Based on Norse heroic legends, the sprawling operatic drama DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN took Richard Wagner (1813-1883) over twenty-five years to complete. Through a vast web of leitmotifs, melodic fragments which represent a character, place, or concept, the Ring cycle weaves a story of greed and betrayal as the coveted gold, snatched from the depths of the Rhine, sets into motion a thread of events that will ultimately consume the realm of the gods. SIEGFRIED, the third opera in the tetralogy, features the titular hero who forges Nothung from its broken fragments and slays Fafner the dragon, consequently winning the Reingold. Accidentally drinking its blood, he gains the ability to understand birdsong. A bird tells him to seek the Valkyrie Brunnhilde, sleeping eternally on the top of a mountain protected by magical fire. The opera received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festpielhaus on August 16, 1876, during the first complete performance of the Ring Cycle. In the galvanizing finale to Act I, our hero sings the SCHMIEDERLIEDER (HAMMER SONG) as he repairs the sword that will lead him on his quest to discover the sensation of fear. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2(2nd d. EH).2.2: 4.2.3.1: Timp. Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): 2 Soli T.