to great effect, as it does when he curses love. Remains a calm maniac when determined to take over the world, although his transformation is well-audible. Vocally, his best scene is his cursing the ring – suspenseful, varied in colour and phrasing, and losing the ring is visibly a near-traumatic experience for him. No wonder he haunts the rest of the cycle.

Wotan (Donald McIntyre) – slightly lighter than a bass, but very buttery, especially the top notes. Very self-assured and suave bordering on smug without the air of a master manipulator. The self-satisfaction wears off very quickly after he gives up the ring and watches Fasolt’s murder, though. Donner and Froh come off as his lackeys, which was a funny touch. By now I know that it takes me at least the length of a Rheingold to get used to a new Wotan, so a longer verdict will be out when Walküre is over.

Fasolt (Matti Salminen) and Fafner (Fritz Hübner) – height-wise just one and a half owl in a trench coat this time. Still, Wotan shrinks next to them, and they sound unusually persistent and almost threatening in their demands. Fasolt particularly was very lively in the formulation of his phrases, which I’ve found thus far only rarely among basses. 

Loge (Heinz Zednik) – sprightly and light, and while his costume makes him look a bit physically awkward, he’s more playful and silly with small notes of Schadenfreude than mercurial and unpredictable. Textually also very clear, and his last lines are sung with some massive sarcasm.

Fricka (Hanna Schwarz) – vocally assured and poised and more than capable of asserting herself, although her husband consistently ignores her. Her relationship with Wotan seems cool and cordial with little affection for each other.

Mime (Helmut Pampuch) – didn’t manage to get much of an impression of him. Whenever I say that, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, although he felt vaguely pale.

Erda (Ortrun Wenkel) – a very flexible voice, not extremely dark in the low notes. Altogether doesn’t manage to command a completely standstill in time (though that’s not really aided by her entrance. It’s difficult to look imposing when you’re literally wearing a see-through sheet over your head reminiscent of the ghost emoji.) Nonetheless, she delivers an effective, eerie warning.

Rhinemaidens (Norma Sharp, Ilse Gramatzki, Marga Schiml) – textually very clear, voices crystalline and lively and finally, finally a production in which they physically attempt to stop Alberich’s theft with admirable effort.

Production

Fundamentally completely opposite to the Kupfer Ring. Beginning in the time shortly before the Industrial Revolution, the forging and first theft of the ring sets off the transformation of the gods into participants of the Industrial Revolution, a time Wagner himself experienced and expressed (presumably) more than enough of his own thoughts on. Rheingold seems to still take part in pre-revolution times, but there are rudimentary machines looming already in the very first scene, and it seems labour is about to be revolutionised from the moment Alberich begins ordering the Nibelungs around.

Conducting 

A very continuous soundscape right from the first few measures of the prelude. Ebbing and flowing between different Leitmotifs and instruments. Pierre Boulez keeps his tempi breezy and the spirit of his Rheingold overall sprightly and light without letting the sound get thin. The singing is very well-adapted to this – especially Wotan and Alberich resort to quiet more often. Gives it the air of an intimate chamber drama, which is in turn well-suited to the production as the set physically brings the singers closer together anyway and doesn’t require thundering across to fill it with more life.

Bottom line 

A convincing start to the cycle, and I’m very interested to see where this interpretation of gods vs. Nibelungs in the Industrial Revolution, aka possibly capitalists vs. working-class, will go. 

[blackswaneuroparedux]

A bluffer’s guide to Wagner’s Ring Cycle

The Ring Cycle takes serious commitment – but it’s worth it. Everything you’ve heard is true.

Four operas make up Richard Wagner’s masterpiece: The Rhinegold; The Valkyries; Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods are about the eternal struggle between good and evil; its composition was an epic labour of love against a backdrop of high personal drama for the composer and wider cultural and political upheaval across Europe. 

Dwarves, incest, theft, betrayal, epic orchestral forces and high drama – opera rarely get bigger and more bombastic than the Ring Cycle. Composed between 1851-1874, it was an amalgam of Old Norse myths and the Songs of the Nibelungs, the first Old German classic to be written down.

Wagner was also influenced by the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer – he later referred to their 1854 meeting as the single most important event in his life – and took the philosopher’s pessimistic view that all human life was suffering, and that music was the ultimate art form, totally to heart.

German Romanticism, the predominant cultural force of the nineteenth century – exemplified in the brooding paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and the fairy stories of the brothers’ Grimm, with their tales of dark forests and lost children – also recalled a simpler time; the contemporary reaction to an age of dizzying technological advances and fast machines. All these ideas found expression in the Ring.

Wagner also spent years working out how exactly his new music drama should be created. Conventional forms of opera – set piece arias, a chorus supporting and mirroring the action, for example – were discarded in favour of integrating text and narrative expression within the music itself.

Wagner created something unique: ‘Gesamkunstwerk’ – nothing less than total immersion in his art-music-drama – to subsume his audience completely on a scale never experienced before, and rarely since – as well as the vastly inflated instrumental forces, for example, the orchestra for the Ring includes specially designed Wagner tubas, a quartet of medieval steer horns – and 16 anvils.

Wagner remains one of the most controversial composers in the classical canon; he held deeply anti-semetic views and was championed by Adolf Hitler, from which his reputation has perhaps never really recovered, but he was single-minded in pursuit of his art.

His meeting with King Ludwig II of Bavaria – a sensitive soul dubbed the ‘dream king’, who had been obsessed with Wagner since his teens – led to the king agreeing to bankroll Wagner’s plans for a bespoke music theatre in Bayreuth – then little more than an out-of-the-way village, now Valhalla for Wagnerites – that was fit to the composer’s ambitious purposes. The Rheingold was first performed there in 1876.

The rest is history.

If you ever fancied yourself as an opera buff, know that with the Ring Cycle, you enter a world of passion and pain that for many, becomes a lifetime obsession, and with a total running time of around 16 hours, it’s a serious commitment that’s not to be undertaken lightly.

But you’re no opera buff until you’ve put a Ring on it.