The Valkyries

Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 168K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. The Valkyries by E. F. Benson and Richard Wagner. Author: Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Jun 28, 2014.

Editor's review

This is an English electronic text released by Project Gutenberg under the title The Valkyries, attributed to Richard Wagner, with E. F. Benson also listed as a contributor, and classified under English language and literature. For readers, its core value lies in providing a freely available English text related to Wagner's music drama, making it easier to grasp the story arc, character relationships and dramatic structure of Die Walküre, the second opera of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Presented in English, it works well as a companion for opera appreciation: read the story framework first, then listen to a recording or watch a performance, and the motives and conflicts of characters such as Brünnhilde and Siegmund become clearer. Note that this is a public-domain electronic text, not a scholarly critical edition, and it contains neither score nor musical analysis, so it should not be used as a research monograph on opera. Overall, it suits readers looking to extend their reading into Western opera and Norse mythology.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Opera lovers wanting to understand the story of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen
Listeners needing an English text to accompany appreciation of Die Walküre
Readers interested in Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legend
Beginners wishing to compare a public-domain electronic text with the libretto

Not a good fit for

Professional readers needing scores, musical analysis, or performance reviews
General Chinese readers seeking a Chinese translation
Researchers expecting scholarly annotation and textual collation

Reading tips

Read the plot summary and character list first, then the main text, to avoid confusion over relationships.
Read alongside a recording or performance video of Die Walküre, following the scenes to understand the vocal numbers.
After finishing, revisit the relevant plot of Das Rheingold to clarify the origins of the ring's curse.
Keep pen and paper to map the character genealogy; Norse names are similar and easier to remember that way.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this the complete libretto of Wagner's opera?

The records show this is an English text released by Project Gutenberg under the title The Valkyries, attributed to Wagner with E. F. Benson also involved. It provides an English narrative text; its exact format should be judged by the actual e-book content and should not be directly equated with a complete opera libretto including stage directions.

Can I read this book without knowing German?

Yes. The text is in English, so readers need no German to follow the story. However, Wagner's opera is sung in German; if you listen to recordings alongside, it is advisable to have a libretto with translation for comparison.

Do I need to know the other parts of the Ring before reading?

It is advisable to know at least the basic plot of Das Rheingold. Die Walküre is the second part of Der Ring des Nibelungen; the ring's curse and Wotan's predicament are established in the previous work, and with that background the characters' motivations will be clearer.

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About the author

Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883 Author

Richard Wagner (1813–1883) was a German composer and dramatist, known for reforming opera and advocating the idea of the "total work of art." The collection holds fifteen of his works, mostly opera librettos and related texts, including Tristan and Isolda, Siegfried and The Twilight of the Gods and The Valkyries from the Ring cycle, The Flying Dutchman, Parsifal, and the second volume of his autobiography, My Life. These works show his use of myth and legend as source material and his technique of leitmotifs running through an entire drama, with music and theatre tightly fused on a grand scale. His operatic theories and compositions have had a lasting influence on later music, drama, and literature. Because public information is limited, this note describes only the themes and style of the works held in the collection.