Download or read book Wagner s Ring and the Germanic Tradition written by Collin Cleary and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-21 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable book, Collin Cleary defends Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen against the claim that it "distorts" Germanic mythology. Wagner was a serious student of the myths and sagas of Northern Europe, and the Ring is surprisingly faithful to them. Wagner retells the traditional stories, revealing new layers of meaning. Indeed, of all the works that have preserved Germanic mythology, Wagner's Ring is the most beautiful and the most profound. Cleary includes a detailed account of the composer's use of the traditional sources. In addition, he offers a complete interpretation of the Ring, demonstrating Wagner's synthesis of German myth and German philosophy.
Download or read book Wagner s Ring and the Germanic Tradition written by Collin Cleary and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-21 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable book, Collin Cleary defends Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen against the claim that it "distorts" Germanic mythology. Wagner was a serious student of the myths and sagas of Northern Europe, and the Ring is surprisingly faithful to them. Wagner retells the traditional stories, revealing new layers of meaning. Indeed, of all the works that have preserved Germanic mythology, Wagner's Ring is the most beautiful and the most profound. Cleary includes a detailed account of the composer's use of the traditional sources. In addition, he offers a complete interpretation of the Ring, demonstrating Wagner's synthesis of German myth and German philosophy.
Download or read book Wagner s Ring and German Drama written by Mary A. Cicora and published by Praeger. This book was released on 1999-01-30 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study, through a series of comparative analyses, placing Wagner's Ring within the context of the German drama tradition.
Download or read book Wagner s Ring in 1848 written by Richard Wagner and published by Camden House. This book was released on 2010 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1848 Richard Wagner began what would become the largest stage work of his career, the Ring of the Nibelung. In preparation for the task he composed an overview of the Nibelung myth designed to lead to a drama; he then composed the verse "libretto" Siegfried's Death. Although he abandoned the idea of a single opera on Siegfried in favor of the huge project that developed out of it in the succeeding years -- the Ring cycle -- he did consider the two early documents important enough to include them in his collected works. The present volume seeks to inform the English-speaking reader in three ways: by providing modern, reliable translations of the two Wagner texts, which are otherwise not available (the German original is provided on facing pages); by furnishing an overview of German scholarship available to Wagner and others working on the Nibelung legend in the first half of the nineteenth century; and by making available a bibliography of further reading. The volume will be useful to students of musicology, to students and historians of myth and legend, and to all Wagnerians interested in the genesis of the Ring cycle. Accessible to the general reader, it maintains scholarly rigor and provides information about materials not available in English. Edward R. Haymes is Professor in the Department of Modern Languages at Cleveland State University.
Download or read book Finding an Ending written by Philip Kitcher and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few musical works loom as large in Western culture as Richard Wagner's four-part Ring of the Nibelung. In Finding an Ending, two eminent philosophers, Philip Kitcher and Richard Schacht, offer an illuminating look at this greatest of Wagner's achievements, focusing on its far-reaching and subtle exploration of problems of meanings and endings in this life and world. Kitcher and Schacht plunge the reader into the heart of Wagner's Ring, drawing out the philosophical and human significance of the text and the music. They show how different forms of love, freedom, heroism, authority, and judgment are explored and tested as it unfolds. As they journey across its sweeping musical-dramatic landscape, Kitcher and Schacht lead us to the central concern of the Ring--the problem of endowing life with genuine significance that can be enhanced rather than negated by its ending, if the right sort of ending can be found. The drama originates in Wotan's quest for a transformation of the primordial state of things into a world in which life can be lived more meaningfully. The authors trace the evolution of Wotan's efforts, the intricate problems he confronts, and his failures and defeats. But while the problem Wotan poses for himself proves to be insoluble as he conceives of it, they suggest that his very efforts and failures set the stage for the transformation of his problem, and for the only sort of resolution of it that may be humanly possible--to which it is not Siegfried but rather Brünnhilde who shows the way. The Ring's ending, with its passing of the gods above and destruction of the world below, might seem to be devastating; but Kitcher and Schacht see a kind of meaning in and through the ending revealed to us that is profoundly affirmative, and that has perhaps never been so powerfully and so beautifully expressed.
Download or read book Song of the Nibelungs written by and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-08 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It portrays the existential struggles and downfall of an entire people, the Burgundians, in a military conflict with the Huns and their king."--Jacket.
