Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), WWV 86, is a cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner.
The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Music dramas by Richard Wagner
Nibelungenlied. The composer termed the cycle a "Bühnenfestspiel" (stage
festival play), structured in three days preceded by a Vorabend ("preliminary
evening"). It is often referred to as the Ring Cycle, Wagner's Ring, or simply
The Ring.

Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years,
from 1848 to 1874. The four parts that constitute the Ring cycle are, in
sequence:

Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold)

Scene 1 of Das Rheingold from the first
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Siegfried
Bayreuth Festival production of the
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) Bühnenfestspiel in 1876

Although individual works of the sequence have occasionally been performed Translation The Ring of the Nibelung
separately, Wagner intended them to be performed in series. The first Librettist Richard Wagner
performance as a cycle opened the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, beginning Language German
with Das Rheingold on 13 August and ending with Götterdämmerung on
Premiere As a cycle:
17 August. Opera stage director Anthony Freud stated that Der Ring des
Nibelungen "marks the high-water mark of our art form, the most massive 13 August 1876
challenge any opera company can undertake."[1] Das Rheingold (previously
performed separately in
1869)
14 August 1876 Die
Contents Walküre (previously
Title performed separately in
Content 1870)
List of characters 16 August 1876 Siegfried
Story 17 August 1876
Concept Götterdämmerung
Music Bayreuth Festspielhaus
Leitmotifs
Instrumentation
Tonality
Composition of the Ring cycle
The text
The music
Performances
First productions
Modern productions
Recordings of the Ring cycle
Other treatments of theRing cycle
Books cited
 References and notes
Further reading
External links

Title
Wagner's title is most literally rendered in English as The Ring of the Nibelung. The Nibelung of the title is the dwarf Alberich, and
the ring in question is the one he fashions from the Rhine Gold. The title therefore denotes "Alberich's Ring".[2] The "-en" suffix in
"Nibelungen" can occur in a genitive singular, accusative singular, dative singular, or a plural in any case (in weak masculine German
nouns), but the article "des" immediately preceding makes it clear that the genitive singular is intended here. "Nibelungen" is
occasionally mistaken as a plural, butthe Ring of the Nibelungs(in German Der Ring der Nibelungen) is incorrect.

Content
The cycle is a work of extraordinary scale.[3] Perhaps the most outstanding facet of the monumental work is its sheer length: a full
performance of the cycle takes place over four nights at the opera, with a total playing time of about 15 hours, depending on the
conductor's pacing. The first and shortest work, Das Rheingold, has no interval and is one continuous piece of music typically lasting
around two and a half hours, while the final and longest, Götterdämmerung, takes up to five hours, excluding intervals. The cycle is
modelled after ancient Greek dramas that were presented as three tragedies and one satyr play. The Ring proper begins with Die
Walküre and ends with Götterdämmerung, with Rheingold as a prelude. Wagner called Das Rheingold a Vorabend or "Preliminary
Evening", and Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung were subtitled First Day, Second Day and Third Day, respectively, of the
trilogy proper.

The scale and scope of the story is epic. It follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and several mythical creatures over the eponymous
magic ring that grants domination over the entire world. The drama and intrigue continue through three generations of protagonists,
until the final cataclysm at the end ofGötterdämmerung.

The music of the cycle is thick and richly textured, and grows in complexity as the cycle proceeds. Wagner wrote for an orchestra of
gargantuan proportions, including a greatly enlarged brass section with new instruments such as the Wagner tuba, bass trumpet and
contrabass trombone. Remarkably, he uses a chorus only relatively briefly, in acts 2 and 3 of Götterdämmerung, and then mostly of
men with just a few women. He eventually had a purpose-built theatre constructed, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, in which to perform
this work. The theatre has a special stage that blends the huge orchestra with the singers' voices, allowing them to sing at a natural
volume. The result was that the singers did not have to strain themselves vocally during the long performances.

