Professor Max Koch created the design for the"Rheingold" Bechstein based on themes found in Richard Wagner's great Ring Cycle works. Wagner drew upon numerous works of German and Scandinavian mythology, both primary texts (usually in contemporary German translations, though Wagner had some knowledge of Old Norse and Middle German) and commentaries on them. The most important of the former were the Völsunga Saga, the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, the Nibelungenlied and Thidriks saga af Bern. The Ring cycle is comprised of four operas Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) Taking themes from the first opera, The "Rheingold" Bechstein features three nymphs sitting at its feet; Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde who protect the Rhein gold. The Rhein gold can be made into a magic ring which will let its bearer rule the world. The Rheingold Bechstein case work also feature swans and waves. The brass hinges are made in the form of aquatic plants. Inside the lid the Rhine maidens are again hand-painted. The Bechstein model C in this exhibition also depicts themes from the Ring Cycle. Again swans and waves feature on the case work along with shells and reeds. Twisting around the back leg is a two-headed serpent dragon climbing up a tree. A serpent dragon appears in the third opera "Siegfried" perhaps inspiration for this design. The Rhein gold has been stolen and forged into a ring by Alberich, a Nibelung dwarf and guarded in a cave by a dragon, Fafner. Alberich's brother Mime plots to obtain the Ring for himself. He has raised a human boy Siegfried as a foster child, to kill the dragon.