'Things like this are written only for people who have good powers of endurance (so really for nobody!),' wrote Wagner about Die Walkure. Yet, as Geoffrey Skelton points out, the opera has enjoyed a separate popularity and existence from The Ring of the Nibelung cycle - that unique four-day festival for which Wagner built a special theatre at Bayreuth. George Gillespie shows just how ('As if by the deft shake of a kaleidoscope') the string of mythical events was converted into a drama remarkable for its concentrated excitement and fine construction. Barry Millington introduces the web of motifs in the complex and beautiful score. The English version, for the first time complete with Elizabeth Forbes's translation of the verses that Wagner did not eventually set to music but retained as footnotes to his published version, is by acclaimed translator Andrew Porter.
Reviews
"Wholehearted recommendation of this valuable new series." "TLS""
