Wagner wanted
Siegfried, the third music
drama in
The Ring of the Nibelung, to be the
most popular of the cycle. Despite its many
beautiful and dramatic scenes, it has not
fulfilled its composer’s aspiration: Professor
Ulrich Weisstein examines why. Professor
Anthony Newcomb contributes a detailed
analysis of Wagner’s leitmotifs and the
different purposes they fulfil. Derrick Puffett
discusses how Wagner composed
Tristan und
Isolde and
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in
the eight-year hiatus between his beginning
and completion of Siegfried’s second act. The
thematic guide complements those found in the
other Opera Guides to
The Ring Cycle.
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'Brilliantly produced and superb value.'
Sunday Times
'All these will provide the new opera-goer with food for thought.'
Daily Telegraph
'Wholehearted recommendation of this valuable new series.'
TLS
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