Wagner's Ring - Turning the Sky Around [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

M. Owen Lee

Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round

Limelight Editions, Paperback, 1998.

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I can't imagine where all these people see the merit of this book. It contains nothing but cliches and truths which are obvious for everybody with IQ above 30 who takes the trouble to read carefully the librettos the four music dramas that consist ''The Ring''. Perhaps the natural indolence of its readers is the chief reason for this book's high rating.

This is supposed to be an introduction to the Wagner's masterpiece Der Ring des Nibelungen but it contains very little that - let me repeat that! - is not obvious if one takes the trouble of reading composer's librettos carefully. And that little is mostly psychological nonsense about Freud, Jung and who not. The interspersed bits of thoughtfulness are far too obvious to be taken seriously: the Gods are projection of ourselves; the myths reflect our nature and so on and so forth. Every sensible man is quite aware of the fact that God, or Gods if you are in a more pagan mood, is a conception devised from mankind as a representative of all its fears and hopes, joys and sorrows, in short all that human nature ever was, still is and will ever be. Of course the myths should reflect this, too - for they are created by men, too. It goes without saying that Wagner's Ring is a fundamental work of art that explores the world and the man, both in terms of psychology and to an amazing degree. But what comes out of that? Here Mr Owen Lee has little if anything to offer but Freudian and Jungian nonsense, occasionally spiced with Thomas Mann.

Moreover, the book is not even well written. Mr. Owen Lee's writing style is presumptuous and pretentious, rather often it becomes turgid, stilted and immensely tedious. Sometimes he has even the misfortune of trying to be witty, especially in his synopses and further reading sections. Not surprisingly these are the best parts of the book but one should be on one's guard because they suffer from the same prejudices as the other parts. Mr Owen Lee is often condescending, sometimes even dogmatic, and he seems to be quite sure about everything Wagner thought all these years he spent composing ''The Ring''. For my own part, he is not convincing at all.

As a newcomer to ''The Ring'', I hoped this book would give me some interesting insights to start with. It gave me only the usual cliches about the state allegory of ''The Ring'' in the beginning and the psychological depth in the end. So what? What is next? I have a notion that a work of art may give one a really great deal but it does matter only if one finds these things by oneself. All profound, or not, findings of others are one's just second hand and therefore of little value. Surely ''The Ring'' can be long and lasting inspiration of discovering and rediscovering the world and oneself, but not through Mr Owen Lee's rantings as far as I am concerned.

One more thing from more musical point of view. In addition to his condescending attitude, Mr Owen Lee is in the abominable habit of gushing about Wagner. Of course he was a genius of tremendous proportions but so were Beethoven, Liszt and Tchaikovsky, to name but a few. Of course Wagner's music has something very special and unique that you can't find in any other music. But so does the music of Mozart, Chopin and Rachmaninov, to name but a few. Many other composers may lead one discovering the heights of Wagner's world, namely our own world and ourselves, from many another points of view and Mr Owen Lee's affectations seem to have given him a somewhat warped view. Last but not least, the references to the musical examples in the book are useless unless you can read music or know ''The Ring'' into great detail; the latter is not supposed to be the case with somebody who needs "introduction" and as for the former: does one need to read music in order to feel the its real power? Certainly not.

Why not only one star rating you might ask. For three reasons chiefly: 1) the book is commendably brief; 2) the cover photo from the Metropolitan production is delightful; and 3) I am very sorry for Mr Owen Lee's pathetic attempts to achieve something he is so obviously incapable of.

I under Mr Owen Lee has written other books on Wagner and his music as well. I shall not read them.

Is there a better writer on opera today than Father Owen Lee? This book provides five essays on The Ring (an introduction plus an essay on each individual Ring opera) which are brief (about 15-20 pages each) but always interesting and insightful. For those new to the Ring, who want to get an idea of "what all the fuss is about" without wading though hundreds of pages of analysis, this book is indispensible. And even for those who come to it with a wealth of knowledge, this book will probably provide a few new insights.

M. Owen Lee is a genial fixture on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and a professor of Classics at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. He has published a couple books of his intermission-break talks on various operas in the Met repertory but his introduction to the four music dramas comprising Wagner's Ring cycle is indispensible; along with late record producer John Culshaw's Reflections on Wagner's Ring (and I suppose G.B. Shaw's socialist rant The Perfect Wagnerite), it helps both newcomers and veterans to form their own viewpoint of the great tetralogy. Lee's allusive and literate prose warms the heart and feeds the mind. A brief but excellent companion for those bound to opera house or sound system to intoxicate themselves with potent, magical music.