Download or read book Summoning the Gods written by Collin Cleary and published by Counter-Currents Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Inside the Ring written by John Louis DiGaetani and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-03-14 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once tainted by association with Hitler and Nazism, Richard Wagner's work has experienced an international cultural renaissance in the last 25 years. His magnum opus, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him over 20 years to finish, is a complex tale with themes of greed, corruption and loss, spun out in more than 16 hours of powerfully moving opera. This book, with provocative essays for both the uninitiated and the seasoned fan, examines Wagner's Ring cycle from a wide array of modern perspectives. Divided into six parts, this anthology first offers a foundation for the Ring, with a chronology and an introduction, along with a look at Wagner as an enterprising marketer. Part Two explores different interpretations of the Ring, with reference to politics, romanticism and international inspirations. Part Three studies the complex relationship between Wagner's Ring and Germany, with a summary of the opera's influence on German culture and a discussion of its Munich premiere. Part Four offers a production history, including studies of the Ring's effects in America and its influence on world literature. Part Five provides a technical examination of language in the Ring, as well as an interview with the famous Wagnerian soprano Jane Eaglen. The book concludes with an essay on the trouble with Wagnerian opera and an overview of the recorded Ring on disc, video and print.
Download or read book The Esoteric Wagner written by Michael Besack and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wagner's Ring is one of the most complex dramatic creations of modern times and its stage presentation requires impossible resources. It also demands an educated audience, without which there is not much justification for a performance. The tetralogy is full of difficult narratives and dialogues that make a prior, in depth reading of the libretto a must. It is not just a matter of figuring out the plot, as in other operas, but of exploring the many levels of meaning through which the Ring unfolds. In addition, the cycle incorporates esoteric themes that have seldom been discussed in connection with Wagner. This background is unknown territory to most people and it is unrealistic to expect sudden enlightenment from the Ring's libretto alone. Every classical journey deals with the promise of a homecoming and it is therefore not surprising that Wotan, the main protagonist in the Ring, eventually reemerges in the Land of the Grail, where he is converted into Titurel by Wagner's poetic imagination. Ernest Newman, Wagner's quintessential biographer, had already noted this odd development, but did not pause long enough to consider the startling implications. One should not look at Wagner in disconnected, narrow ways. The dismal level of today's intellectual discourse on Tragedy makes it impossible to do justice to the composer's apocalyptic vision. In that context, it is important to address the increasingly popular contention that Wagner was Hitler's spiritual father and that the Ring is a dangerous anti-Semitic fantasy. The Holocaust is indeed tragic, but its reduction to a moral failure on the part of Germanic culture understates the metahistorical significance of what actually happened.C.J. Jung once tried to tackle these issues directly in his study of the Wotan archetype (1936), but his analysis has since been buried under the weight of more detailed but less perceptive commentaries. A vigorous reassessment is long overdue.
Download or read book The Ring of Truth written by Roger Scruton and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2016-06-09 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The ideal interpreter of the Ring ... a fascinating and valuable study ... absorbing and convincing' Sunday Times The Ring of the Nibelung is one of the greatest works of art created in modern times. Roger Scruton's brilliant and passionate exploration of the drama, music, symbolism and philosophy of Wagner's masterpiece - with its themes of love, death, sacrifice and freedom - shows how, ultimately, it expresses the truth about the human condition. 'Highly original and penetrating ... tremendous' Tim Blanning, Literary Review 'A rich, historical account ... After reading this book, only the most unadventurous reader would turn down the chance to see Wagner's masterpiece' Economist 'A brilliant gallop through the master's religious, musical and philosophical contexts' Sue Prideaux, Spectator 'Scruton is one of the finest philosopher-musicians since Schopenhauer' Jonathan Gaisman, Standpoint
Download or read book Wagner and Tolkien written by Renée Vink and published by . This book was released on 2012-06 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Both Rings were round and there the resemblance ceases," wrote J.R.R. Tolkien about the rings in his epic The Lord of the Rings and Richard Wagner's opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung. Or did he? The answer is not as straightforward as many Tolkien fans believe, whether they agree with the statement or consider it misguided. Nor is the statement itself as transparently defensive as some Wagner buffs suggest. Much has been said and written about Wagner and Tolkien, a subject that tends to generate a certain amount of heat, mostly due to the former's controversial status as Hitler's favourite composer. But until now the various, often contradictory opinions and the facts and perceptions on which they are based were rarely discussed at length or analysed in depth. The publication in 2009 of Tolkien's The Legend and Sigurd and Gudr n with its partly Wagnerian content reinforced the need for a systematic treatment of the subject. This book offers one. There is more to both Rings than their common roundness, and the resemblance between Tolkien and Wagner goes beyond a Ring of Power and some narrative elements: they shared a number of preoccupations and interests - nature, nation, the North, death and immortality, language and above all, myth. This is a book about the two great mythmakers of their times, and about what they have in common despite everything that separates them.
