Das Rheingold, the first opera in Wagner's celebrated four-part Ring Cycle, blends the powerful imagery of Norse and Teutonic mythology with glorious, robustly inventive music to produce a dramatic allegory of greed and lust for power. Despite its popularity, however, Das Rheingold has long been difficult to find in complete score—until now. This handsome volume reproduces the full orchestral and vocal score in a clear engraving with large, legible notation for easy reading and study. This is the complete, authoritative B. Schott's Söhne edition with newly translated front matter, including Wagner's poetic tribute to his patron and benefactor, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Virtually nowhere else will you locate this masterpiece in such an eminently usable format, at such a remarkably affordable price. Music lovers, opera buffs, musicologists—any admirer of Wagner—will welcome Dover's full, reliable edition of this magnificent music-drama in its entirety.

A landmark in the history of opera, Die Walküre is the most popular and most frequently performed opera among those that make up the Ring Cycle. It contains some of Wagner's best-known and most memorable music and stands alone as a complete work. This edition reproduces the full orchestral and vocal score in a clear, modern engraving with large, legible notation for easy reading and study. Do not confuse this with a piano rendering; it is the full orchestral score—nothing has been left out. Perfect for study, this score is also indispensable for anyone listening to recordings. In no other manner can the listener keep full awareness of the orchestral richness of this opera.

Richard Wagner put his supreme effort, as well as his earnings, into constructing the perfect festival theater in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth where his masterpiece, the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, could be performed in a manner which would conform to his vision of how the drama should unfold. Wagner's own perception was that the unique and revolutionary character of his monumental tetralogy necessitated a special theater—one where the difficulties of staging an expansive drama could be surmounted, where changes of scene could be effected without halting the performance for vast lengths of time. Der Ring des Nibelungen, which is based on a medieval German epic, the Nibelungenlied, and Norse mythology, enlarged the expressive powers of German Romantic opera; today it also gives testimony to Wagner's willingness to venture into new areas for inspirational material. The third opera of the cycle, Siegfried, reproduced here in full score, presents the story of a youthful Germanic hero of legendary proportions, a young man without experience of fear, who slays the reptilian hoarder of ill-gotten, powerful golden treasures and rescues a banished goddess from fiery captivity. Performed during the heyday of Bismarck's Realpolitik, following decades of revolutionary and anarchic fervor, Siegfried is reputed to have social and political implications. In The Perfect Wagnerite, George Bernard Shaw discusses the opera in allegorical terms, and describes the heroic Siegfried as "a born anarchist, the ideal of Bakoonin, an anticipation of the 'overman' of Nietzsche." Whether or not the political import of Richard Wagner's alleged revolutionary thought is of concern to the music lover of modern times, the influence and power of the operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen are indisputable. The crowning achievement of German music of the Romantic era, the Ring forged a new synthesis of music and drama on the largest scale, drawing on rich literary and philosophical resources to expand the dramatic possibilities of the opera as a musical form. Reproduced from the first edition (1876), which received Wagner's final approval, this full-size full score brings Siegfried, an important opera in the Ring and one of the most performed, recorded, studied, and admired operas of the Romantic era, to Wagner enthusiasts, opera lovers, and musicians at a moderate, affordable price.

Das Schicksal meint es nicht gut mit den Göttern, denn der fein gesponnene Faden der Nornen reißt abrupt und der Anfang vom Ende beginnt… Hagen, der Sohn des Nibelungen Alberichs erscheint und ― wie der Vater, so der Sohn ― hat er nichts Gutes im Sinn: Mit hinterhältiger List und einem Zaubertrank führt Hagen nicht nur den tapferen Siegfried, sondern auch seine eigenen Halbgeschwister und Siegfrieds geliebte Brünnhilde hinters Licht. Denn die lechzende Gier nach dem goldenen Ring der Rheintöchter ist ungebrochen. Wird es Siegfried gelingen, aus seiner Umnachtung aufzuwachen und sich wieder an seine Geliebte zu erinnern? Kann sich Brünnhilde der Klauen des Scharlatans Hagen entreißen und gleichzeitig den Ring des Nibelungen in Sicherheit bringen? Die Zeit rennt, denn Wotan ist der Welt überdrüssig und beginnt einen Scheiterhaufen rund um die Götterwelt Walhall zu errichten ― ein Scheiterhaufen, dessen Feuerschwall die gesamte Weltordnung verschlingen könnte… Vom Kampf der Götter, dem Ringen um ewige Macht und unsterbliche Liebe – Richard Wagners Opernzyklus »Der Ring des Nibelungen« verhandelt die ganz großen Themen und machte ihn schon zu Lebzeiten weltberühmt. In ihm treffen wir auf die Rheintöchter, den Zwerg Alberich, die Walküren und natürlich auf den Helden Siegfried. Sie alle sind dem Wagnerianer wohlbekannt. Doch nun gibt es erstmals Hörspiele, beruhend auf den Libretti, die die opulente Sprachgewalt der Opern in den Vordergrund stellen. Mit einem herausragenden Sprecher:innensemble hat der rbb etwas Einzigartiges gewagt und die Wagner-Texte aufregend neu entdeckt.

Richard Wagner's vast Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle comprises four full-length operas (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung) and is arguably the most extraordinary achievement in the history of opera. His own libretto to the operas, translated by Andrew Porter, is an intricate system of metric patterns, imaginative metaphors and alliteration, combining to produce the music in text. 'Andrew Porter's utterly natural, often poetic, faithfully rendered English text should be a revelation...The immediacy of instant comprehension gives the entire drama an added dimension.'—The New York Times