A wonderful way to study the music, whether you want to follow along or play and sing yourself. As a vocal score, it is concise.

Best translation of this work. Useful notes and essays. Highest recommendation.

Best translation of this work. Useful explanatory notes and essays. Highest recommendation.

Suppose for a moment that we were able to travel back in time to the latter part of 19th century Germany. If we could do this, we would find an up and coming philosopher by the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche who has recently befriended an aging composer; Wilhelm Richard Wagner. Thanks to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, we are able to make this impossible journey and breathe the crisp German air alongside this philosopher & composer.

The correspondence and friendship that developed between these two intellectual and artistic giants is examined in great detail by Fischer-Dieskau. We learn of their mutual love and admiration. We're let in on the jealousy that each of these egoists had for the other. Wagner would have liked to have been remembered as a great philosopher as well as a great composer. Nietzsche, likewise, would have liked to have been known to posterity as a great composer as well as an influential thinker.

Unfortunately, things did not work out that way. Fischer-Dieskau relays for us the letters of rejection that Hans von Bulow sent to the philosopher; the insults that ended Nietzsche's musical ambitions altogether. As a sidenote you can get some of Nietzsche's piano works @ Amazon.com...P>This is an opportunity to explore a friendship that is every bit as fascinating as that between Beethoven & Goethe. All of the intrigue of the famous splitting up & subsequent animosity, the wonderful discussions about Schopenhaur as well as Nietzsche's infatuation with Cosima Wagner - all if it is included in this biographical work. Anyone who has an interest in either of these men will benefit a great deal by reading this book.

This is the most up-to-date and useful "general" volume on Wagner I have read. Rather than focusing on a single aspect of Wagner, this gives excellent, short and readable essays (by a variety of modern authors) on the historical and philosophical background; Wagners' views on his contemporaries, women, and the Jews (a particularly insightful essay on this difficult issue); Wagner's own writings; and fine short analysis of all of the music, not just the operas. This book is a mini-encyclopedia (though more comprehensive and readable than the new Grove entry). Well worth finding for anyone who has more than a passing interest in Wagner.

This was written by my great, great, grandfather! I was so excited about it! Finally I can read it as I do not speak German! My maiden name is Fricke and there are were four Richard Frickes that followed him: my brother, father, grandfather (who are all alive) and then his son and himself (both deceased). Who is George? We must be related!

A prolific writer of both opera and prose, Wagner has always been engulfed in controversy. Over the past century and a half, a great deal has been written about him; the book stores are full of such works. After a while, one gets tired of constantly reading what other people think of Wagner. In this book, you can read his own words.

His collected prose extends to 8 volumes of densely packed type. Wading through them is a daunting task. This book is a carefully chosen selection of those writings where Wagner specifically talks about music, opera, or drama. If you are more interested in Wagner the musician than Wagner the political polemicist, this book is for you.

This is a reprint of the 1964 edition by Dutton. It contains the following sections: Cultural Decadence of the Nineteenth Century; The Greek Ideal; The Origins of Modern Opera, Drama, and Music; The Artwork of the Future; Wagner's Development; Bayreuth; Politics. You will find gems such as the original plot for The Ring, and an interesting essay where Wagner describes how he "fixed" some of Beethoven's symphonies.

Is Wagner a brilliant, far-reaching visionary who changed the course of art and philosophy for the next century, or a superficial, self-centered despot with a mercurial thought process? Now, you can decide for yourself.

I cannot recommend this too highly as an introduction to what many regard as Richard Wagner's most problematic work. Peter Bassett's book restores balance to modern perspectives on Wagner's "stage dedicating festival-drama"; a balance that has been missing from (most significantly) Robert Gutman's eccentric interpretation and Lucy Beckett's interpretation from a narrowly Christian perspective.

As Peter Bassett makes clear "Parsifal" is a work that can be meaningful to adherents of any religion or none. He discusses the roots of Wagner's drama in the Grail legend as it appears in medieval romances; he also explains how the work relates to Wagner's interest in Buddhism.

The book includes a prose translation of Wagner's 1877 German text into modern English. This translation is more literal than rhyming translations such as those made by Andrew Porter or Lionel Salter. The reader will find Bassett's "free translation" useful both for study of the text alone and when listening to a recording of "Parsifal".

Splendid, solid piece of criticism. A MUST for all Wagnerites, perfect or imperfect, and those who want to understand the Ring better. Sections include:

Introduction: On finding mythical-historical parallels between music-drama, spoken-drama and opera

1 Wagner and the Eighteen Century: Hystory and Myth, Tasso and Tannhäuser, Wotan and Wallenstein

2 The Nibelung legend in the nineteenth century: Wagner and Hebbel

3 Brünnhilde on Naxos: a study of the wagnerian influence on Hofmannsthal's dramas and the Hofmannsthal-Strauss dramas

4 Wagner and Brecht, or show me the way to Nibelheim, Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why

Conclusion: History or myths?

Selected bibliography

Cicora is simply one of the most interesting and thought-provoking wagnerians nowadays and so is her book. ot to be missed.

A very interesting book by M. Owen Lee. Gives a good background on how Wagner developed the Ring. Interesting details of Wagner's life, his life style during this difficult life time, how the Ring evolved and became the superb masterpiece of Wagner's new style of Opera. The ring is difficult to understand however Mr. Lee gives a good explanation of the ring, which makes it much more enjoyable.