Table Of ContentThe Ring of the Nibelung Page 1
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The Ring of the Nibelung Page 3
“What defies for ordinary people understanding, is the truth that
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- George Steiner, University of Cambridge
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Opera Journeys™ Mini Guide Series
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A History of Opera: Milestones and Metamorphoses
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Wagner’s
The Ring of the Nibelung
(“Der Ring des Nibelungen”)
O C L
PERA LASSICS IBRARY
™ SERIES
Edited by Burton D. Fisher
Principal lecturer, Opera Journeys Lecture Series
_________________________________________
Opera Journeys Publishing / Miami, Florida
™
Opera Classics Library Series Page 6
The Ring of the Nibelung Page 7
Contents
a prelude... Page 9
The Ring of the Nibelung: Provenance Page 11
Inspirations for The Ring of the Nibelung Page 13
A Prologue to the Prologue Page 31
The Rhinegold Page 33
Principal Characters in The Rhinegold Page 34
Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples Page 35
Prelude Page 35
Scene 1 Page 35
Scene 2 Page 38
Scene 3 Page 44
Scene 4 Page 47
The Valkyrie Page 53
Principal Characters in The Valkyrie Page 54
Synopsis of Events Page 54
Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples Page 55
Act I Page 55
Act II -Scene 1 Page 61
Act II - Scene 2 Page 64
Act II - Scene 3 Page 65
Act III Page 67
Siegfried Page 73
Principal Characters in Siegfried Page 74
Background of Siegfried Page 74
Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples Page 77
Prelude Page 77
Act I Page 77
Act II Page 83
Act III - Scene 1 Page 89
Act III - Scene 2 Page 91
(continued)
Opera Classics Library Series Page 8
Twilight of the Gods Page 95
Principal Characters in Twilight of the Gods Page 96
Synopsis and Overview of Twilight of the Gods Page 97
Story Narrative with Music Highlights Page 97
Prologue Page 97
Act I - Scene 1 Page 99
Act I - Scene 2 Page 102
Act II Page 103
Act III Page 107
Discography Page 113
The Rhinegold Page 115
The Valkyrie Page 117
Siegfried Page 119
Twilight of the Gods Page 121
Videography Page 123
The Rhinegold Page 125
The Valkyrie Page 126
Siegfried Page 127
Twilight of the Gods Page 128
Diction of Opera and Musical Terms Page 129
The Ring of the Nibelung Page 9
a prelude....
O C L
PERA LASSICS IBRARY’s
The Ring of the Nibelung
Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung is a colossus of music theater, a
powerful music drama that absorbs its listeners into profound universal themes and ideas that
are primal and timeless; in all respects, the Ring addresses the political, philosophical and
cultural values of the nineteenth-century Western world.
The Inspirations for the Ring of the Nibelung commentary in this text evolves
from Wagner’s own writings during his revolutionary period: “I will destroy the existing
order of things. So up, you people of the earth! Up, you mourners, you oppressed, you poor!”
Wagner had become outraged by his contemporary society’s inequities, injustices and evils.
The Ring represented his philosophical solution for the world’s ills, a vision in which the
world of evil would become redeemed through love.
Each of the four music dramas in The Ring of the Nibelung is presented in this text
with appropriate background and synopsis, its Principal Characters, and a comprehensive
Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples; the latter includes over 90 original music
transcriptions of themes and leitmotifs that are interspersed within the story’s dramatic
exposition. In addition, the text includes a Discography, Videography, and a Dictionary of
Opera and Musical Terms.
As Wagner boldly theorized in his “Gesamtkunstwerk” (“the total artwork”), the
opera art form is the sum of many artistic expressions: theatrical drama, music, scenery,
poetry, dance, acting and gesture. In opera, it is the composer who is the dramatist, using the
emotive power of his music to express intense human conflicts. Words evoke thought, but
music provokes feelings; opera’s sublime fusion of words and music is integrated with all
the theatrical arts and provides powerful theater, an impact on one’s sensibilities that can
reach into the very depths of the human soul.
Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung is certainly a “Gesamtkunstwerk”: a glorious
operatic invention that represents a tribute to the art form as well as to its ingenious composer.
Burton D. Fisher
Editor
OPERA CLASSICS LIBRARY
Opera Classics Library Series Page 10
