The operas of Richard Wagner provide a unique document and form the basis of all German opera since his day. Thus, it is appropriate to provide an overview of his Gesammtkunstwerke in a single disc of the Audio Encyclopedia. Information on using this disc is provided here. Technical information on use of the disc can be found here.Information on the Audio Encyclopedia is available from my WWW site at http://mrichter.simplenet.com\
Die Feen
Das Liebesverbot
Rienzi
Der
Fliegende Holländer
Tannhäuser
Lohengrin
The Ring
Tristan und Isolde
Die Meistersinger von Nüremberg
Parsifal
Richard Wagner was unique among the great composers in many ways. This disc is aimed at emphasizing some of those properties of his works which can be recognized more easily in a synoptic view - one in which all the materials are present at the same time. Thus, it becomes possible to trace his development of the mythic hero by listening to comparable segments over his entire body of work instead of searching among many discs and disparate libretti.
We have not chosen to define the ways in which such studies may be undertaken. This volume is intended to be a reference from which many 'lessons' can be assembled. In addition, we hope that the performances are enjoyable in themselves and that they will assist the student and the researcher in discovering features of Wagner's operas considered as a body of work rather than as a collection of disparate achievements.
Selection of performances for this disc was difficult and many of the choices may be argued. The criteria included quality of interpretation, availability from other sources and sonic values. Singing per se was not a primary consideration, except in that some very poor readings were excluded. For example, selecting a Ring entailed finding one recorded in good but not exemplary sound so that the losses in this format would not be painful; one not on the shelves already; one with an honest and straightforward interpretation of the score; and one which offered artists of merit who could be heard to advantage on few other recordings. While Sawallisch has issued a later traversal of the Ring on video, in the opinion of many his interpretation and his performers' achievements in this RAI collection are markedly superior. His point of view differs significantly from that of other respected conductors, yet it seems well within the range allowed by Wagner and is in no way a distortion of the score.
Wagner's first three operas are of value for their foretokening of what was to come and for selected moments of beauty. They are seldom performed and few choices were available for this volume of the Audio Encyclopedia. With the other works, the difficulty stemmed from the number of excellent alternatives crying for distribution. Each has merits in our judgement, yet most have drawbacks which would preclude their distribution for other than the purposes of the Encyclopedia. All are components of the heritage of modern Wagner performance and deserve to be known even if some would not be the first choices among versions in the catalogue.
We are indebted to Lyle Neff and the WWW site he provides at http://php.indiana.edu/~lneff/libretti.html for the German-language libretti included on this disc. Some effort has been made to provide consistency in form, but there remains much variation deriving from the original posting, its proof reading history and other parameters. We hope that the result will be of value in following the performances and have noted the few cuts made in these performances.
In using the disc, you are urged to initiate play of each Act by selecting its highlight at the top of the libretto page. Below the title is a table with major entry points into the scenes. Selecting one of those links will bring you to its location in the text. The accompanying number is the location (minutes: seconds) in the playback; adjust the slider in WinAmp (which will remain superimposed on the score) to reach that entry.
Again, we thank an Internet presence, Operissimo at http://www.operissimo.com/, for the biographies of principal singers included here. The original German entries have been translated by volunteers and proofed by the publisher. However, there are undoubtedly errors from the originals and the translation which have eluded us. Still we hope that they will provide insight with which you can appreciate the careers of the singers heard here and at least the start on your pursuit of commercial releases representing the breadth of their art.
Having reached this point, you have already found at the top of this page a list of the operas in order of composition. Each is linked to a page with performance information and a subsequent link to each Act. Clicking on the link for an Act, you will see the title at the top of the page, which links to the sound track itself. Clicking that link will start the player and the sound of the Act. The player may be paused, restarted and set as you wish. Note that any changes you make to the settings of WinAmp will not be remembered when you start the program again.
Immediately below the title is a table of entry points into the libretto and the approximate time of that entry. By clicking on the link to that line of text, you will jump to the entry in the libretto (where, again, there is an indication of the time). By adjusting the slider on the WinAmp player and watching the display, you may reach the indicated entry or any other time you wish.
The libretti are not consistent in form, but they have been compared with the sound tracks to determine where cuts were made in performance. We sought complete performances wherever an option existed; the few cuts encountered are noted by indentation of the libretto.
With sound sources of varying quality from different sources, the issue of processing becomes difficult. We have chosen to use the least possible processing of the sound which gives acceptable sound and preserves as much as possible of the original material. If you explore the features of the WinAmp player by right-clicking on it when it is active, you will find a Graphic Equalizer which lets you adjust the balance to your taste. Again, those controls must be reset when you start the disc again.
Macintosh users are urged to read macread.htm or macread.txt on this disc as well as the following.
Most of the files on this disc are recorded in MP3 format. Players for such compressed audio are available for most platforms. Since most users of personal computers when this disc was published have 32-bit Windows installed on their systems, we include a licensed browser and a freeware player which handle not only MP2 and MP3 files but also a specific format of playlist for MP3 termed M3U. Most users of these discs will find that they automatically load the browser and its support programs; in that case, all functions should be directly accessible in the same way they would be with any other browser.
Those running Windows who do not find that the browser begins automatically may start it by running I_VIEW.EXE from the root of the CD-ROM drive. Those running other systems, such as Mac and Unix boxes, will need both a browser and an installed MPEG player. Even Windows users may use their preferred browsers equipped with MPEG players. Operation with any browser other than the one on the disc requires that you point it to the CD-ROM and WELCOME.HTM as the URL. We have used only one playlist on this disc because of difficulties with browsers other than I-View.
Every effort has been made to ensure that all files are accessible to all users. The prototype of this disc was tested on a variety of computers and all reasonably modern ones have managed to work in the configurations tested. There is little that can be done if your computer has problems with these files short of upgrading the computer. As an indication of its modest needs, the disc proved fully functional on a Pentium 75 laptop with 8 MB of RAM and a 2x CD-ROM drive.
Those using their own browsers will certainly need no assistance from me. That is fortunate, since it would be difficult to cover all the options of browsers and MP3 plugins and helpers. If you are running the I_VIEW browser on the disc, you should find all operations familiar. Simply click on a link to access it. If you have trouble seeing everything in the browser, please make sure that the page is maximized by clicking the icon one to the left and one down from the top-right corner. Unfortunately, the browser does not 'remember' that setting and you will need to click the icon each time you start the program.
One easy way to integrate MP3 playback into a browser on your PC is to visit http://www.audioactive.com and to download and install the helper appropriate for your system. At the time of publication, they offered helpers not only for Win95, Win98 and NT, but also for Windows 3.x and Macintosh; however, the Macintosh browser at this time does not handle our files and the special Mac instructions should be followed instead.
The WinAmp player here is not the current, shareware version. However, it is an excellent freeware release quite sufficient for the needs of this disc. We thank the developers at Nullsoft for permission to include this excellent program. WinAmp has been preset to the values needed for operation - which is fortunate, since those values cannot be recorded to the CD-ROM and therefore will return to the presets whenever the disc is first accessed. This disc contains only monaural files. I urge those with more general interest in MP3 playback and those seeking players for other browsers to explore http://www.nullsoft.com/ and http://www.winamp.com/ for the current offerings for Mac and PC.
At this writing, I can be reached by e-mail at mrichter@mindspring.com ,
through http://mrichter.simplenet.com or at
Michael Richter
2600 Colby
Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90064-3716
310-477-7969
With full acknowledgement of the contributions of those who supplied material for this disc; who translated and edited elements; and who reviewed and