Variants in Wagner’s Vocal Lines
(The “Ring” Operas)
By Susan S. Webb

This unusual volume is a departure from any volume we have ever published. It contains the musical and texts variants from one published or manuscript source to another, as they are found in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.

To this unique volume by Susan S. Webb, the author brings years of experience having worked with first rate exponents of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, probably most notable being Wolfgang Wagner, himself, who invited Miss Webb to join the music staff of the Bayreuther Festspiele for the 1988 “Ring” and provided her with the incomparable experience of spending weeks and weeks in the capitol city of Wagnerland.
Susan S. Webb has been an assistant conductor and prompter with the San Francisco, Chicago Lyric and Metropolitan Opera companies. Her full-time engagement with the Metropolitan Opera began when Music Director James Levine invited her to be an assistant for the “Ring”:
four new productions which were videotaped and shown on public television, and recorded by Deutsche Grammaphon.
In her thirty-five years in professional opera, Miss Webb has had ample opportunity to appreciate the practical problems raised by editorial variants in hours of rehearsal with such great Wagnerian singers as Hildegarde Behrens, Rainer Goldberg, Ben Heppner, Peter Hoffmann, James King, Christa Ludwig, Franz Mazura, James Morris, Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, Thomas Stewart, Jess Thomas, John Tomlinson, Ekkehard Wlashiha, Heinz Zednik and many others.
As a music staff member of the Bayreuther Festspiele, she helped to prepare the 1988 “Ring” (Barenboim/Kupfer), taking advantage of her research in the National Archives to provide information on “Ring”
variants. When Miss Webb showed her proposal and some examples of her comparison of variants to Herr Wolfgang Wagner, head of the Festival and grandson of the composer, he said that he was pleased that the work represented the best of both worlds; it was both scholarly and practical.
In addition to this volume, the author has provided libretto translations (German/English) for the Metropolitan Opera Guild, including the operas, Fidelio; Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail; Die Zauberflte; Elektra; Der Fliegende Hollnder; Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg; and Tannhuser.

466 Pages Hard Binding Smyth-Sewn