Download or read book The Ring of Truth written by Roger Scruton and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2017-11-21 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Nothing in opera is grander than The Ring, no work more suited to the deep reading the writer gives here.” —Opera News Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is one of the greatest works of art created in modern times, and has fascinated both critics and devotees for over a century and a half. No recent study has examined the meaning of Wagner’s masterpiece with the attention to detail and intellectual power that Roger Scruton brings to it in this inspiring account. The Ring of Truth is an exploration of the drama, music, symbolism, and philosophy of The Ring from a writer whose knowledge and understanding of the Western musical tradition are the equal of his capacities as a philosopher. Scruton shows how, through musical connections and brilliant dramatic strokes, Wagner is able to express truths about the human condition which few other creative artists have been able to convey so convincingly. For Wagner, writes Scruton, the task of art is to “show us freedom in its immediate, contingent, human form, reminding us of what it means to us. Even if we live in a world from which gods and heroes have disappeared we can, by imagining them, dramatize the deep truths of our condition and renew our faith in what we are.” Love, death, sacrifice and the liberation that we win through sacrifice—these are the great themes of The Ring, as they are of this book. Scruton’s passionate and moving interpretation allows us to understand more fully than ever how Wagner conveys his ideas about who we are, and why TheRing continues to be such a hypnotically absorbing work. “Scruton’s presentation is grounded throughout in a deep understanding of the culture of Wagner’s era . . . the writing is clear and persuasive.” —Library Journal (starred review) “A fascinating and valuable study.” —Sunday Times
Download or read book New Studies in Richard Wagner s The Ring of the Nibelung written by Edwin Mellen Press and published by Edwin Mellen Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume comprises papers presented at the 1988 Wagner conference in Seattle exploring this opera cycle as music, myth, theatre art, and literature, including comparisons with T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland and James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.
Download or read book Penetrating Wagner s Ring written by John Louis Digaetani and published by Da Capo Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 1991-03-21 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wagner's Ring cycle - The Ring of the Niebelung - has been described as one of the most enduring of operatic spectacles. This collection has brought together writings on the Ring and includes articles by George Bernard Shaw, Georg Solti and Andrew Porter, excerpts from Wagner's own letters and works and discourses by over 30 other writers.
Download or read book Theology of Wagner s Ring Cycle I written by Richard H. Bell and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-01-01 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wagner’s Ring is one of the greatest of all artworks of Western civilization, but what is it all about? The power and mystery of Wagner’s creation was such that even he felt he stood before his work ‘as though before some puzzle’. A clue to the Ring’s greatness lies in its multiple avenues of self-disclosure and the corresponding plethora of interpretations that over the years has granted ample scope for directors, and will no doubt do so well into the distant future. One possible interpretation, which Richard Bell argues should be taken seriously, is the Ring as Christian theology. In this first of two volumes, Bell considers, among other things, how the composer’s Christian interests may be detected in the ‘forging’ of his Ring, in his appropriation of sources (whether they be myths and sagas, writers, poets, or philosophers), and in works composed around the same time, especially his Jesus of Nazareth.
Download or read book The Ring of the Nibelung written by Richard Wagner and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-07-26 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A superb new translation of one of the greatest nineteenth century poems: the libretto to Wagner's Ring cycle The scale and grandeur of Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung has no precedent and no successor. It preoccupied Wagner for much of his adult life and revolutionized the nature of opera, the orchestra, the demands on singers and on the audience itself. The four operas-The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods - are complete worlds, conjuring up extraordinary mythological landscapes through sound as much as staging. Wagner wrote the entire libretto before embarking on the music. Discarding the grand choruses and bravura duets central to most operas, he used the largest musical forces in the context often of only a handful of singers on stage. The words were essential: he was telling a story and making an argument in a way that required absolute attention to what was said. The libretto for The Ring lies at the heart of nineteenth century culture. It is in itself a work of power and grandeur and it had an incalculable effect on European and specifically German culture. John Deathridge's superb new translation, with notes and a fascinating introduction, is essential for anyone who wishes to get to grips with one of the great musical experiences.
Download or read book Understanding the Leitmotif written by Matthew Bribitzer-Stull and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-14 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through analysis, Matthew Bribitzer-Stull explores the legacy of the leitmotif, from Wagner's Ring cycle to present-day Hollywood film music.
