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The Ring and The Fire: Stories From Wagner's Nibelung Operas
Back in print from Purple House Press.
The opera cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung, by Richard Wagner, stands as one of the greatest achievements in the history of music.
Wagner based his Ring cycle on tales from Norse and German mythology after studying ancient legends of gods, demigods, and earthly beings. He spent years writing and shaping his material, the result was an epic story, heroic and exalted, told through his stirring music.
Clyde Robert Bulla tells the stories that make up The Ring of the Nibelung cycle: The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, The Dusk of the Gods. Magical and mysterious, they are larger than life, yet based on human emotions. He brings Wagner’s epic tale of love, hate, greed, and goodness, to life simply but dramatically.
Bulla includes musical themes from the four operas, and writes of Wagner’s life and his struggles to break with tradition, creating a new form of opera—the music drama.
Readers who love lore and legends, and readers who admire Wagner’s music will welcome the simple beauty of Bulla’s powerful tales. Strikingly illustrated with woodcuts by Clare and John Ross.
The opera cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung, by Richard Wagner, stands as one of the greatest achievements in the history of music.
Wagner based his Ring cycle on tales from Norse and German mythology after studying ancient legends of gods, demigods, and earthly beings. He spent years writing and shaping his material, the result was an epic story, heroic and exalted, told through his stirring music.
Clyde Robert Bulla tells the stories that make up The Ring of the Nibelung cycle: The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, The Dusk of the Gods. Magical and mysterious, they are larger than life, yet based on human emotions. He brings Wagner’s epic tale of love, hate, greed, and goodness, to life simply but dramatically.
Bulla includes musical themes from the four operas, and writes of Wagner’s life and his struggles to break with tradition, creating a new form of opera—the music drama.
Readers who love lore and legends, and readers who admire Wagner’s music will welcome the simple beauty of Bulla’s powerful tales. Strikingly illustrated with woodcuts by Clare and John Ross.
135 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
6 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Clyde Robert Bulla
102 books99 followersBorn to be a Writer
Almost as far back as he can remember, Clyde Robert Bulla wanted to write. Born on a farm in a small town in Missouri, Mr. Bulla's first school was a one-room country schoolhouse. One day his teacher asked each first grade student what he or she would do with a thousand dollars. Young Clyde answered that he would buy a table. His classmates laughed heartily, and his teacher was puzzled. “What I really meant,” says Mr. Bulla, “is a desk or other flat surface on which to write my stories!”
First Stories
Mr. Bulla's first piece of writing was titled, “How Planets Were Born.” The ambitious opening sentence was, “One night old Mother Moon had a million babies.” All through school, Mr. Bulla continued to write stories mostly, but plays and poetry, too. After years of gathering editor's rejection slips, Mr. Bulla sold a magazine story, then several more. Soon after, Mr. Bulla wrote a novel and a publisher accepted it.
The Difficult Years
In the excitement of publishing a novel, Mr. Bulla wrote two more books. Unfortunately, no one wanted to publish them. His luck took a turn for the worse when the publisher of his first book went bankrupt. For several years, he worked at a local weekly newspaper where he struggled with linotype, kept books, collected bills, and wrote a weekly column.
Success!
A couple of Mr. Bulla's weekly columns caught the attention of a well-known author and illustrator of children's books. She wrote to Mr. Bulla, suggesting that he try writing a children's book. He immediately sent her a manuscript for a children's book he'd written a year before. Within one week, an editor of a New York publisher read the manuscript,and it was accepted. The book was The Donkey Cart, published in 1946. Since then, Mr. Bulla has written over twenty books for children, as well as the music for several children's song books.
About The Chalk Box Kid
“When I was young,” explains Mr. Bulla, “I sometimes found it hard to cope in new surroundings, and I was apt to get off on the wrong foot. This is the story of a boy who got off on the wrong foot in a new school and how he tried to cope.” In describing the chalk garden, Mr. Bulla says, “I gave Gregory something I've always wished for: a big, blank wall that I could cover with my own drawings.”
