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Introduction by Roger Scruton
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Table of Contents

Title Page
Dedication Page
General Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations for key references
Guide to abbreviations used in text
Allen Dunning's numbered Guide to the Ring's Musical Motifs
Detailed Table of Contents

The Ring

Introduction


References
Appendix I
Appendix I I

Key Colour Coding

Donations Welcome

I would be grateful for donations of any size, small or large, to help defray the cost (1) of maintaining this website, (2) and to finance my past and present research which produced my book posted here, Volume One of "The Wound That Will Never Heal," and my forthcoming revision of Volume One (to be submitted for publication), and completion of Volume Two on Wagner's six other canonic operas and music-dramas. I sacrificed at least seven years of paid employment and incurred debts to complete this project, and am currently unemployed, so I thank you in advance for any financial help you can provide. Your friend, Paul Heise.

but, as Wagner so often said, the mere fact that we are emotionally struck by its coherence, unity, and power, proves beyond doubt that it is founded upon the highest possible form, that which penetrates the soul of man. Wagner was beset all of his life by fools who, unable to respond to his revolutionary artworks with the naivete and awe necessary for grasping their new forms, sought to critique his challenging art on the basis that it lacked traditional forms. But, as Wagner said, all new art of worth establishes its own new forms, and it is the responsibility of those who seek them to find them, as Hans Sachs put it so well when defending the novelty of Walther’s audition song to the conservative masters in Act One of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. This lends a special ironic punch to Mime’s insistence that since Siegfried had not properly learned the techniques Mime had taught him, Siegfried would be ill-suited to grasp how to re-forge his father’s sword.