English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. Richard Wagner s fifteen-hour operatic cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung" ends with this great music drama. Michael Tanner s essay tackles the scale and meaning not just of this work but of Wagner s whole undertaking, showing that "Gotterdammerung "is for all its length his fastest-moving drama. Composer Robin Holloway brings the focus of creative genius to his discussion of the score, while Christopher Winkle...

English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. 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 and its vital part in the drama, it has not fulfilled its composer's aspiration: Professor Ulrich Weisstein examines why. Professor Anthony Newcomb contributes a detailed analysis of Wagner's use of leitmotifs, identifying the different purposes they...