MUSIC

The Seattle Opera is having second thoughts about canceling all future performances of Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” when this year’s cycle, which began Sunday, sold large numbers of tickets. Opera director Speight Jenkins was hopeful that Seattle businesses would make sizable contributions. Earlier this year, Jenkins announced that the opera’s board of directors had canceled the Ring for 1988--possibly forever--largely for financial reasons. Now, because of the response, said Jenkins, it might be possible to revive the “Ring” for 1989 and perform it every other year. The company would need to raise from $600,000 to $1.2 million in advance for such a revival, Jenkins said.