List of characters
 Rhinemaidens, Giants & Other
Gods Mortals Valkyries
Nibelungs characters

Wotan, King of Wälsungs Brünnhilde Rhinemaidens The

the Gods (god of (soprano) Voice of
light, air, and Siegmund, mortal son Waltraute Woglinde (soprano) a
wind) (bass- of Wotan (tenor) (mezzo- Wellgunde (soprano) Woodbird
baritone) Sieglinde, his twin soprano) (soprano)
Flosshilde (mezzo-
Fricka, Wotan's sister (soprano) Helmwige soprano)
wife, goddess of Siegfried, their son (soprano)
marriage (mezzo- (tenor) Giants
Gerhilde
soprano)
Neidings (soprano)
Freia, Fricka's Fasolt (bass-
Siegrune baritone/high bass)
sister, goddess of
Hunding, Sieglinde's (mezzo-
love, youth, and Fafner, his brother, later
husband, chief of the soprano)
beauty (soprano) turned into a dragon
Neidings (bass) Schwertleite (bass)
Donner, Fricka's
(contralto)
brother, god of Gibichungs
Ortlinde Nibelungs
thunder (baritone)
(soprano)
Froh, Fricka's Gunther, King of the
Grimgerde Alberich (bass-baritone)
brother, god of Gibichungs (baritone)
spring/happiness (contralto) Mime, his brother, and
Gutrune, his sister Siegfried's foster father
(tenor) Rossweisse
(soprano) (tenor)
Erda, goddess of (mezzo-
Hagen, their half- soprano)
wisdom/fate/Earth
brother, and Alberich's
(contralto)
son (bass)
Loge, demigod of
A male choir of
fire (tenor)
Gibichung vassals and
The Norns, the a small female choir of
weavers of fate, Gibichung women
daughters of Erda
(contralto, mezzo-
soprano,
soprano)

Story
The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged
by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens in the
river Rhine. The Ring itself as described by Wagner is a Rune-magic taufr ("tine", or
"talisman") intended to rule the feminine multiplicative power by a fearful magical
act termed as 'denial of love' ("Liebesverzicht"). W
ith the assistance of the god Loge,
Wotan – the chief of the gods – steals the ring from Alberich, but is forced to hand it
over to the giants, Fafner and Fasolt in payment for building the home of the gods,
Valhalla, or they will take Freia, who provides the gods with the golden apples that
keep them young. Wotan's schemes to regain the ring, spanning generations, drive
much of the action in the story. His grandson, the mortal Siegfried, wins the ring by
slaying Fafner (who slew Fasolt for the ring) – as Wotan intended – but is eventually
betrayed and slain as a result of the intrigues of Alberich's son Hagen, who wants the
ring for himself. Finally, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde – Siegfried's lover and Wotan's
daughter who lost her immortality for defying her father in an attempt to save Illustration of Brünnhilde byOdilon
Siegfried's father Sigmund – returns the ring to the Rhine maidens as she commits Redon, 1885
suicide on Siegfried's funeral pyre. Hagen is drowned as he attempts to recover the
ring. In the process, the gods and Valhalla are destroyed.

Details of the storylines can be found in the articles on each music drama.
Wagner created the story of the Ring by fusing elements from many German and Scandinavian myths and folk tales. The Old Norse
Edda supplied much of the material for Das Rheingold, while Die Walküre was largely based on the Völsunga saga. Siegfried
contains elements from the Eddur, the Völsunga saga and Thidrekssaga. The final Götterdämmerung, draws from the 12th-century
German poem, the Nibelungenlied, which appears to have been the original inspiration for theRing.[4]

The Ring has been the subject of myriad interpretations. For example, George Bernard Shaw, in The Perfect Wagnerite, argues for a
view of The Ring as an essentially socialist critique of industrial society and its abuses. Robert Donington in Wagner's Ring And Its
Symbols interprets it in terms of Jungian psychology, as an account of the development of unconscious archetypes in the mind,
leading towards individuation.

Concept
In his earlier operas (up to and including Lohengrin) Wagner's style had been based, rather than on the Italian style of opera, on the
German style as developed by Carl Maria von Weber, with elements of the grand opera style of Giacomo Meyerbeer. However he
came to be dissatisfied with such a format as a means of artistic expression. He expressed this clearly in his essay 'A Communication
to My Friends', (1851) in which he condemned the majority of modern artists, in painting and in music, as "feminine ... the world of
art close fenced from Life, in which Art plays with herself.' Where however the impressions of Life produce an overwhelming 'poetic
[5]
force', we find the 'masculine, the generative path of Art'.

