Description
Book SynopsisA superb new translation of one of the greatest nineteenth century poems: the libretto to Wagner’s Ring Cycle, in a Penguin Classics hardcover designed by Coralie Bickford-SmithThe 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
Trade ReviewNow comes the new translation by John Deathridge, doyen of English-speaking Wagner scholars, with a grasp of his life and writings that may never have been equalled. [...] In that noble enterprise he seems to me to be entirely successful. [...] 'Awesome' is a word I detest, but how else can one describe that? Beautifully presented and authoritative, which can only [...] cast light on this inexhaustible masterwork. -- Michael Tanner * Spectator *
The
Ring provides a meticulous study of the psychology of politics and power[...] Hugely illuminating [...] Deathridge's translation, flexibly and vividly conceived, shines a special light into the literary and psychological depths of the
Ring. -- Benjamin Poore * Asymptote Journal *
