1988Year LEAD: Every five years or so, the Bayreuth Festival mounts a new production of Wagner's ''Ring des Nibelungen,'' and it is always big news - in part because a new ''Ring'' means four operas, not just one, staged at this Wagnerian shrine. Review/Opera

1994Year Now that the second and third chapters have been added to the new production of Wagner's "Ring des Niebelungen" here, it is clear that "Das Rheingold" was a form of false advertising. It led one to expect both too much and not enough from this interpretation of this tetralogy, conducted at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus by James Levine, directed by Alfred Kirchner and designed by the singularly named Rosalie. Too much was expected because that opening performance gave the impression that this "Ring" was going to have a coherent if misguided interpretation. With all the initial consistencies, it seemed as if it was going to be a coy polemic, deliberately undermining "The Ring" itself, finishing what the avant-garde Bayreuth productions by Patrice Chereau and Harry Kupfer began. SIEGFRIED

1949Year Birth anniv marked, Bayreuth Festival WAGNER FETE RESUMED

1961Year U.S. SINGERS IN 'PARSIFAL'

1947Year Bayreuth, Ger, seeking member of family to sponsor the revival of annual festivals WANTED: A WAGNER

1949Year BANK FINANCES HOUSING