Siegfried

Wagner wanted Siegfried, the third music drama in The Ring of the Nibelung, to be the most popular of the cycle. Despite its many beautiful and dramatic scenes, it has not fulfilled its composers aspiration: Professor Ulrich Weisstein examines why. Professor Anthony Newcomb contributes a detailed analysis of Wagners leitmotifs and the different purposes they fulfil. Derrick Puffett discusses how Wagner composed Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg in the eight-year hiatus between his beginning and completion of Siegfrieds second act. The thematic guide complements those found in the other Opera Guides to The Ring Cycle. Contents: Educating Siegfried, Ulrich Weisstein; Siegfried: The Music, Anthony Newcomb; Siegfried in the Context of Wagners Operatic Writing, Derrick Puffett; Siegfried: Poem by Richard Wagner; Siegfried: English translation by Andrew Porter