Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner's Ring by Deryck Cooke ISBN: 0-19-315318-1 Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand Pub. Date: May, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Sadly, unfinished
Comment: i saw the world end is one of the most brilliant studies of wagner's ring. unfortunately, deryck cooke died before he finished his survey. still, i saw the world end remains an important work detailing the ring and die walkure in particular.
Rating: 5
Summary: extraordinary book
Comment: This really is an extraordinary book - it is the most comprehensive, insightful, and consistent study of Wagner's Ring des Niblungen. It offers some musical analysis of the leitmotivs, and is one of the first books to begin a revision of von Wolzogen's grossly erroneous analysis of the leitmotivs; it provides a plethora of highly organized information about the stages of Wagner's sketches and librettos and the original myths/legends/sagas from which he drew; and a scene by scene analysis of Rheingold and Walkure.
This book actually makes sense of Der Ring des Niblungen - no easy task, as anyone familiar with the opera tetralogy is well aware. If you are interested in the tetralogy and want to know more about it, this is THE book. There are, however, two tragedies associated with this book: the first is that the author's untimely death prevented him from finishing the book (though the material printed is itself finished). The whole book should have been about three times the length of the printed material. The second tragedy is that it is OUT OF PRINT - this is absolutely disgraceful...hopefully this title will come in to print again.
Get a hold of a copy of this book if you can.
Rating: 5
Summary: a definitive reference
Comment: This book was to have been the first of a two-volume set, but sadly Deryck Cooke passed away before his monumental exposition could be fully realized. It is a great tragedy that this work was left unfinished, but we should at least be thankful for what we have. Rather than take a theological, political or sociological position and try to make the Ring fit, as many authors did, Cooke chose instead to focus on the actual construction of the libretto and orchestral score. Although there is insightful analysis on all 4 operas, this volume is devoted mostly to the realization of Das Rheingold and Die Walkure. The author presents a very convincing thesis that far from being a disjointed, poorly conceived work, Rheingold, by comparison to the extremely disparate and incoherent nature of the source material, is in fact a very compact and concentrated story. When one looks at the Nibelungenlied, the Eddic poems, and the various pieces of Norse mythology, Cooke unequivocally demonstrates that Wagner had enough material to compose a stage work requiring much longer than 4 evenings to perform. The process of refining, editing, compressing, and modifying (within reason) to adapt the writings for the stage is explained in thorough and exhaustive detail. Somehow Cooke accomplished this without the narrative dragging on or becoming too difficult, a masterly effort in exposition. He then goes on to explain how the leitmotives were conceived and transformed from one character and/or event to another. The depth of analysis is worthy of the subject matter. Anyone who reads this book should have a much greater appreciation of Das Rheingold than before.
This work offers many rewards to the serious Wagner enthusiast and also to the casual music lover, and cannot be too strongly recommended. Let us hope it comes back into circulation.
 |
Title: Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round by M. Owen Lee ISBN: 0879101865 Publisher: Limelight Editions Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
 |
Title:Deryck Cooke: An Introduction To Der Ring Des Nibelungen ASIN: B00000424H Publisher: Polygram Records Pub. Date: 08 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.49 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $26.49 |
 |
Title: Aspects of Wagner by Bryan Magee ISBN: 0192840126 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: November, 1988 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy by Bryan Magee ISBN: 0805067884 Publisher: Metropolitan Books Pub. Date: 07 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
 |
Title: Ring of the Nibelung by Richard Wagner, Andrew Porter ISBN: 0393008673 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: March, 1983 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
