PALERMO, ITALY - 27 JANUARY 2013: A view of the Massimo Theatre from the stage in Palermo, Italy, on January 27th 2013...Das Rheingold is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen ('The Ring of the Nibelung'). It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas. Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre in Munich on 22 September 1869.