The Ring of the Niblung by Richard Wagner and illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Translation by Margaret Armour. Some critics mention that The Lord of the Rings was directly and heavily derived from Richard Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen. This edition includes: - The Rhinegold - The Valkyrie - Siegfried - Twilight of the Gods Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), WWV 86, 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. The cycle is a work of extraordinary scale. Perhaps the most outstanding facet of the monumental work is its sheer length: a full performance of the cycle takes place over four nights at the opera, with a total playing time of about 15 hours, depending on the conductor's pacing. The first and shortest work, Das Rheingold, typically lasts two and a half hours, while the final and longest, Gotterdammerung, takes up to five hours, excluding intervals. The cycle is modelled after ancient Greek dramas that were presented as three tragedies and one satyr play. The Ring proper begins with Die Walkure and ends with Gotterdammerung, with Rheingold as a prelude. Wagner called Das Rheingold a Vorabend or "Preliminary Evening," and Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung were subtitled First Day, Second Day and Third Day, respectively, of the trilogy proper. The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens in the river Rhine. The Ring itself as described by Wagner is a Rune-magic taufr ("tine," or "talisman") intended to rule the feminine multiplicative power by a fearful magical act termed as 'denial of love' ("Liebesverzicht"), which is probably an allusion to ritual circumcision.