Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round

Rating:
Summary: Brief but interesting and insightful
Review: Is there a better writer on opera today than Father Owen Lee? This book provides five essays on The Ring (an introduction plus an essay on each individual Ring opera) which are brief (about 15-20 pages each) but always interesting and insightful. For those new to the Ring, who want to get an idea of "what all the fuss is about" without wading though hundreds of pages of analysis, this book is indispensible. And even for those who come to it with a wealth of knowledge, this book will probably provide a few new insights.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful vademecum for a tour of Wagner's Ring
Review: M. Owen Lee is a genial fixture on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and a professor of Classics at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. He has published a couple books of his intermission-break talks on various operas in the Met repertory but his introduction to the four music dramas comprising Wagner's Ring cycle is indispensible; along with late record producer John Culshaw's Reflections on Wagner's Ring (and I suppose G.B. Shaw's socialist rant The Perfect Wagnerite), it helps both newcomers and veterans to form their own viewpoint of the great tetralogy. Lee's allusive and literate prose warms the heart and feeds the mind. A brief but excellent companion for those bound to opera house or sound system to intoxicate themselves with potent, magical music.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction to the Ring.
Review: This was the book that first taught me to appreciate Wagner's Ring cycle. Before reading this book, I had tried to watch the Met telecasts and listen to the music, but I confess that I actually found Wagner boring. Then, one year, my father gave me this small book as a Christmas present.

Since then, I have read and re-read the book, and listened to the operas over and over again. I have seriously considered becoming a collector of Ring recordings; I own the Bohm version recorded at Bayreuth, the Solti version and the Karajan version. I have gone from being indifferent to Wagner to being a Wagnerolater, and Father Lee's book is what set this off.

The book may not be of as much use to someone who is already well versed in Wagner scholarship, however it is an excellent introduction to the Ring cycle. It exposed me for the first time to the depths of Ring interpretation. It also ably explained Wagner's musical techniques and his historical context in ways that the layperson can easily understand. For understanding the various leitmotifs in the index, some musical training is helpful, but having a recording of the Ring by your side should help to make up for any deficiencies in this department.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting to know Wagner, and interested in understanding how he can weave such a spell over his audiences. This book opened my own eyes; it can do the same for you.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction to the Ring.
Review: This was the book that first taught me to appreciate Wagner's Ring cycle. Before reading this book, I had tried to watch the Met telecasts and listen to the music, but I confess that I actually found Wagner boring. Then, one year, my father gave me this small book as a Christmas present.

Since then, I have read and re-read the book, and listened to the operas over and over again. I have seriously considered becoming a collector of Ring recordings; I own the Bohm version recorded at Bayreuth, the Solti version and the Karajan version. I have gone from being indifferent to Wagner to being a Wagnerolater, and Father Lee's book is what set this off.

The book may not be of as much use to someone who is already well versed in Wagner scholarship, however it is an excellent introduction to the Ring cycle. It exposed me for the first time to the depths of Ring interpretation. It also ably explained Wagner's musical techniques and his historical context in ways that the layperson can easily understand. For understanding the various leitmotifs in the index, some musical training is helpful, but having a recording of the Ring by your side should help to make up for any deficiencies in this department.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting to know Wagner, and interested in understanding how he can weave such a spell over his audiences. This book opened my own eyes; it can do the same for you.