Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round [Paperback]

M. Owen Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

Commentary on and a concise, lucid interpretation of the opera world's most complex masterwork, expanded from the author's popular intermission talks during Met Opera broadcasts.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Lee (classics, St. Michael's Coll., Univ. of Toronto) is a frequent guest on the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, where his lucid, witty, and learned comments both instruct and entertain. Based on his commentaries during the Ring Cycle's presentation on four consecutive April weekends in 1989, the book takes its title from C.S. Lewis's remarks upon first seeing Arthur Rackham's illustrations for the Cycle: "The sky had turned round. . . . Pure Northerness engulfed me." In a concise, beautifully shaped style, Lee summarizes the plot and analyzes each opera musically and psychologically while also examining the mythological roots and the meaning this work can hold for today's audience. The result is a readable critical essay that celebrates its subject and makes one eager to hear the operas. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries with strong music collections.
- Beverly True, Cumberland Regional Lib., Amherst, Nova Scotia
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...one can learn a great deal about the... stories, what underlies them, and the history of the times surrounding the composition... --Opera News.

Product Details

• Paperback: 122 pages
• Publisher: Limelight Editions (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879101865
• ISBN-13: 978-0879101862
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Wagner
  • #64 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Opera

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to the Ring., November 21, 2001

By 

Geoff Guth (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round (Paperback)

This was the book that first taught me to appreciate Wagner's Ring cycle. Before reading this book, I had tried to watch the Met telecasts and listen to the music, but I confess that I actually found Wagner boring. Then, one year, my father gave me this small book as a Christmas present.

Since then, I have read and re-read the book, and listened to the operas over and over again. I have seriously considered becoming a collector of Ring recordings; I own the Bohm version recorded at Bayreuth, the Solti version and the Karajan version. I have gone from being indifferent to Wagner to being a Wagnerolater, and Father Lee's book is what set this off.

The book may not be of as much use to someone who is already well versed in Wagner scholarship, however it is an excellent introduction to the Ring cycle. It exposed me for the first time to the depths of Ring interpretation. It also ably explained Wagner's musical techniques and his historical context in ways that the layperson can easily understand. For understanding the various leitmotifs in the index, some musical training is helpful, but having a recording of the Ring by your side should help to make up for any deficiencies in this department.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting to know Wagner, and interested in understanding how he can weave such a spell over his audiences. This book opened my own eyes; it can do the same for you.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brief but interesting and insightful, May 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round (Paperback)

Is there a better writer on opera today than Father Owen Lee? This book provides five essays on The Ring (an introduction plus an essay on each individual Ring opera) which are brief (about 15-20 pages each) but always interesting and insightful. For those new to the Ring, who want to get an idea of "what all the fuss is about" without wading though hundreds of pages of analysis, this book is indispensible. And even for those who come to it with a wealth of knowledge, this book will probably provide a few new insights.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful vademecum for a tour of Wagner's Ring, January 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round (Paperback)

M. Owen Lee is a genial fixture on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and a professor of Classics at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. He has published a couple books of his intermission-break talks on various operas in the Met repertory but his introduction to the four music dramas comprising Wagner's Ring cycle is indispensible; along with late record producer John Culshaw's Reflections on Wagner's Ring (and I suppose G.B. Shaw's socialist rant The Perfect Wagnerite), it helps both newcomers and veterans to form their own viewpoint of the great tetralogy. Lee's allusive and literate prose warms the heart and feeds the mind. A brief but excellent companion for those bound to opera house or sound system to intoxicate themselves with potent, magical music.