Science, Sets and Symbols in ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’: David Trippett appraises the Covent Garden ‘Ring’ and an accompanying book

Do we need books to make sense of productions of Wagner operas? ‘Of course not’ rings the snappy retort. They wrap an unwanted layer of mediation, a film casing, around the otherwise immediate experience of the production. And Wagner lived by the authenticity of immediate artistic experience. ‘Music drama wills to become a fully manifest deed’, he implored, ‘to seize people by their every fibre of sensation, to invade them.’ Operatic performances ought to hit us between the eyes, in other words, to reach us directly through the sensorium, as Wagner never tired of repeating.