Customer Reviews

Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This little book is an excellent introduction for folks like myself who have tried for years to make sense of the cycle. The narration gives a plot synopsis followed by the author's view of the meaning behind the drama. I have always been fascinated by Wagner's Ring Cycle though I do not know German. I have been very intrigued by the music. Well this book gave me a tiny little bit to get me going.

Much of Father Owens' analysis may not meet with everyone's interpretation of the cycle but it does make one think.

There is a section at the end that contains written music. My knowledge of reading music is very scant so I just ignored that section. It is not germane to the narrative because one can get these examples by listening to the work. For good examples get An Introduction To Wagner's Der Ring Des Nebulungen by Deryck Cooke on CD. Mr. Cooke's CD gives audio examples that one can appreciate without knowing how to read music.

Father Lee's book is essentially a fleshing out of some radio commentary given on the Ring cycle. While it is a short book and a quick read, it is insightful, deep, and well worth study and discussion.

There is no single 'correct' way to interpret Wagner's giant gesamtkunstwerk, one reason why so many books of interpretations and analysis of the pieces struggle for shelf space. This one makes a worthy addition to the pile.

Readers new to the Ring will find the synopsis and discussion of each opera informative and most valuable in getting them started to a basic understanding. Those more familiar with the Ring should find much to think about and compare with their own or other interpretations.

Supplemental to the text are suggested recordings, short reviews of additional books worth investigating, and a brief list of some of Wagner's more well-known musical motifs. There are more complete such lists and references available, but again for the novice these will all be of great help.

I found Lee's book informative, fascinating, and useful.

I bought a copy of this book from the Metropolitan Opera Shop just before seeing the Met Ring last Spring. Although this was not my first Ring production and I was already quite familiar with the Ring and other commentaries on this tetralogy, Owen Lee's book provided me with new insights that I had not thought of before. His manner is forthright and clear and his topic well-researched. It is a valuable resource to both newbies to the subject and experienced Ring afficionadoes.

to one of the most multi-layered works of art in existence.

I have wanted to see this opera series for over 20 years, ever since I saw an opera properly prepared by a Wagner fanatic. Finally, I was in a place where I could, so I turned to the various preparations that I could find.

This short book was indisputably one of the best, and it doesn't shy from bold pronouncements and interpretations. Lee is a classical scholar of great learning and brings together a huge range of sources in this 100plus-page book.

First, he gives a synopsis. Then, he interprets it, with full awareness that the reader may disgree. While the content is covered by other reviewers here, I wanted to say that this added immensely to my experience of this uniquely complex work of near-modern art. Plus, it is aimed that at erudite admirers, but to those (like me) desperate for an anchor as I approach the unique intensity of Wagner.

While it relies a bit too heavily on depth psychology, which places this interpretation at a certain time, it is never dogmatic and addresses many of the other philosophical ideas that underlie it. This is my only caveat. Truly great works of art are re-interpreted by every age, and this one will be too. In addition, it cannot be the only source one approaches - you need to listen to the music as well, so this is one supplement.

Warmly recommended.

In this slender volume, Fr. Lee not only provides a neat summary of Wagner's epic, but an ample and insightful look at the political and philophical underpinnings of the opera's genesis. His discussion of Schopenhauer's influence, albeit a surface treatment, never overwhelms the reader. Nor does the discussion of the leitmotives bog the reader down and detract from a lively and personal narrative. Highly recommended.

I found Father Owen Lee's interpretation of Wagner's Ring concise, beautifully written and coherent. I was utterly mesmerized and could not put the book down until I had read it.

At this writing, there are some reviews saying this is the greatest book ever on Wagner's Ring, and others that claim it is superficial. So, what is it?

It is a clearly-thought-out analysis of the Ring, that takes the Ring set work by work, not only describing the story line and characters of each work, but also how it fits into the total, including the overall meaning of the Ring and its parts. Now that's quite a mouthful, isn't it? Seems as if it would require a huge tome of a thousand or more pages--yet M. Lee Owen requires barely a hundred. Is such an achievement possible? Yes. Rather than wander afield on various tangents, Owen sticks to telling the story of the Ring, but filling in what the music adds, what Wagner wrote at the times of composition, and the aim of a work that occupied most of this great composer's life.

I've read many biographies of Wagner, and many works about his music, and I've watched every performance I could manage of his Ring. I have to tell you that this short, easy-to-read book helped me put together a far greater understanding for and appreciation of this, the greatest work of art of Western Civilization. I strongly recommend it to all those wishing to better understand and enjoy Wagner's magnificent Ring.