Almost as far back as he can remember, Clyde Robert Bulla wanted to write. Born on a farm in a small town in Missouri, Mr. Bulla's first school was a one-room country schoolhouse. One day his teacher asked each first grade student what he or she would do with a thousand dollars. Young Clyde answered that he would buy a table. His classmates laughed heartily, and his teacher was puzzled. “What I really meant,” says Mr. Bulla, “is a desk or other flat surface on which to write my stories!”
First Stories
Mr. Bulla's first piece of writing was titled, “How Planets Were Born.” The ambitious opening sentence was, “One night old Mother Moon had a million babies.” All through school, Mr. Bulla continued to write stories mostly, but plays and poetry, too. After years of gathering editor's rejection slips, Mr. Bulla sold a magazine story, then several more. Soon after, Mr. Bulla wrote a novel and a publisher accepted it.
The Difficult Years
In the excitement of publishing a novel, Mr. Bulla wrote two more books. Unfortunately, no one wanted to publish them. His luck took a turn for the worse when the publisher of his first book went bankrupt. For several years, he worked at a local weekly newspaper where he struggled with linotype, kept books, collected bills, and wrote a weekly column.
Success!
A couple of Mr. Bulla's weekly columns caught the attention of a well-known author and illustrator of children's books. She wrote to Mr. Bulla, suggesting that he try writing a children's book. He immediately sent her a manuscript for a children's book he'd written a year before. Within one week, an editor of a New York publisher read the manuscript,and it was accepted. The book was The Donkey Cart, published in 1946. Since then, Mr. Bulla has written over twenty books for children, as well as the music for several children's song books.
About The Chalk Box Kid
“When I was young,” explains Mr. Bulla, “I sometimes found it hard to cope in new surroundings, and I was apt to get off on the wrong foot. This is the story of a boy who got off on the wrong foot in a new school and how he tried to cope.” In describing the chalk garden, Mr. Bulla says, “I gave Gregory something I've always wished for: a big, blank wall that I could cover with my own drawings.”
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 1, 2023
If a reader (from about the age of twelve or so onwards, and in my opinion, The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas is very nicely suitable for adult readers as well) simply desires detailed and engagingly penned summaries of Richard Wagner's four opera Ring Cycle (of Das Rheingold, die Walküre, Siegfried and Die Götterdämmerung, but which author Clyde Robert Bulla presents using their English titles of The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and The Dusk of the Gods, then yes, with The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas Bulla really and truly does an excellent job, clearly and extensively describing and telling how the cursed Rhenish gold (stolen by the evil dwarf Alberich from the Rhine Maidens) and the equally cursed ring furnished from said gold (of Germanic/Norse legend and myth but I do have to wonder whether J.R.R. Tolkien might have used either the Ring Cycle or the sources Richard Wagner himself used, the Icelandic Edda and the Middle High German Das Nibelungenlied for his The Lord of the Rings) lead to massive and wanton mayhem, havoc and destruction for both gods and mortals alike (for Wotan, Fricka, Siegfried, Brünnhilde etc.), and indeed with my only complaints about how the four Ring operas are summed up being minor but still important and as such also necessary to mention.
For one, Clyde Robert Bulla in my opinion should be giving some major spoiler warnings with regard to The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas since the presented synopses, they are all so detailed and so all-encompassing that one basically gets pretty much ALL of the contents of the Ring Cycle and with not much being left out, and that this scenario could be a bit annoying and frustrating for individuals who might only actually want some and not all of the four operas' facts being basically spoon fed to them and to leave nothing left to the imagination and to actually seeing and listening to the Ring Cycle being performed live (or on a DVD). And for two, why do the summaries of the four Ring Cycle operas only contain the stories and not the titles of the most famous and well known songs from Das Rehingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Die Götterdämmerung? Because while in The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas Bulla does list some of the musical themes (with notes but sans lyrics) at the back of the book, for me, not having the song and aria titles (which are sung by Brünnhilde et al) appear within the synopses themselves is rather annoying and also quite takes away from the operatic feel of The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas for me.