Wagner unfortunately found that his audiences were not willing to follow where he led them:

The public, by their enthusiastic reception of Rienzi and their cooler welcome of the Flying Dutchman, had plainly
shown me what I must set before them if I sought to please. I completely undeceived their expectations; they left the
theatre, after the first performance of Tannhäuser, [1845] in a confused and discontented mood. – The feeling of utter
loneliness in which I now found myself, quite unmanned me... My Tannhäuser had appealed to a handful of intimate
friends alone.[6]

Finally Wagner announces:

I shall never write an Opera more. As I have no wish to invent an arbitrary title for my works, I will call them
Dramas ...

I propose to produce my myth in three complete dramas, preceded by a lengthy Prelude (V

orspiel). ...

At a specially-appointed Festival, I propose, some future time, to produce those three Dramas with their Prelude, in
the course of three days and a fore-evening. The object of this production I shall consider thoroughly attained, if I and
my artistic comrades, the actual performers, shall within these four evenings succeed in artistically conveying my
purpose to the true Emotional (not the Critical) Understanding of spectators who shall have gathered together
expressly to learn it.[7]

This is his first public announcement of the form of what would become the
Ring cycle.

In accordance with the ideas expressed in his essays of the period 1849–51 (including the "Communication" but also "Opera and
Drama" and "The Artwork of the Future"), the four parts of theRing were originally conceived by Wagner to be free of the traditional
operatic concepts of aria and operatic chorus. The Wagner scholar Curt von Westernhagen identified three important problems
discussed in "Opera and Drama" which were particularly relevant to the Ring cycle: the problem of unifying verse stress with
melody; the disjunctions caused by formal arias in dramatic structure, and the way in which opera music could be organised on a
different basis of organic growth and modulation; and the function of musical motifs in linking elements of the plot whose
connections might otherwise be inexplicit. This became known as the leitmotif technique (see below), although Wagner himself did
not use this word.[8]
However, Wagner relaxed some aspects of his self-imposed restrictions somewhat as the work progressed. As George Bernard Shaw
sardonically (and slightly unfairly)[9] noted of the last operaGötterdämmerung:

And now, O Nibelungen Spectator, pluck up; for all allegories come to an end somewhere... The rest of what you are
going to see is opera, and nothing but opera. Before many bars have been played, Siegfried and the wakened
Brynhild, newly become tenor and soprano, will sing a concerted cadenza; plunge on from that to a magnificent love
duet...The work which follows, entitled Night Falls on the Gods [Shaw's translation of Götterdämmerung], is a
thorough grand opera.[10]

Music

Leitmotifs
As a significant element in the Ring and his subsequent works, Wagner adopted the use of leitmotifs, which are recurring themes or
harmonic progressions. They musically denote an action, object, emotion, character, or other subject mentioned in the text or
presented onstage. Wagner referred to them in "Opera and Drama" as "guides-to-feeling", describing how they could be used to
inform the listener of a musical or dramatic subtext to the action onstage in the same way as a Greek chorus did for the theatre of
ancient Greece. Although other composers before Wagner had already used similar techniques, the Ring was a landmark in the extent
to which they were employed, as well as in the ingenuity of their combination and development.

Instrumentation
Wagner made significant innovations in orchestration in this work. He wrote for a very large orchestra, using the whole range of
instruments used singly or in combination to express the great range of emotion and events of the drama. Wagner even commissioned
the production of new instruments, including the Wagner tuba, invented to fill a gap he found between the tone qualities of the horn
and the trombone, as well as variations of existing instruments, such as the bass trumpet and a contrabass trombone with a double
slide. He also developed the "Wagner bell", enabling the bassoon to reach the low A-natural, whereas normally B-flat is the
instrument's lowest note. If such a bell is not to be used, then acontrabassoon should be employed.

