Editing Das Rheingold (section)

====New Bayreuth and experimentation====
The Bayreuth Festival, suspended after the Second World War, resumed in 1951 under [[Wieland Wagner]], Siegfried's son, who introduced his first ''Ring'' cycle in the "New Bayreuth" style. This was the antithesis of all that had been seen at Bayreuth before, as scenery, costumes and traditional gestures were abandoned and replaced by a bare disc, with evocative lighting effects to signify changes of scene or mood.{{sfn|Millington|2006|p=165}} The stark New Bayreuth style dominated most ''Rheingold'' and ''Ring'' productions worldwide until the 1970s, when a reaction to its bleak austerity produced a number of fresh approaches. The Bayreuth centenary ''Ring'' production of 1976, directed by [[Patrice Chéreau]] provided a significant landmark in the history of Wagner stagings: "Chéreau's demythologization of the tetralogy entailed an anti-heroic view of the work ... his setting of the action in an industrialized society ... along with occasional 20th century costumes and props, suggested a continuity between Wagner's time and our own".{{sfn|Millington|2006|p=166}} Many of this production's features were highly controversial: the opening of ''Das Rheingold'' revealed a vast hydro-electric dam in which the gold is stored, guarded by the Rhinemaidens who were portrayed, in Spotts's words, as "three voluptuous tarts" – a depiction, he says, which "caused a shock from which no one quite recovered".{{sfn|Spotts|1994|pp=282–284}} According to ''[[The Observer]]''{{'}}s critic, "I had not experienced in the theatre protest as furious as that which greeted ''Das Rheingold''."<ref>{{cite news|last=Heyworth|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Heyworth|title=Guns on the Rhine: music|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date=15 August 1976|page=19|id={{ProQuest|476337514}}}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Eventually this hostility was overcome; the final performance of this production, in 1980, was followed by an ovation that lasted ninety minutes.{{sfn|Holman|2001|p=374}}