Customer Reviews

Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung: A Companion

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4 star:		(2)
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This book would be an excellent addition to anyone interesting in Wagner's Ring cycle for a number of reasons.

First, the translation, which takes up three quarters of the book, is well done, with German and English directly compared on a line by line basis, complete with alternate or discarded or rejected versions of the libretto included in an appendix. The translation itself seems outstanding; some of Wagner's phrasing is difficult or impossible to directly translate into English, but even in the most convoluted or confusing cases the result is clear and compelling.

Second, there is a thematic guide to many of the most important leitmotifs Wagner developed (67 in this case), and in the translation of the libretto the authors have noted where these occur on a line by line, or sequential basis. This is of tremendous help as a reference for further study when listening and relistening to the music.

Third, while there is only little commentary on the operas and on Wagner's compositional journey through the Ring, there are a few photos from past performances, comparing vastly different sets for the same scenes, which are interesting. There could have been quite a bit more of this.

Finally, the glossary of character names could be useful to the student.

Overall, this is an excellent resource and reference to use while listening to the Ring, and for analyzing Wagner's libretto itself.

If you are looking for a direct translation(as I was) of the entire Ring, look no further. It is excellant and complete. If you are looking for commentary however, this is not the book for you . There is a brief intro that essentially discusses Wagner's life, philosophy, and musical approach(50 pgs). An 8 page b&w insert is also included. The text is printed side by side with the original German text. Well worth the money to those who have procured a recording of one or all of the operas but need a liberetto.

This book is an invaluable resource to Wagner's Ring cycle. The translation presented in this book is excellent. The translation is complete, and is an accurate translation from German. The author also included several essays in the book. They talk about the Ring cycle's musical structure, the sources of the Ring cycle, and Wagner's attitude toward the cycle. The reviews of CDs and videos of the Ring cycle, at the end of the book, are also invaluable. If you are looking for a libretto of Wagner's Ring, then you should definately get this book.

Thank you, Mr. Spencer. You have given us something very special. You have given us a complete English translation of Der Ring Des Nibelungen, and it's possibly the most Wagnerian translation ever put on paper. You have given us more knowledge about the Ring Cycle by giving us commentaries about Wagner and his mission to change the way we look at operas. You have also given us B & W pictures of recent renderings of the Ring Cycle, from the Bayreuth Festival to the New York Metropolitan Opera. And for that, we are very grateful. A+

**Update: I recently contacted the publishers, who wrote they are scheduling a late summer 2010 reprint.**

I teach the Ring Cycle, and I recommend the Spencer/Millington English translation over all others, including the Porter. As an English teacher, I am primarily concerned in a translation's literary value, and I confidently aver this translation as the best in English (I also have a background in German language and literature study). In his poetry, Wagner proves himself a literary genius. Like other masters of language, he deftly balances storytelling, emotion, and philosophy. There are also musicological benefits to this publication, such as notations for motifs where they occur in the text.

Wagner draws from the major medieval versions of the legend, including the Saga of the Volsungs, the Prose Edda, and the Nibelungenlied. Studying these works is crucial to a literary appreciation of the libretti, much as appreciation of Plutarch biographies informs the reading of Shakespeare's plays of antiquity.

Wagner's ambitious work was composed under the nationalistic fervor of 19th Century Germany. He believed "The Nibelungenlied" to be for Germany what "The Iliad" is for Greece or "The Aeneid" is for Rome. Wagner populates his German forests and rivers with mythological gods and faeries, and his human heroes are imbued with heroic courage and strength reminiscent of Achilles and Beowulf.

I highly recommend this translation. There are seldom times a book will inspire aesthetic chills, and it happened several times when reading these libretti. And if you are interested in contextualizing the Siegfried literary tradition, your first stops should be the Nibelungenlied, the Saga of the Volsungs, and the Prose Edda. See also Wagner's libretto for "Tristan and Isolde," another brilliantly written libretto based on a medieval German text, Gottfried von Straussberg's Tristan.

My first English Ring was Andrew Porter's "singable" translation. It was my introduction to a world of sound-rhymes that is difficult to render even in German (a running joke in Bayreuth was that singers were asked to first translate the text to German, before starting work!!!). When my focus turned to meaning of words and sentences, I've discovered the Spencer translation, the most up-to-date version available in English. Besides an annotated text (with alternate endings included - previous versions of course...), comparing word roots with Wagner's own sources, we are also presented with introductory essays by Wagner scholars, filled with insight and devoid of one-sidedness so common in music scholarship. For everyone looking for THE version of Der Ring in English.

Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung: A companion

Stewart Spencer, Barry Millington, Elizabeth Magee, Warren Darcy

Thames & Hudson, Paperback, 2000.

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I have to agree, to some extent at least, with those who point out that the book is very useful mainly as a complete, modern and easy to understand line-to-line translation of all four music dramas that consist arguably Wagner's greatest achievement in the field.

The translation occupies, of course, most of the book and it does worth the money. But there are several other things that could certainly have been done much better. Had this been so, the book would have been invaluable resource about "The Ring", indeed. Now, it is only an excellent translation. Here are some thoughts of mine about its drawbacks.

First of all, the thematic guide is poorly done. Most of the leitmotifs are given only numbers and very few have names. Barry Milington states that labelling of the leitmotifs should be resisted because their interrelations and psychological significance go much deeper than it may look at first glance. That argument is more or less sound. But then, especially people who can't read music like me (and the guys who can need not be condescending) find it pretty hard to grasp the significance of a motif, even if it is pointed out to them exactly where it occurs with relation to the text, which is done in the book. I surmise this is the case even with people who are able to read music fluently. It would have been much nicer if an appendix of all the listed leitmotifs had been given that lists all places where any of them occurs. So in this case one would have been able to see how a leitmotif is used on many occasions and make much more imaginative and valuable conclusions about it. But now all these leitmotifs without names are of little use unless the listener takes the trouble, and it is a lot of trouble indeed, to find all places in the text where they appear. This should have been done by the authors. The thematic guide together with the references in the text is still useful but it could have been wonderful.

The other major drawback of the book are the essays. They rightly concentrate mostly on The Ring and do not digress more than it's really necessary into Wagner's life or personality, and the many contradictions linked with it. They are informative but the analyses are mediocre, not very well written and sometimes distinctly prejudiced. Barry Milington is a fine example for he appears to be highly prejudiced having, obviously, very favourable opinion of modernistic stagings of The Ring and a rather contemptuous attitude to classical ones. One just expects more impartiality and cooler head from one of the leading scholars in the field. Warren Darcy's essay, perhaps the most valuable one, about Wagner's changing attitude is a fine examination of all versions of the text and their evolution but it offers very little if anything more. One is left wanting just a little power of reflection to start with. But it was not to be.

As for the recording guide of The Ring it is so poorly done it hardly deserves to be mentioned; it is very short, even more biased and full of the usual cliches, like "Karajan's chamber approach" for example. No attempt for serious analyse of the merits and the shortcomings of any recording has been made.

In short, excellent resource as a complete and quite easy to understand translation and of some if not much help with the numerous leitmotifs and their meaning and significance. More or less of no use about recording and performance history of The Ring, let alone its multifaceted interpretation and analyse

This is a very useful set of libretti and translations. The introductory material and the synopses are also of great use.

I bought the book to have a handy libretto and was pleasantly surprised with the wonderful introductory material. A must have for every lover of Wagner's music.