Annotated Ring Cycle

Scriptwriter, fine-arts broadcaster, publicist, translator, and college theater director, Frederick Paul Walter has worked for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Southwest, and other performance organizations. He has written on Wagner, classical music, and opera for nearly half a century and has published modern translations of science fiction thrillers by French novelist Jules Verne for State University of New York and the U.S. Naval Institute. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This is a tremendous piece of work, enabling the uninitiated and the initiated alike to see with crystal clarity what’s really going on in the murky depths of human life Wagner is intent on exploring. It’s an easily followed map to the vast and deceptive terrain. The translated texts are also of exemplary clarity and reveal the libretto’s relationship to the Greek plays that were his inspiration and ideal. Altogether, an indispensable vademecum to any engagement with The Ring.