Here are links to my synopses of the four Ring operas:
DAS RHEINGOLD
I have taken the text from the Wikipedia.com entries. In each synopsis I have made a few changes, and added the music (leitmotifs).
Wagner used the leitmotifs to remind us of objects, people, things, and ideas in the story. They were woven into the symphonic music, sometimes subtly, imbedded in the music; sometimes by themselves. The Ring leitmotif, for example, appears often in the operas. In my Rheingold synopsis you will find it five times, altered at each appearance to fit the story.
I have copied the leitmotefs from the Ringdisc score into the program Noteworthy Composer with the correct key. I have guessed at the tempo from Solti's recording on the Ringdisc. The resulting midi files were inserted into the text with the help of Java.
Go to the home page: classicmusicindex.comThe text of each synopsis is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.