[D]on’t be afraid: Walter is neither dumbing down nor "making relevant" Wagner’s complex masterwork. His English translations of Wagner’s libretti and stage directions are crisp and modern, his annotations and asides as perspicacious as they are breezy and entertaining. His hope is that ‘newcomers and old-timers will each find that these volumes add pleasure and value’ to their enjoyment of The Ring

This volume is noteworthy for its inclusion of pen drawings by Mott and other relevant colorful historical illustrations placed throughout.... In this volume’s robust introduction, Walter states that his annotations will center Wagner’s work (i.e., the Ring cycle) and its text as the authoritative sources (instead of drawing on outside commentaries and analyses of the opera). To that end, Walter uses his own English translations of the text of Die Walku¨re, keeping in mind the alliterative effects and rhyme scheme that were important to Wagner’s original German (which in Walter’s book is printed alongside the English). At the end of each act of Die Walku¨re, Walter gives a one-page review of its events and themes. Walter’s useful introduction to Wagner’s masterpiece breaks down the epic opera’s plot, musical motifs, and poetic structure into digestible pieces of information; ideal for readers with any amount of previous knowledge of the Ring cycle

This is a striking publication: in four large-format softbacks with vivid full-color covers, it is the work of Frederick Paul Walter, an American scriptwriter, fine-arts broad-caster and translator of several Jules Verne novels