But even though I have generally found (and yes, even with the two issues mentioned above) Clyde Robert Bulla's texts telling and depicting the story of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle generally delightful and nicely informational, sorry, but the Wagner biography which Bulla includes in The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas certainly and frustratingly leaves quite a bit, leaves huge amount to be desired. Sure, the basic facts and dates are correct, but honestly, considering how controversial Richard Wagner was and still continues to be as a composer and as a person (massively narcissistic, full of himself, with a serious addiction to gambling and to spending huge amounts of money beyond his financial means, as well as being majorly and openly anti Semitic), this needs absolutely to be mentioned in ANY decent biography of Richard Wagner, and that Clyde Robert Bulla totally ignores all of this and also makes no mention at all of how the Nazis used Richard Wagner and his operas (and in particular the Ring Cycle) for their warped beliefs of supposed German superiority, I honestly consider this not just academically problematic and lacking but in fact actually totally and utterly unacceptable and as such so hugely an issue that for me, I can and will only consider a three star rating for The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas and to also say to interested, to potential readers to ignore what Clyde Robert Bulla writes about Richard Wagner's life and to get a better and more balanced biographical introduction elsewhere (like for example Wikipedia, where a very thorough life story of Richard Wagner is available, highlighting both positives and not ignoring the controversies and the negatives either).
For one, Clyde Robert Bulla in my opinion should be giving some major spoiler warnings with regard to The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas since the presented synopses, they are all so detailed and so all-encompassing that one basically gets pretty much ALL of the contents of the Ring Cycle and with not much being left out, and that this scenario could be a bit annoying and frustrating for individuals who might only actually want some and not all of the four operas' facts being basically spoon fed to them and to leave nothing left to the imagination and to actually seeing and listening to the Ring Cycle being performed live (or on a DVD). And for two, why do the summaries of the four Ring Cycle operas only contain the stories and not the titles of the most famous and well known songs from Das Rehingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Die Götterdämmerung? Because while in The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas Bulla does list some of the musical themes (with notes but sans lyrics) at the back of the book, for me, not having the song and aria titles (which are sung by Brünnhilde et al) appear within the synopses themselves is rather annoying and also quite takes away from the operatic feel of The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas for me.
But even though I have generally found (and yes, even with the two issues mentioned above) Clyde Robert Bulla's texts telling and depicting the story of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle generally delightful and nicely informational, sorry, but the Wagner biography which Bulla includes in The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas certainly and frustratingly leaves quite a bit, leaves huge amount to be desired. Sure, the basic facts and dates are correct, but honestly, considering how controversial Richard Wagner was and still continues to be as a composer and as a person (massively narcissistic, full of himself, with a serious addiction to gambling and to spending huge amounts of money beyond his financial means, as well as being majorly and openly anti Semitic), this needs absolutely to be mentioned in ANY decent biography of Richard Wagner, and that Clyde Robert Bulla totally ignores all of this and also makes no mention at all of how the Nazis used Richard Wagner and his operas (and in particular the Ring Cycle) for their warped beliefs of supposed German superiority, I honestly consider this not just academically problematic and lacking but in fact actually totally and utterly unacceptable and as such so hugely an issue that for me, I can and will only consider a three star rating for The Ring and the Fire: Stories from Wagner's Nibelung Operas and to also say to interested, to potential readers to ignore what Clyde Robert Bulla writes about Richard Wagner's life and to get a better and more balanced biographical introduction elsewhere (like for example Wikipedia, where a very thorough life story of Richard Wagner is available, highlighting both positives and not ignoring the controversies and the negatives either).
August 21, 2021
I have to admit the whole time I was reading this I kept picturing Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd singing!
But seriously this story would make a very interesting comparison with the Lord of the Rings, Beowulf and some Greek Mythology. This book in my humble opinion is not for young readers. It does include a child born from incest and the ending is very Greek Mythology not Disney!
I'm now very curious to read more about Wagner. Following up listening to the opera and of course the Bugs Bunny version would make for a great later high school class.
But seriously this story would make a very interesting comparison with the Lord of the Rings, Beowulf and some Greek Mythology. This book in my humble opinion is not for young readers. It does include a child born from incest and the ending is very Greek Mythology not Disney!