All four parts have a very similar instrumentation. The core ensemble of instruments are one piccolo, three flutes (third doubling
second piccolo), three oboes, cor anglais (doubling fourth oboe), three soprano clarinets, one bass clarinet, three bassoons; eight
horns (fifth through eight doubling Wagner tubas), three trumpets, one bass trumpet, three tenor trombones, one contrabass trombone
(doubling bass trombone), one contrabass tuba; a percussion section with 4 timpani (requiring two players), triangle, cymbals,
glockenspiel; six harps and a string section consisting of 16 first and secondviolins, 12 violas, 12 violoncellos, and 8 double basses.

Das Rheingold requires one bass drum, one tam-tam, one onstage harp and 18 onstage anvils. Die Walküre requires one snare drum,
tam-tam, and an on-stage steerhorn. Siegfried requires one onstage cor anglais and one onstage horn. Götterdämmerung requires five
onstage horns and four onstage steerhorns, one of them to be blown by Hagen.

Tonality
Much of the Ring, especially from Siegfried act 3 onwards, cannot be said to be in traditional, clearly defined keys for long stretches,
but rather in 'key regions', each of which flows smoothly into the following. This fluidity avoided the musical equivalent of clearly
defined musical paragraphs, and assisted Wagner in building the work's huge structures. Tonal indeterminacy was heightened by the
increased freedom with which he useddissonance and chromaticism. Chromatically alteredchords are used very liberally in the Ring,
and this feature, which is also prominent in Tristan und Isolde, is often cited as a milestone on the way to Arnold Schoenberg's
revolutionary break with the traditional concept of key and his dissolution of consonance as the basis of an organising principle in
music.
Composition of the Ring cycle

The text
In summer 1848 Wagner wrote The Nibelung Myth as Sketch for a Drama, combining the medieval sources previously mentioned
into a single narrative, very similar to the plot of the eventualRing cycle, but nevertheless with substantial differences. Later that year
he began writing a libretto entitled Siegfrieds Tod ("Siegfried's Death"). He was possibly stimulated by a series of articles in the Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik, inviting composers to write a 'national opera' based on the Nibelungenlied, a 12th-century High German poem
which, since its rediscovery in 1755, had been hailed by the German Romantics as the "German national epic". Siegfrieds Tod dealt
with the death of Siegfried, the central heroic figure of the Nibelungenlied. The idea had occurred to others – the correspondence of
Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn in 1840/41 reveals that they were both outlining scenarios on the subject: Fanny wrote 'The hunt with
[11]
Siegfried's death provides a splendid finale to the second act'.

By 1850, Wagner had completed a musical sketch (which he abandoned) for Siegfrieds Tod. He now felt that he needed a preliminary
opera, Der junge Siegfried ("The Young Siegfried", later renamed to "Siegfried"), to explain the events in Siegfrieds Tod, and his
verse draft of this was completed in May 1851. By October, he had made the momentous decision to embark on a cycle of four
operas, to be played over four nights: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Der Junge Siegfried and Siegfrieds Tod; the text for all four parts
was completed in December 1852, and privately published in February 1853.

The music
In November 1853, Wagner began the composition draft of Das Rheingold. Unlike the verses, which were written as it were in
reverse order, the music would be composed in the same order as the narrative. Composition proceeded until 1857, when the final
score up to the end of act 2 of Siegfried was completed. Wagner then laid the work aside for twelve years, during which he wrote
Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

By 1869, Wagner was living at Tribschen on Lake Lucerne, sponsored by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He returned to Siegfried, and,
remarkably, was able to pick up where he left off. In October, he completed the final work in the cycle. He chose the title
Götterdämmerung instead of Siegfrieds Tod. In the completed work the gods are destroyed in accordance with the new pessimistic
thrust of the cycle, not redeemed as in the more optimistic originally planned ending. aW
gner also decided to show onstage the events
of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, which had hitherto only been presented as back-narration in the other two parts. These changes
resulted in some discrepancies in the cycle, but these do not diminish the value of the work.

Performances

First productions
On King Ludwig's insistence, and over Wagner's objections, "special previews" of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre were given at the
National Theatre in Munich, before the rest of the Ring. Thus, Das Rheingold premiered on 22 September 1869, and Die Walküre on
26 June 1870. Wagner subsequently delayed announcing his completion of Siegfried to prevent this work also being premiered
against his wishes.

Wagner had long desired to have a special festival opera house, designed by himself, for the performance of the Ring. In 1871, he
decided on a location in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. In 1872, he moved to Bayreuth, and the foundation stone was laid. Wagner
would spend the next two years attempting to raise capital for the construction, with scant success; King Ludwig finally rescued the
project in 1874 by donating the needed funds. The Bayreuth Festspielhausopened in 1876 with the first complete performance of the
Ring, which took place from 13 to 17 August.

In 1882, London impresario Alfred Schulz-Curtius organized the first staging in the United Kingdom of the Ring cycle, conducted by
Anton Seidl and directed by Angelo Neumann.[12]
The first production of theRing in Italy was in Venice (the place where Wagner died), just two
months after his 1883 death, atLa Fenice.[13]

The first Australasian Ring (and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) was presented by the
Thomas Quinlan company Melbourne and Sydney in 1913.

Modern productions
The Ring is a major undertaking for any opera company: staging four interlinked operas
requires a huge commitment both artistically and financially; hence, in most opera houses,
production of a new Ring cycle will happen over a number of years, with one or two operas in
the cycle being added each year. The Bayreuth Festival, where the complete cycle is
performed most years, is unusual in that a new cycle is almost always created within a single Amalie Materna, the first
year. Bayreuth Brünnhilde, with
Cocotte, the horse donated
Early productions of theRing cycle stayed close to Wagner's original Bayreuth staging. Trends by King Ludwig to play her
set at Bayreuth have continued to be influential. Following the closure of the Festspielhaus horse Grane
during the Second World War, the 1950s saw productions by Wagner's grandsons Wieland and
Wolfgang Wagner (known as the 'New Bayreuth' style), which emphasised the
[14]
human aspects of the drama in a more abstract setting.

Perhaps the most famous modern production was the centennial production of 1976,
the Jahrhundertring, directed by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre
Boulez.[15] Set in the industrial revolution, it replaced the depths of the Rhine with a
hydroelectric power dam and featured grimy sets populated by men and gods in 19th
and 20th century business suits. This drew heavily on the reading of the Ring as a
revolutionary drama and critique of the modern world, famously expounded by The Rhinemaidens in the first
George Bernard Shaw in The Perfect Wagnerite. Early performances were booed but Bayreuth production in 1876
the audience of 1980 gave it a 45-minute ovation in its final year;[16][17] the
production is now generally regarded as revolutionary and a classic.

Although many Ring productions try to remain close to Wagner's original stage design and direction, others seek to re-interpret the
Ring for modern audiences, often including decor and action that Wagner himself did not envisage. The production by Peter Hall,
conducted by Georg Solti at Bayreuth in 1983 is an example of the former, while the production by Richard Jones at the Royal Opera
House Covent Garden in 1994–1996, conducted byBernard Haitink, is an example of the latter.

In 2003 the first production of the cycle in Russia in modern times was conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Opera, Saint
Petersburg, designed by George Tsypin. The production drew parallels withOssetian mythology.[18]

The Royal Danish Opera performed a complete Ring cycle in May 2006 in its new waterfront home, the Copenhagen Opera House.
This version of the Ring tells the story from the viewpoint of Brünnhilde and has a distinct feminist angle. For example, in a key
scene in Die Walküre, it is Sieglinde and not Siegmund who manages to pull the sword Nothung out of a tree. At the end of the cycle,
[19]
Brünnhilde does not die, but instead gives birth to Siegfried's child.

The Canadian Opera Companycelebrated the opening of its new home, the Four Seasons Centre, by performing three complete Ring
Cycles in September 2006. Each part of the cycle had a dif
ferent director.

San Francisco Opera and Washington National Operabegan a co-production of a new cycle in 2006 directed by Francesca Zambello.
The production uses imagery from various eras of American history and has a feminist and environmentalist viewpoint. Recent
performances of this production took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. in April/May
otan.[20]
2016, featuring Catherine Foster and Nina Stemme as Brünnhilde, Daniel Brenna as Siegfried, and Alan Held as W
Los Angeles Opera presented its first Ring cycle in 2010 directed by Achim
Freyer.[21] Freyer staged an abstract production that was praised by many critics but
criticized by some of its own stars.[22] The production featured a raked stage, flying
props, screen projections and special effects.

