# Is There A Book Like This? (Wagner)



## HornedHelm (25 d ago)

Is there a book that chronicles the creation of the Ring librettos sort of like the History of Middle Earth books? I have the Rudolf Sabor "Ring" book which goes into sources - but I'm looking for all the prose outlines, early drafts, poems, changes etc. with the evolving text in full and in English. Anyone know if it exists? Thanks!


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## REP (Dec 8, 2011)

Not to my knowledge. If such a book existed, I would want it! I have only gleaned a little bit about the evolution of the Ring poems from the various books and articles I've read over the years. From what I recall, the Ring did change a little over its long gestation, but maybe not as much as Tolkien's Rings did (Siegfried did not begin life as a hobbit, for example, unlike Aragorn). Interestingly, Wagner privately published the Ring texts in 1853, well before the music had even been composed. The only section I've seen from these earlier versions is Brunnhilde's ending monologue, which Wagner re-wrote several times. You can find some of the different versions here: The Incongruence of the Schopenhauerian Ending in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Far and away the best resource I've found for appreciating the text of Wagner's Ring is Andrew Porter's English singing translation. For one thing, it's one of the few Ring librettos I've found that actually retains Wagner's original line breaks and indentations. These are obviously very important markers for understanding the Ring's poetic structure, so it's a little frustrating to find that most printed libretti simply jettison them for the sake of saving space.

The other reason I like Porter's translation is because it's a singing translation, so the stressed and unstressed syllables appear in the order that Wagner wrote them. This means that the Porter Ring is actually poetic (and faithfully so), whereas most translations either don't aspire to poetry or fail miserably at it.


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## HornedHelm (25 d ago)

REP said:


> Not to my knowledge. If such a book existed, I would want it! I have only gleaned a little bit about the evolution of the Ring poems from the various books and articles I've read over the years. From what I recall, the Ring did change a little over its long gestation, but maybe not as much as Tolkien's Rings did (Siegfried did not begin life as a hobbit, for example, unlike Aragorn). Interestingly, Wagner privately published the Ring texts in 1853, well before the music had even been composed. The only section I've seen from these earlier versions is Brunnhilde's ending monologue, which Wagner re-wrote several times. You can find some of the different versions here: The Incongruence of the Schopenhauerian Ending in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung
> 
> Far and away the best resource I've found for appreciating the text of Wagner's Ring is Andrew Porter's English singing translation. For one thing, it's one of the few Ring librettos I've found that actually maintains Wagner's original line breaks and indentations. These are obviously very important markers for understanding the Ring's poetic structure, so it's a little frustrating to find that most printed libretti simply jettison them for the sake of saving space.
> 
> The other reason I like Porter's translation is because it's a singing translation, so the stressed and unstressed syllables appear in the order that Wagner wrote them. This means that the Porter Ring is actually poetic (and faithfully so), whereas most translations either don't aspire to poetry or fail miserably at it.


I actually have the Porter but I haven't cracked in a very long time, I'll dig it out & read it again! It's one of those books you get early on, over-read and then kind of forget about. Thanks!


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## REP (Dec 8, 2011)

HornedHelm said:


> I actually have the Porter but I haven't cracked in a very long time, I'll dig it out & read it again! It's one of those books you get early on, over-read and then kind of forget about. Thanks!


It was revelatory to me after years spent reading opera libretti and not sensing the poetry that was supposedly there. That was, of course, because most opera libretti are translated into prose! Reading Porter's translation was the first time I felt like I was experiencing the poetry of the Ring. I have since acquired all of Porter's singing translations as well as the singing translations of many other authors.

If you want to know how the Ring is structured, it's written in accentual verse with varying numbers of syllables per line. Wagner mostly employs lines of two and three stresses, with the two-stress lines being indented and the three-stress lines not. You will occasionally find irregular lines of one or four stresses, but they are rare. Also, Wagner tends to use colons and semi-colons freely, reserving full-stops for the ends of speeches or major trains of thought, much as one would use a paragraph break. Full-stops in the libretto tend to coincide with cadences in the music.

Hope that helps!


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