Wolf, Hannah Eleanor2020-09-292020-09-292019https://hdl.handle.net/1794/2583048 pagesFears concerning the destruction of the natural world and the imminence of an environmental apocalypse came to fruition long before the realization of global climate change. In fact, as early as 1848, Richard Wagner pondered the end of nature when he wrote the first drafts of what became his four-part opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring). In this thesis, I will examine how the first music drama in this cycle, Das Rheingold, functions as a vision of environmental apocalypse.en-USMusicEnvironmental StudiesApocalypseClimate ChangeMusicWagnerAntisemitismNatureDas RheingoldThesis/Dissertation