Works concerning Richard Wagner

Waldstein: Would have been the definitive study of the Ring. Sadly unfinished. Unsurpassed on Wagner's sources and his transformation of them. Superbly written. The first chapter also goes into considerable detail about the music. Should be read together with Deryck's introduction on DECCA (2 CDs). Demolishes similar analyses by Shaw, Donington and Newman.

Waldstein: Wise little book. Not so much an introduction as a rich mine of strikingly illuminating reflections on thorny Wagnerian issues.

Waldstein: Thorough exploration of a neglected field in Wagnerology. Mr Magee does tend to overestimate the influence of philosophy on Wagner, but more often than not he is convincing and stimulating. Brilliant discussion of Parsifal.

Waldstein: Probably the best overview of Wagner's life and works in just 280 pages. Mr Millington's slight obsession with Wagner's anti-Semitism does detract from his admirably concise and insightful account, but that's a small price to pay. Exposes mercilessly the factual errors and inaccuracies, many of them no doubt deliberate, in Wagner's autobiography.

Waldstein: Limited and misguided, but seriously funny and often profound interpretation of the Ring.

Waldstein: Essential reference work about Wagner and everything connected with Wagner. Real myth-smasher.

Waldstein: The bunch of essays are worth skipping. But Stewart Spencer's literal translation of all four partrs of the Ring is magnificent. Fascinating to compare with Andrew Porter's much freer singing translation.

Waldstein: Andrew Porter's justly famous singing translation of the Ring. Beautifully lucid and hugely readable. Cf. Stewart Spencer's literal translation in the Ring Companion. Porter's translation is reprinted in the four ENO volumes dedicated to the Ring; his introduction appears in the one about Die Walküre.

Waldstein: Valuable mostly for the libretto. Essays either too specialised or too poorly written.

Waldstein: One of the finest ENO guides. Wonderful essays, including one by translator Andrew Porter, and a valuable chronology of composition in convenient table form.

Waldstein: Valuable mostly for the libretto, quite complete, and Mr Tanner's superb opening essay on the major contradiction of The Ring. The other two essays are mostly boring or incomprehensible for the lay reader.

Waldstein: One of the finest ENO guides. All essays nicely written and thought-provokingly informative.

Waldstein: Full libretto and excellent summary of Wagner's medieval sources and how he transformed them. Not so good on the music.

Waldstein: Wonderfully illustrated stage history of Wagner's complete operas from their first performance to the early 1980s. Much of the text is riddled with Mr Osborne's usual, ill-hidden contempt for Wagner.

Waldstein: Beautifully illustrated and very readable account of Wagner's life and works. Watch out for Mr Osborne's prejudices.

Waldstein: Interesting short introduction with some insightful points about the music, but often marred by Father Owen Lee's somewhat ridiculous ventures into psychology.

Waldstein: Essential reading for the vivid autoportrait Wagner draws of himself. Factually highly unreliable, though. Cf. Barry Millington's Wagner (1984, rev. 1992).

Waldstein: Fine chapter on Wagner who, it's often forgotten, was one of the pre-eminent conductors of the nineteenth century.

Waldstein: Fine musico-biographical chapter on Wagner. Schonberg is fond of wittily chanting the old cliches about Wagner's megalomania, but he recognises his unique place in music history and provides an excellent brief introduction to his life and works.

Waldstein: Highly entertaining, if not always rigorously researched, history of a neglected subject. Reads better than many a historical novel.

Waldstein : I have no doubt this is an excellent book, but in regard to Schopenhauer's immense influence on Wagner Bryan Magee has done better elsewhere.

Waldstein : Haven't read this one but have no intention of doing so either. Deryck Cooke has argued brilliantly that Donington's Jungian interpretations are, at best, ridiculous misrepresentations of Wagner's intentions. See I Saw the World End, chapter 1.

Waldstein : Exceptionally tedious account of Verdi's late years, including his decision finally to visit Wagner in Venice - too late, as it turned out.

Waldstein : Hatchet job par excellence. Worthless.

Waldstein : Dry. Superficial. Redundant. Much better get Mr Millington's bio Wagner (1984, rev. 1992) or the companion edited by him.

Waldstein : Mildly amusing, mostly boring.