Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung
by Stewart Spencer, Barry Millington, Richard Wagner
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Book Summary Information
Author: Barry Millington, Richard Wagner, Stewart SpencerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-10
ISBN: 0500281947
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Book Reviews of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung
Book Review: A Profound Work of Art in its Best English Translation
Summary: 5 Stars
**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.
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