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Götterdämmerung in Full Score

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Melding literary, philosophical, and political — as well as musical — influences in his works, Richard Wagner (1813–83) brought the expressive power of German romantic opera to new heights — indeed, his music was its crowning glory. George Bernard Shaw, a critic not given to hyperbole, acknowledged Wagner's preeminent status in The Perfect Wagnerite : "He was the summit of the nineteenth-century school of dramatic music."
In Der Ring des Nibelungen, Wagner drew on a medieval German epic, the Nibelungenlied, and Norse mythology to create a new synthesis of music and drama on the largest scale. Of the four works in the Ring cycle, Götterdämmerung is perhaps the grandest and most sweeping of all. Although it is the final work in the series, the opera was actually first sketched out by Wagner in 1848, under the title Siegfrieds Tod. As it turned out, dramaturgic difficulties forced the composer to expand the tragedy of Siegfried into the four-part Ring. In 1851 he amplified Siegfrieds Tod with Der junge Siegfried (later Siegfried ), and the following year wrote the texts of Die Walküre and Das Rheingold. In effect, the text of the Ring cycle was written in reverse order.
Wagner began composing the musical drafts of Götterdämmerung in 1869. Five years later, the work was complete — the capstone of an epic masterpiece that aroused near-religious fervor among its devotees. Shaw opined of the Ring as a whole: "The musical fabric is enormously elaborate and gorgeous," while Grove's Dictionary offers this comment on the special appeal of Götterdämmerung : "It is in the epic and reflective passages of Götterdämmerung, the narratives and orchestral epic of the Funeral March, that there unfurls that 'associative magic' praised so highly by Thomas Mann."
Götterdämmerung has never been available in the United States in full operatic score — until now. Reprinted directly from the rare 1877 first edition, this is the score that Wagner himself approved with the instrumentation he intended. Except for the original title page, the German-language front matter has been omitted in this edition for reasons of space and replaced by an English translation.
New admirers of Wagner, opera enthusiasts, and all music lovers can savor the full heroic impact of this majestic musical achievement in Dover's characteristically inexpensive, superbly produced edition.

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

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About the author

Richard Wagner

3,307 books179 followers
Germanic legends often based romantic operas of especially known composer Richard Wagner, who worked Tannhäuser (1845) and the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (1853-1876).

From 1872, Richard Wagner lived at Bayreuth to 1883 and designed the opera house, used chiefly for performances of his works.

Works of Jacques Martin Barzun include Darwin, Marx, Wagner (1941).

Wilhelm Richard Wagner conducted, directed theater, and authored essays, primarily for his later called "music dramas." Unlike most other greats, Wagner wrote the scenario and libretto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Davide Nole.
173 reviews46 followers
December 18, 2015
Questo è puro amore. Siamo personalmente sotto i livelli dell'Oro del Reno, ma che personaggi!
Nulla da eccepire a nessuno, nemmeno al povero Siegfried che, finalmente, non ha spessore per un valido motivo. Lotta di potere all'ennesima potenza, una Brunilde che migliore non si può... Tanto love, se vogliamo risultare tamarri.
305 reviews3 followers
August 5, 2023
Wonderful seeing the writen score of the greatest music ever written!
Profile Image for Tyrone_Slothrop (ex-MB).
836 reviews113 followers
April 30, 2023
Ragnarok

Der Ring si conclude in una apoteosi che è divenuta archetipica di ogni letteratura apocalittica - Wagner riesce a creare un epilogo di grande forza espressiva ed epicità, in cui il destino finisce per travolgere tutti e dove, forse, si può cogliere l'idea di eterno ritorno di matrice Schopenhaueriana.
Anche gli eroi positivi, alfieri dell'amore e di una speranza di riscatto, devono finire nelle fiamme rigeneratrici - a Brunilde è lasciato il compito di chiudere il cerchio, restituendo Der Ring alle Ondine del Reno e sacrificandosi in un lavacro di espiazione totalizzante.

Anche qui, la parola diviene strumento di raggiro e imbroglio, con la quale Hagen tesse il suo complesso intrigo nel quale sia Sigfrido che Brunilde cadono - eroi puri e semplici, sconfitti dalle complessi e sottili discorsi del figlio di Alberico. Non si può non notare una critica anti-intellettuale tipica della filosofia irrazionalista del tardo-romanticismo wagneriano (che lascerà il segno anche nel pensiero di Nietzsche).

Non a caso Sigfrido non ascolta più gli uccelli che tanto gli rivelarono nel dramma precedente, cioè perde il contatto con la natura benigna e sincera, affidandosi agli uomini "tecnici": doppi, avidi ed ingannatori.

Grandiosa chiusa di una tetralogia che è giustamente divenuta una delle basi della cultura occidentale - nei suoi aspetti estremi e totali, permette di capire molto del pensiero e della storia europea dei secoli a venire.
Profile Image for Two Readers in Love.
583 reviews20 followers
October 12, 2020
Read the libretto while watching the 10Oct2020 metopera.org's generous pandemic broadcast: "Tonight’s free Nightly Met Opera Stream: Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle comes to a close with Götterdämmerung. Otto Schenk’s sweeping staging stars soprano Hildegard Behrens as Brünnhilde, tenor Siegfried Jerusalem as Siegfried, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig as Waltraute, baritone Ekkehard Wlaschiha as Alberich, and bass Matti Salminen as Hagen. The 1990 telecast is available tonight, October 10, beginning at 7:30PM ET until tomorrow, October 11, at 6:30PM ET."
371 reviews1 follower
January 9, 2018
Good translation. Liked how much clearer the end was to me after a read. The Brunhilde, Wotan parallels made more sense after the read. The Wotan all knowing vs the Siegfried, naive and easily fooled show both the mentally powerful and physically powerful must end. I like Brunhilde staying action where she gives up the ring and the end of Hagan. The Ring seems to be a popularization of the stories Wagner seems very willing to blend rather than use and divert.
4 reviews
August 5, 2009
This is a great book, and the score approved by Wagner himself. My only wish would be an English translation of the notes within the score, as opposed to instructions like "schneller und schneller".
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