The Metropolitan Opera began a new Ring cycle in 2010, conducted by James
Levine with Bryn Terfel as Wotan. Deborah Voigt was Brünnhilde in the April 2011
production of Die Walküre. The staging of Das Rheingold by Robert Lepage
involved 24 identical wedges able to rotate independently on a horizontal axis across
the stage, providing level, sloping, angled or moving surfaces facing the audience.
Bubbles, falling stones and fire are projected on to these surfaces, linked by
computer with the music and movement of the characters. In 2013, The Met's
orchestra and chorus were awarded the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
for their performance ofDer Ring des Nibelungen.[23]

Opera Australia presented The Ring Cycle at the State Theatre in Melbourne,
Australia, in November 2013, directed by Neil Armfield and conducted by Pietari
Inkinen. Classical Voice America heralded the production as "one of the best Rings
anywhere in a long time."[24] The production was presented again in Melbourne
from 21 November to 16 December 2016 starring Lise Lindstrom, Stefan Vinke, Gwyneth Jones performing at the
Amber Wagner and Jacqueline Dark.[25] 1976 Bayreuth productionof Der
Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by
It is possible to perform The Ring with fewer resources than usual. In 1990, the City Pierre Boulez and directed by Patrice
of Birmingham Touring Opera (now Birmingham Opera Company), presented a Chéreau
two-evening adaptation (by Jonathan Dove) for a limited number of solo singers,
each doubling several roles, and 18 orchestral players.[26]
This version was subsequently given productions in the
USA.[27] A heavily cut-down version (7 hours plus
intervals) was performed at the Teatro Colón in Buenos
Aires on 26 November 2012 to mark the 200th
anniversary of Wagner's birth.[28]

Recordings of the Ring cycle Modern costuming shown in closing bows followingSiegfried
in 2013 at the National Theatre in Munich

Other treatments of the Ring

cycle
Orchestral versions of the Ring Cycle, summarizing the
work in a single movement of an hour or so, have been
made by Leopold Stokowski, Lorin Maazel (Der Ring
ohne Worte) (1988) and Henk de Vlieger (The Ring: an
Orchestral Adventure), (1991).[29]
Modern costuming shown in closing bows following
English-Canadian comedian and singer Anna Russell Götterdämmerung in 2013 at the National Theatre in Munich.
recorded a twenty-two minute version of the Ring for her Left to right: Gunther, the 3 Rhinemaidens, Gutrune, Hagen,
album "Anna Russell Sings! Again?" in 1953, Brünnhilde, Siegfried
characterized by camp humour and sharp wit.[30]

Produced by the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Charles Ludlam's 1977 play Der Ring Gott Farblonjet was a spoof of Wagner's
operas. The show received a well-reviewed 1990 revival in New oYrk at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.[31]
Books cited
Burbidge, Peter and Richard Sutton,The Wagner Companion, London, 1979. ISBN 0571114504
Cooke, Deryck, I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner's Ring. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000
ISBN 0193153181.
Fifield, Christopher. Ibbs and Tillett: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire(Chapter 3, pp. 25–26). London: Ashgate
Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-84014-290-1, ISBN 9781840142907.
Magee, Bryan, (1988) Aspects of Wagner. Oxford University Press,ISBN 0192840126.
Mendelssohn, Fanny, ed. Marcia Citron (1987) Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn . Pendragon Press
ISBN 978-0-918728-52-4
Millington, Barry (2008) "Der Ring des Nibelungen: conception and interpretation," in Grey , Thomas S. (ed.) The
Cambridge Companion to Wagner, pp. 74–84, Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521644396.
Wagner, Richard, tr. William Ashton Ellis (1994), The Art Work of the Future, and other works, Lincoln and London.
ISBN 9780803297524. "A Communication to My Friends" is on pp. 269–392.
Shaw, George Bernard (1898) The Perfect Wagnerite.[32]

References and notes

1. von Rhein, John (September 21, 2016)."An epic beginning for Lyric's new Wagner 'Ring' cycle" (http://www.chicagotr
ibune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-lyric-ring-preview-ae-0925-20160921-column.html) . Chicago Tribune.
Retrieved June 17, 2017.
2. Magee (2001), p. 109
3. "Wagner in Russia:Ringing in the century"(https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2003/06/12/ringing-in-the-cen
tury). The Economist. June 12, 2003. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
4. For a detailed examination of Wagner's sources for the Ring and his treatment of them, see, among other works,
Deryck Cooke's unfinished study of theRing, I Saw the World End, and Ernest Newman's Wagner Nights. Also
useful is a translation by Stewart Spencer Wagner's
( Ring of the Nibelung: Companion, edited by Barry Millington)
which, as well as containing essays, including one on the source material which provides an English translation of
the entire text that strives to remain faithful to the early medievalStabreim technique Wagner used.
5. Wagner (1994) 287
6. Wagner (1994) 336–7
7. Wagner (1994) 391 and n.
8. Burbidge and Sutton, (1979), pp. 345–6
9. Millington (2008) 80
10. Shaw (1898) section: "Back to Opera Again"
11. Letter of 9 December 1840. See Mendelssohn (1987), pp. 299–301
12. Fifield (2005), pp. 25f
13. Posted by Boydell and Brewer (2008-12-02)."From Beyond the Stave: The Lion roars for W
agner" (http://frombeyon
dthestave.blogspot.com/2008/12/lion-roars-for-wagner
.html). Frombeyondthestave.blogspot.com. Retrieved
2017-04-29.
14. "Productions – Wieland Wagner, New Bayreuth" (http://www.wagneroperas.com/indexwielandwagner.html). Wagner
Operas. 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
15. "The 1976 Bayreuth Centennial Ring"(http://www.wagneroperas.com/index1976ring.html), Wagneropera.com,
retrieved 2 December 2011
16. Kozinn, Allan (7 October 2013). "Patrice Chéreau, Opera, Stage and Film Director
, Dies at 68" (https://www.nytimes.
com/2013/10/08/arts/patrice-chereau-opera-stage-and-film-director-dies-at-68.html)
. The New York Times. Retrieved
8 October 2013.
17. Millington, Barry (8 October 2013)."Patrice Chéreau and the bringing of dramatic conviction to the opera house"
(htt
ps://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/08/patrice-chereau-by-barry-millington). The Guardian. London. Retrieved
11 October 2013.
18. "Mariinsky Theatre brings Ring Cycle to Covent Garden in Summer 2009" (http://www.musicalcriticism.com/news/roh
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Further reading
Besack, Michael, The Esoteric Wagner – an introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen, Berkeley: Regent Press, 2004
ISBN 9781587900747.
Di Gaetani, John Louis,Penetrating Wagner's Ring: An Anthology. New York: Da Capo Press, 1978.
ISBN 9780306804373.
Gregor-Dellin, Martin, (1983)Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century. Harcourt, ISBN 0151771510.
Holman, J.K. Wagner's Ring: A Listener's Companion andConcordance. Portland OR: Amadeus Press, 2001.
Lee, M. Owen, (1994) Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round. Amadeus Press, ISBN 9780879101862.
Magee, Bryan, (2001) The Tristan chord: Wagner and Philosophy. Metropolitan Books, ISBN 0805067884.
May, Thomas, (2004) Decoding Wagner. Amadeus Press, ISBN 9781574670974.
Millington, Barry (editor) (2001)The Wagner Compendium. Thames and Hudson,ISBN 0500282749.
Sabor, Rudolph, (1997) Richard Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen: acompanion volume. Phaidon Press,
ISBN 0714836508.
Spotts, Frederick, (1999)Bayreuth: A History of the Wagner Festival. Yale University Press ISBN 0712652779.

External links
Anthony Tommasini (2007). "The "Kirov" Ring: Let's Hear It for the Home Team". The New York Times.
 "Radio Lab – The Ring and I". WNYC – A podcast about The Ring. 2004.

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