The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie by Richard Wagner with illustrations by Arthur Rackham, translated by Margaret Armour, 1910. The Ring of the Niblung Volume 1. This edition is a paperback republishing of The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie by Richard Wagner first published in 1910, illustrated in color. Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied. It is often referred to as the Ring Cycle, Wagner's Ring, or simply The Ring. Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four parts that constitute the Ring cycle are, in sequence: Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold) Die Walkure (The Valkyrie) Siegfried Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods)