Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round Review

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(More customer reviews)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.

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Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg in Full Score Review

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(More customer reviews)Along with Die Walkure, I ordered Die Meistersinger to give me a even greater look into German opera. I was extremely impressed with the outcome even though I had been told by many people that it was 'heavy' and I should avoid Wagner at all costs.

I won't get into the nitty-gritty stuff of comedy/tragedy but in comparison to Die Walkure, it's much lighter and quite funny especially when one character (Beckmesser) happens to steal a song written by someone else and on delivering, messes it all up and makes a fool of himself. The themes continue to come back at every oppurtunity and the whole thing links together as one.

Of course Wagner likes his big, fat scores - this one comes in just over 800 pages and the other Dover scores, it opens flat (or reasonably) and doesn't damage the spine, i.e. no creases.
Text is all in German apart from a translation of the contents, characters and orchestration so unless you've mastered the German language, get your hands on a german or music dictionary. See through is minimal. $30 is a very good bargain for such a big score.

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One of the greatest of comic operas, an extraordinarily adept and vivacious wedding of libretto and musical score. Meticulously reproduced from the definitive C. F. Peters edition, published in Leipzig, ca. 1910.

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Lohengrin in Full Score Review

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(More customer reviews)The score sits open nicely, but is not suitable for a music-bench. Instrumentation, libretto, and musical notes are all in German. This is the full score, not a piano reduction.
The biggest disappointment is the lack of the seldom-recorded extended Grail Monologue. This section, only a few minutes long, was cut by Wagner just prior to the first production and is only available on two commercial recordings of the opera (Leinsdorf and the more widely available Barenboim). So readers following along with these recordings will notice a hole in their scores. -- REP

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One of Wagner's most popular operas, perhaps his most accessible, and a masterwork of vocal and instrumental writing. Reproduced directly from the first engraved edition, published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1887.

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WAGNER MOMENTS (Amadeus) Review

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(More customer reviews)For well over a hundred years the music dramas of Richard Wagner have thrilled audiences: to recapture the experience and celebrate its diversity, WAGNER MOMENTS: A CELEBRATION OF FAVORITE WAGNER EXPERIENCES gathers over a hundred anecdote and reflections from Wagner fans from C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot to James Joyce and Friedrich Nietzsche. It's a fine recommendation for any classical music library.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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"100 Wagner Moments: Have you had one?" The music dramas of Richard Wagner have, for the last 150 years, thrilled and amazed listeners everywhere. In Wagner Moments, author J. K. Holman has assembled 100 such moments, from the living and dead, famous and not so famous, from Charles Baudelaire to Placido Domingo, musicians and non-musicians. Mr. Holman edits these stories, placing them in their biographical and historical context.

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Die Walkure (Music Scores) Review

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(More customer reviews)this has got to be one of the greatest operas of all time. dover's publication is neatly laid out and easy to follow. the paper and binding are good quality; i own many dover scores and they've all held up verywell, even though i use them a lot.
'full score' means you get the musicas it was written for every instrument (including vocals), just as thecomposer intended for it to be played, just as you would hear it performedlive or on cd. a list of instruments is also included to give an idea ofthe massive orchestra that the work calls for. if you don't know german,you may want an english translation of the libretto (it's not translatedhere), and a good german to english dictionary, as wagner wrote his musicalinstructions (tempo, articulation)in german, rather than the usualitalian.
for composers or music lovers, this is a great way to studyorchestration and composition, right at the feet of one of the masters...

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Product Description:
The second in performing sequence, and the most popular and frequently performed of the Ring operas, superbly reprinted here in the authoritative C. F. Peters edition published in Leipzig, ca. 1910.

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Siegfried in Full Score Review

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(More customer reviews)Keith Dillon has already said much of what needs be said about this score.Ideally I'd have given it a 4.5 or even only 4 stars due to 2 faults with those initial Schott editions - except Mr. Dillon has already beaten me to it (yet his review is warmer...)!Consequently, I'll raise my mark to counter-balance given the low price.[Getting the current Schott Complete-Wagner Works Edition, which does follow proper conventions, surely would cost a king's ransom...]

The faults are:1) Inconsistency about ordering of instruments and/or voices per system; 2) Slightly less than ideal clarity in printing due to the styles/fonts of engraving then used.

Regarding the first point:it was a period of transition from an initial time where other instruments and voices would be inserted between the upper strings (violins, violas) and the low ones (which still were notated à la "Continuo" function long after that style of composition had died) versus today's systematisation where everything is grouped by order of class of instruments and/or voices (woodwinds, brass, percussion, harps, keyboards, solo-voices, choral-voices, strings - going from top to bottom in a system).That full-transition hadn't quite finished yet (it so did around 1910 with Peters' editions of the Wagner operas - "Tristan und Isolde" used the old order Wagner used, whereas "Die Walkure" and "Parsifal" were in the new order - other composers like Richard Strauss were already established however with the new order...).

Also, as an extra challenge, tenor voices (in this case: Siegfried, Mime) are notated using the tenor clef - not that I mind;however, others might.

Anyway, those are minor quibbles - in compensation one knows that he's dealing with very reliable scores proofed (if I recall correctly) by Wagner himself, with few mistakes if any - all of which can be corrected by listening to appropriate recordings.Definitely recommended!

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Product Description:
The third opera in Wagner's monumental tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is reproduced here, complete and unabridged, from the first edition (1876). Wagner enthusiasts, opera lovers and musicians will appreciate this affordable edition of an influential Romantic-era masterpiece.

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