The Tetralogy presents not only the culmination of Wagner's poetic ideas and philosophical aspirations, but the final transformation in orchestral resources as well. The première of "Das Rheingold" took place in 1869 in Munich, followed in 1876 by the first performance of the entire "Ring" at Bayreuth. The music of the "Ring" is so inseparably welded to the drama that, apart from certain striking exceptions, much of it loses its significance when performed as "absolute music" away from the stage. At first sight the requisition made for so mighty an aggregation of instruments must have been indeed terrifying to a "Herrn Kapellmeister" of the old operatic school, but closer inspection of the orchestration reveals the fact that the glories of this noble tableau are obtained by masterful contrasts of detached little groups of uniform tone-color, rather than by cumulative tone quality and quantity. Space forbids more than a cursory glance at a very few of these novel characteristics in details of instrumentation. "Das Rheingold" shows, on the whole, great reserve in the simultaneous employment of large forces. For instance, the scene of the Rhine maidens is accompanied by the most transparent orchestration. Many variations in the use of unmixed tone-color could be cited, such as three oboes and English horn by themselves; English horn with three bassoons; horns alone, or with bassoons, or with bass-tuba. One of the most striking examples is to be found in the fourth scene where the chord of the diminished seventh is assigned to the lower notes of three clarinets and a bass-clarinet. The same consistent use of homogeneous quartets marks the deployment of the brass. The tubas appear entirely alone, as do also the four trumpets in combination with the four trombones. The final scene presents one of the exceptional instances of six independent parts for harps. The first act of "Die Walküre" is, in the opinion of the present writer, the most perfect specimen of dramatic writing in the literature of music.[57] Here again, the avoidance of massive scoring is particularly to be noted throughout almost the entire act. And what other instruments could have attained that maximum intensity of expression that characterizes the deployment of five solo violoncellos[58] as interpreters of tender longing and suppressed emotion? Some of the most impressive effects are obtained by means of such comparatively simple combinations as one solo oboe supported by two flutes, a clarinet and a bassoon, further assisted by a second fragmentary melodic theme in the 'cellos. Instances of independent phrases for three clarinets and bass-clarinet are again to be found, and in the third act, the horns are employed in six real parts. A large majority of effects and combinations that are conspicuous in "Das Rheingold" and "Die Walküre" naturally reappear in "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung." Further distinctive traits in "Siegfried" are the manifold division