Gone are the horned helmets in Wagner’s ‘Ring,’ but are new ways always better?

The horned helmet — usually sitting on the head of a zaftig soprano — is the universal symbol of Richard Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung." But like Shakespearean tights and codpieces, it's a visual cliché that fell out of currency decades ago.

By David Ng, Los Angeles Times

April 25, 2010