The 'Ring' and the remnants of the West

Asia Times ^ | January 11, 2003 | By Spengler

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Good article comparing Tolkien and Wagner. He did get one thing wrong: Sauron did not make, nor help the Elves make their rings. Sauron shared his knowledge with the Elves and vice versa, until he knew enough to make the One Ring. It was designed to dominate the Elvish rings, but not because he had helped the Elves make them.

[TomSmedley]

Wow! Excellent post! Thanks!

[BlueLancer]

Good article ... good find ...

I must say though that, after some 40 years of playing in bands and orchestras (grade school, high school, college, and community), I have always liked Wagner's music, particularly "The Flying Dutchman Overture", "Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg", and portions from "Das Ring des Nibelungen" .. Ride of the Valkyrie specifically .. because of the power behind the notes. Over my 40 years, I have performed Wagner's music on clarinet, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, tuba, and percussion and I have never ceased to be amazed at the amazing scope of the music.

My computer boots up in the morning to "Ride of the Valkyrie" and shuts down to Mozart's "Der Holle Rache Kocht In Meinem Herzen" (Queen of the Night, "The Magic Flute)performed by Kiri Te Kanawa.

It's probably no coincidence that my co-workers look at me a little strangely.

[Mamzelle]

The Catholic Oxford liguist takes his eternal revenge on Nietche! Fascinating.

[Taliesan]

Interesting read. Bump.

[Imal]

A fascinating analysis. Great post!

[Imal]

It's probably no coincidence that my co-workers look at me a little strangely.

Judging from your profile page, which is one of the most inspiring I've seen, I'm certain it's no coincidence. ;^)

Ride with pride.

[icwhatudo]

For three hundred years the Mírdain - as the Jewel-smiths of Eregion were known - studied at Annatar's (Sauron's) side, and learned the making of magical rings. In about the year II 1500, the first of the Rings of Power was forged. Over the following decades, with Annatar's help, the Elves made sixteen Rings of Power, each set with a gemstone.

Both the Elves and Annatar had their own secret aims, though, and each forged work of their own. Celebrimbor and the Elves made Three Rings more powerful than the others, Narya, Nenya and Vilya, the Rings of Fire, Water and Air. While Sauron made the "one ring".

[Arkinsaw]

Excellent article, very good. Thanks.

[Sam Cree]

" The Ring of Power itself is Wagner's invention (probably derived from the German Romantic de la Motte Fouque)."

This statement by the author is also apparently incorrect, as rings of power were not invented by the above, but are scattered not only throughout the Norse legends that were Tolkien's (and Wagner's) inspirations, but also are to be found in many other, including Celtic, mythologies, all of which far predate Wagner and de la Motte.

[CatoRenasci]

It's probably no coincidence that my co-workers look at me a little strangely.

What do you expect if you're a tuba player? I always thought I should have played the horn, because Mozart is my Lieblingskomponist. (I sometimes play around on an old King double horn, but I'm sure not up to the Mozart concerti -- tuba is my main instrument) That said, Wagner sure wrote some great tuba parts: the "Ride" of course, "Elsa's Procession" from Lohengrin, the Fliegende Hollander and Meistersinger Overtures you mention, etc.

Overall, though, while I like to play Wagner, I can't say I really like listening to it at length. I enjoyed hearing the entire Das Ring des Nibelungen cylcle many years ago, but have never been tempted to repeat the experience, and don't think I've listened to an entire Wagner opera since.

[dighton]

But for one thing, Wagner would have gone down in history as merely the greatest con artist of all time. He conned friend and foe, monarch and manservant, into providing him with his every need: an opera house (nay, shrine) in which to parade his genius: a press to circulate his manic, self-serving manifestoes; any woman who took his fancy to warm his bed, married or not. That one thing, the quality that made the price Wagner exacted not one cent too high, is the quality of the artwork he produced.

-- Alan Rich, The Simon and Schuster Listener's Guide to Opera, 1980.

[fporretto]

I find only one point to quarrel with:

To be sure, The Lord of the Rings is not a great work of literature to be compared to Cervantes or Dostoyevsky.

"To be sure" -- ? And why is that? The novel is beautifully written, its pacing is near-perfect, its characterizations and character evolutions shine, and its themes will resonate down through the ages. So what's missing?

Why is it that everyone feels the need to put these denigratory qualifications on any praise of a popular book -- even when the popular book has all the virtues of any novel ever written?

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

[RogueIsland]

In Wagner's "Ring" libretto, Alberich even proclaims himself "Lord of the Ring", IIRC.

[The Iguana]

I'm not sure I buy all the parallels cooked up here.

For one thing, the Eldar - the Elves - were doomed to leave Middle Earth regardless of the Rings' fate.

That wasn't true of the gods in Wagner's Ring.

[Sam Cree]

I agree with your point, after all I think maybe most of the "greats" that have actually endured started out popular. Shakespeare is an example, I believe.

But there's lots of other things to take issue with here, along with some outright mistakes, such as the author's assumption that Wagner invented the ring of power.

As to "what's missing," I think it is the "emporer's new clothes" that the literati so love. They like to think that they are the only ones to understand real literature. So they would deny such a label to anything that has wide appeal.

[artios]

to be sure .... it is liberal arrogance that assigns the creation of an idea to a person like Wagner rather than a Tolkien - when in fact the truth is it came from the Norse and Finnish etc legends that inspired them. Wagner was a statist and spiritualist. Very devilish influence on his times. His music does not have the same sway or influence today. (This is true of all music - Beatles caused people to faint - then - but now its just good music etc) 1848 was a bad year spiritually based on all the events that happened - including Wagners Music and some spiritualists that became popular. Anyway - its not suprising a liberal would denegrate Tolkien - A Christian whose works are meant to influence the reader in a godly way and show the greatness of freedom and the horror of unchecked power and the flawed nature of man - liberals hate freedom, desire control over others and want a world empire controlling everything. Tolkien:Wagner = Conservative:Liberal in America today

[RogueIsland]

That wasn't true of the gods in Wagner's Ring.

I'm not sure. I think the gods were irrevocably doomed. Wotan tried to cheat the fate of the gods by seizing the Ring, which itself was the event that sealed the fate of the gods. Circular reasoning, I guess, but that's fate for you I guess. The doom of the gods was sealed by Wotan's prideful attempt to cheat doom.

[Elenya]

Boorish and gruff as the new American Empire might seem, it is an anti-empire populated by reluctant heroes who want nothing more than to till their fields and mind their homes, much like Tolkien's Hobbits. Under pressure, though, it will respond with a fierceness and cohesion that will surprise its adversaries.

Excellent!

[weikel]

He got another thing wrong. Tolkien despised Democracy he stated that his preference was either for anarchy or an "unconstitutional"( absolute) monarchy( which in practice tends to be the most libertarian form of government).