Only he who renounces love will be able to steal the powerful gold from the Rhine and fashion it into a ring that will enable him to rule the world. Alberich takes the risk: when the Rhine maidens scornfully reject his advances the humiliated dwarf promptly decides to swap love for power. By cursing love, he opens the gateway to a fate that will also afflict the ruler of the gods Wotan, when the lavish construction of his fortress Valhalla places him in financial distress. In this prologue to ‘Ring des Nibelungen’ Richard Wagner crafts the main themes of his four-part opera cycle – the impossibility of reconciling love with possessiveness – into a boldly plotted critique of 19th century capitalism. read less