Books aboit the Ring Cycle
ForumOpera, or Nobody Knows the Traubel I've Seen
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an, um Nachrichten zu schreiben.
Dieses Thema ruht momentan. Die letzte Nachricht liegt mehr als 90 Tage zurück. Du kannst es wieder aufgreifen, indem du eine neue Antwort schreibst.
1robertajl
I'm going to attend the Ring Cycle in Seattle next year and I would like to read a few books that discuss its musical structure as well as some that put it in a historical (musical and social) context. I've attended performances of some of the operas but I'm not much beyond the "Ooooh, that's amazing" stage. Thank you for your help.
2pechmerle
One work that I highly recommend as part of your reading project is George Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite. Originally published in 1898; available in a number of paperback reissues, including one in May 2008 from Book Jungle (108 pp) . Shaw was one of the earliest music critics to become an enthusiast of the Ring cycle, a pioneer in the English speaking world for appreciation of the Ring, and his continues to be one of the most interesting commentaries. If you click over to the book's page here on LT, that generates a recommendations list that contains a number of more modern commentaries on both music and context.
Along with the music, Shaw offers a very influential interpretation of the Ring's story, as an allegory of the strivings of European society from the revolutions of 1848 to the Paris Commune of 1870. Rise of capitalist oppression, eventual reaction of the working masses, downfall of a corrupt ruling elite, etc. This may sound heavy and formulaic, but -- with Shaw's sparkling writing and wit -- it's not. And while many other interpretations are certainly possible, Shaw's is one with which Wagner's own views had some affinities. Wagner did see the work as reflecting contemporary philosophical and social currents. At one stage he discovered Schopenhauer's work on human will, and declared (not necessarily accurately) that he had inadvertently in the Ring expressed what he only understood later when reading Schopenhauer.
Stagings of the Ring, particularly in Germany, often reflect this strain of 'critique of capitalism' as the theme of the Ring. Here in San Francisco, the S.F. Opera is just starting a Ring cycle that sets the story in the American West in the Gold Rush era. As a local music critic has written, 'it all starts with gold in a river -- so how could that approach be wrong!' (Shaw refers in his commentary to the then recent Klondike gold rush for an analogy.)
Along with the music, Shaw offers a very influential interpretation of the Ring's story, as an allegory of the strivings of European society from the revolutions of 1848 to the Paris Commune of 1870. Rise of capitalist oppression, eventual reaction of the working masses, downfall of a corrupt ruling elite, etc. This may sound heavy and formulaic, but -- with Shaw's sparkling writing and wit -- it's not. And while many other interpretations are certainly possible, Shaw's is one with which Wagner's own views had some affinities. Wagner did see the work as reflecting contemporary philosophical and social currents. At one stage he discovered Schopenhauer's work on human will, and declared (not necessarily accurately) that he had inadvertently in the Ring expressed what he only understood later when reading Schopenhauer.
Stagings of the Ring, particularly in Germany, often reflect this strain of 'critique of capitalism' as the theme of the Ring. Here in San Francisco, the S.F. Opera is just starting a Ring cycle that sets the story in the American West in the Gold Rush era. As a local music critic has written, 'it all starts with gold in a river -- so how could that approach be wrong!' (Shaw refers in his commentary to the then recent Klondike gold rush for an analogy.)
