The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung’s Ring by Bernard Shaw A Penn State Electronic Classics Series Publication The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung’s Ring by George Bernard Shaw is a publica- tion of the Pennsylvania State University. This Portable Document file is furnished free and without any charge of any kind. Any person using this document file, for any purpose, and in any way does so at his or her own risk. Neither the Pennsylvania State University nor Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, nor anyone associated with the Pennsylvania State University assumes any responsibility for the material contained within the document or for the file as an elec- tronic transmission, in any way. The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung’s Ring by George Bernard Shaw, the Penn- sylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18202-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them. Cover Design: Jim Manis Copyright © 2004 The Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. Contents Preface to the First German Edition................................................................................................ 5 Preface to the Second Edition ........................................................................................................... 9 Preface to the First Edition ..............................................................................................................11 THE PERFECT WAGNERITE ..................................................................................................... 12 Preliminary Encouragements ....................................................................................................................................... 12 The Ring of the Niblungs .............................................................................................................................................. 14 The Rhine Gold ............................................................................................................................................................. 14 First Scene ................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Second Scene ............................................................................................................................................................... 19 Third Scene ................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Fourth Scene ............................................................................................................................................................... 24 Wagner as Revolutionist ............................................................................................................................................... 28 The Valkyries ................................................................................................................................................................ 33 The First Act ............................................................................................................................................................... 35 The Second Act ........................................................................................................................................................... 37 The Third Act .............................................................................................................................................................. 38 Siegfried........................................................................................................................................................................ 41 The First Act ............................................................................................................................................................... 42 The Second Act ........................................................................................................................................................... 46 The Third Act .............................................................................................................................................................. 48 Back to Opera Again .................................................................................................................................................... 50 Siegfried as Protestant.................................................................................................................................................. 52 Panacea Quackery, Otherwise Idealism....................................................................................................................... 55 Dramatic Origin of Wotan ............................................................................................................................................ 57 The Love Panacea ........................................................................................................................................................ 58 Not Love, But Life ......................................................................................................................................................... 61 Anarchism No Panacea ................................................................................................................................................ 62 Siegfried Concluded ..................................................................................................................................................... 63 NIGHT FALLS ON THE GODS .................................................................................................... 64 Prologue ............................................................................................................................................ 64 The First Act ............................................................................................................................................................... 65 The Second Act ........................................................................................................................................................... 67 A Wagnerian Newspaper Controversy.......................................................................................................................... 70 The Third Act .............................................................................................................................................................. 72 Forgotten Ere Finished................................................................................................................................................. 74 Why He Changed His Mind .......................................................................................................................................... 76 Wagner’s Own Explanation .......................................................................................................................................... 83 The Pessimist as Amorist .............................................................................................................................................. 86 THE MUSIC OF THE RING ......................................................................................................... 89 The Representative Themes .......................................................................................................................................... 89 The Characterization .................................................................................................................................................... 92 The Old and the New Music ......................................................................................................................................... 95 The Nineteenth Century ................................................................................................................................................ 98 The Music of the Future.............................................................................................................................................. 102 Bayreuth...................................................................................................................................................................... 103 Bayreuth in England ................................................................................................................................................... 106 Wagnerian Singers...................................................................................................................................................... 107 Shaw rect as far as it goes; but, put as I put it, it now seems to me to The Perfect suggest that the operatic character of Night Falls On The Gods was the result of indifference or forgetfulness produced by the lapse of twenty-five years between the first projection of the Wagnerite: A work and its completion. Now it is clear that in whatever other ways Wagner may have changed, he never became careless and Commentary on he never became indifferent. I have therefore inserted