Few works in the operatic repertory present greater challenges to contemporary stage directors than Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner’s tetralogy exists simultaneously as myth, philosophy, political allegory, psychological drama, and monumental musical architecture. Modern productions frequently approach the cycle either with excessive reverence toward its canonical status or with aggressive deconstruction designed to dismantle inherited Wagnerian traditions.  The revival of Stefan Herheim’s new production (seen May 26–31) for Deutsche Oper Berlin attempted a more elusive path between these extremes. Neither conventionally faithful nor deliberately iconoclastic, Herheim’s staging sought to reinterpret the Ring through an intricate network of recurring visual symbols…