Richard Wagner's vast "Der Ring des Nibelungen" cycle comprises four full-length operas ("Das Rheingold", "Die Walkure", "Siegfried" and "Gotterdammerung") and is arguably the most extraordinary achievement in the history of opera. His own libretto to the operas is an intricate system of metric patterns, imaginative metaphors and alliteration, combining to produce the music in text. This text provides a line-by-line translation of the third of the opera librettos - "Siegfried" - a running commentary on the action and signals as to when each leitmotif appears. Each leitmotif is a musical theme or motif which denotes a character, emotion, object or event, and these musical themes were used by Wagner as a unifying force within his dramas. The listener following the opera with the libretto is able to pinpoint the various themes (in the Ring cycle there are 81 leitmotifs) and so increase understanding of the drama. Sabor's translation seeks to preserve the original metre and elucidate the complexities of Wagner's intricate libretto. The volume is supplemented with scene-by-scene synopses, short discussions of each leitmotif, a discography, videography and bibliography. Translations of the other three operas and a companion volume are available, both separately and in a boxed set. The companion volume offers essays on the meaning of the Ring, on Wagner's turbulent and fascinating life, his varied literary sources from the world of myth, the genesis of the cycle and its performance history over the last 120 years.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In the third of Wagner's four Ring operas, we meet the loutish young hero, Siegfried, a muscular boor who knows no fear, and Mime, the dwarf who has reared him since the boy's mother, Sieglinde, died in childbirth. Mime is the brother of Alberich (the evil dwarf who set the events of the Ring in motion by stealing the gold of the Rhinemaidens and forging the eponymous ring of power), and extreme unpleasantness seems to be a family trait. Mime wants Siegfried to kill Fafner--the former giant turned dragon--to get his hoard, which includes the ring, after which he plans to poison the youth. Siegfried kills the dragon, but by inadvertently licking some of the beast's blood from his hand, finds he can discover the language of birds. An avian promptly advises him to watch out for Mime--and Siegfried discovers he can hear Mime's evil thoughts. Siegfried kills the dwarf, pockets the ring and the shape-shifting Tarnhelm, and goes off to Brunnhilde's mountaintop. There he breaks his grandfather Wotan's spear, marches through the flames, and wins himself a bride fit for a hero.
This translation beautifully captures Wagner's sometimes impenetrable poetry. The intent, says Rudolph Sabor, is "to provide the reader and singer with a libretto which does not sound like a translation, but rather like the text Wagner might have written had he been born not in Leipzig but in London." Sabor succeeds, and also provides the reader with other useful information, including suggested recordings, side notes on the action, and a key to the leitmotifs that are so essential to understanding the Ring operas.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great gift from Sabor,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Siegfried (Ring Cycle) (Paperback)
I've read much of Rudolph Sabor's Wagner material, and I want to be sure he knows, from and ardent student of the composer, just how much I love and appreciate all his work. But these four books from Phaidon on the Ring cycle are masterpieces. The extraordinarily elegant presentation not only invites you into another world, but Sabor's clarification and mythic understanding of Wagner goes far beyond anything that is available to the reader so far. In "The Real Wagner",which I have in both English and Spanish, Sabor's deadly sense of humour peeked through whenever irony was appropriate, and even in these translations and notes, he, as a writer and critic, never forgets the subtleties and contradictions Wagner offers to us. If possible, please extend both to the author and to the publishers, my profound appreciation of the symphony they have created together. Let's call these books "collectors items". And in paperback!And thank you, Amazon, for getting them to me so quickly up here in the mountains of southern Mexico. Linda
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fabulous Libretto!!!!,
By
This review is from: Siegfried (Ring Cycle) (Paperback)
I had searched for quite a while for a passing libretto of Wagner when I stumbled upon this gem. Sabors translation is sheer poetry and is a joy to follow along with during the operas. A must buy if you want a fantastic Wagner libretto!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