I'm now very curious to read more about Wagner. Following up listening to the opera and of course the Bugs Bunny version would make for a great later high school class.
Read
February 10, 2023Read for my own amusement/info but may add it to morning time next year in our homeschool (it’s short, could easily be finished in a term) maybe with Collum’s Children of Odin. However I wouldn’t mind reading a more detailed version either; not sure I’m ready to WATCH the whole opera yet 😅
May 23, 2023
If I'm being entirely honest, I must admit that I find Wagner's Ring Cycle to be a little odd. But this is a really fabulous juvenile retelling.
December 18, 2021
This is a fairly simple, straightforward retelling of the stories of Wagner’s famous operas. The reading level is probably 5th grade and up, but of course, there are some content issues, as one might expect with something based on mythology. A major part of the story is the romance between siblings Siegmund and Siegelinde, and the child of their union, Siegfried. This book handles it as discreetly and as tastefully as possible, but it’s still incest, y’all. Also, the story is just dark generally, with plenty of death and the demise of the gods at the end. But if you need a quick overview of this famous saga, I think this book is a good choice. It’s well written and not too long. The kindle version is only a dollar currently, and has only a couple of typos. However, it does not include the sheet music at the end, which was apparently part of the print version.
March 3, 2023
3.6⭐️
February 20, 2012
Though it doesn't explicitly mention this anywhere, I think it's quite apparent that this book was intended for children. Now, I don't have any kids, nor do I have any particular affinity for facile reading; however, I found this old book in a heap of discarded library books and figured, what the Hel! (not a typo, there; just an attempt at Norse humor)
For what it is, I thought this was a pretty enjoyable, and interesting little book. It is a synoptic narrative of Wagner's Ring Cycle. It begins with a brief sketch of Wagner's life and career, continues for the majority of the book with the story of Siegmund, his offspring, and the trouble that the ring created. After the narrative ends, Bulla was kind enough to insert some music staffs and transcribe some of Wagner's more famous leitmotifs for the musically inclined. I believe this was the first time that, after finishing reading a book, I brought it over to my piano and starting playing along to the music that was printed at the end!
I don't think it would win any awards for children's books in this day and age, due to the copious amounts of violence doled out by the rather capricious characters, but I suppose it was written in a time when children were already greatly exposed to the moral ambiguities contained in Greco-Roman mythology, and thus weren't as likely to be offended; or should I say, their parents weren't as likely to be offended. So considering all of that, I think it's well-written, and contains interesting tales from a mythology not often told--at least not where I live. It seems the Greeks have a monopolistic hold on our mythological wants.
Overall, I was quite pleased with this little jaunt into the mystical past of Northern Europe, and have had my appetite whetted for more. Perhaps I'll get around to the Eddur, or the Nibelungenlied, one day.
For what it is, I thought this was a pretty enjoyable, and interesting little book. It is a synoptic narrative of Wagner's Ring Cycle. It begins with a brief sketch of Wagner's life and career, continues for the majority of the book with the story of Siegmund, his offspring, and the trouble that the ring created. After the narrative ends, Bulla was kind enough to insert some music staffs and transcribe some of Wagner's more famous leitmotifs for the musically inclined. I believe this was the first time that, after finishing reading a book, I brought it over to my piano and starting playing along to the music that was printed at the end!
I don't think it would win any awards for children's books in this day and age, due to the copious amounts of violence doled out by the rather capricious characters, but I suppose it was written in a time when children were already greatly exposed to the moral ambiguities contained in Greco-Roman mythology, and thus weren't as likely to be offended; or should I say, their parents weren't as likely to be offended. So considering all of that, I think it's well-written, and contains interesting tales from a mythology not often told--at least not where I live. It seems the Greeks have a monopolistic hold on our mythological wants.
Overall, I was quite pleased with this little jaunt into the mystical past of Northern Europe, and have had my appetite whetted for more. Perhaps I'll get around to the Eddur, or the Nibelungenlied, one day.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews