大都会歌剧院高清转播系列，瓦格纳的四联剧《尼伯龙人的指环》，前夜剧《莱茵的黄金》在2011年10月8日首度向全美直播，此次直播的录像在2013年11月底在上海大剧院以及上海艺术人文频道进行剧场放映和电视播出。

斯图加特歌剧院的这版《指环》制作始于1999年，也是首次创下了《指环》演出历史上，四部戏交给四位不同导演完成的首例。《莱茵黄金》的导演Joachim Schlömer和制景Jens Kilian合作，四场戏只采用了一个固定布景，摹仿斯特林堡的室内戏剧，所有的戏剧动作都在疗养院内展开（令人联想起托马斯·曼的《魔山》），将神话色彩抹去，转化为一出日常生活背景的悲喜剧。

'Das Rheingold' tells the story about Alberich's theft of the gold from the Rhine, the forging of the Ring of power and sets off a cascade of events that further develop in the subsequent operas of the Ring Cycle.

这是一幅展现瓦格纳一生及其作品的宏大画卷，从1848年革命前开始，历经他在瑞士的流亡生涯，到被痴迷于他的巴伐利亚国王路德维希二世拯救，直至在拜罗伊特迎来最终的辉煌。瓦格纳激进的音乐和政治理念、他的德国民族主义，乃至他的反犹主义，都被置于他所处的时代背景中进行呈现。

A huge panorama of Wagner's life and work, from before the 1848 Revolution, through his exile in Switzerland, his rescue by the besotted King Ludwig II of Bavaria to the final triumph at Bayreuth. Wagner's radical musical and political ideas, his German nationalism and even his anti-Semitism are set in the context of his life and times.

Wotan wants to steal the gold from the Nibelungen.

《莱茵的黄金》是四部根据北欧神话所作歌剧的第一部。剧中侏儒阿贝里希偷了莱茵河底珍贵的宝藏—莱茵的黄金。莱茵的黄金打造成指环之后将拥有统治全世界的神奇力量。阿贝里希希望马上滥用他的魔力，却被诸神之父佛旦戏弄，抢走了指环，以便能换回掌管青春的女神佛莱亚的自由……

Winifred, the geriatric daughter-in-law of the famed composer Richard Wagner, talks about her cultural and political influence during the Third Reich. Yet in contradiction to the films's title, Winifred confesses nothing. The contradictions within her discourse do, however, reveal the extent of her delusions and political commitment as an unrepentant fascist. She paradoxically describes herself as a completely apolitical being, adamant that her classification as a grade three Nazi at the end of the war was a grave injustice. Still Winifred cannot contain her amusement when she recalls that after the collapse of the Third Reich, she was the only person left in Germany who would admit that she was a Nazi.

早在一百七十多年前，瑞士是欧洲唯一的民主宪政国家。德国革命失败后，有多达一万两千名难民从德国涌入了瑞士。理查德·瓦格纳也是其中之一，从1849年到1858年，他一直定居在苏黎世。当时，这位著名的作曲家正在创作他的新歌剧《王者之心》，剧中的“特里斯坦和弦”是对当时时代的描述。实业家夫妇威森东克——玛蒂德和她的丈夫丝绸商人奥图——非常敬仰瓦格纳，玛蒂德也从一位慈爱的母亲变成了音乐的缪斯。整个城市都在谈论这段伟大的情谊，而苏黎世现代化也随之到来。