The Body in the Library: Jeremy Coleman takes on the herculean task of reviewing the collected edition of Wagner’s musical works

Review of Richard Wagner Sämtliche Werke, general ed. Egon Voss [in 31 volumes, Series A and B] (Schott Musik, 1970–).

November 2017, Volume 11, Number 3, 86–92.

The first collected edition of Wagner’s musical works, the Richard Wagner Sämtliche Werke (hereafter RWSW) is a strange publication to be asked to review. Vast in sheer physical size, it comprises no fewer than seventy individual books organised in thirty-one ‘volumes’. The fact that it has appeared piecemeal since the publication of the first volume in 1970 (vol. 19, Klavierwerke, ed. Carl Dahlhaus) means that the editions hardly strike one today as ‘new’ contributions to Wagner scholarship. If the collected edition has been slowly accumulating on library shelves like a kind of bibliographic glacier, abrading the rough ground of the ‘Wagner myth’ with ever-mounting pressure, the widespread use of the editions of individual works in operatic productions might for some be valorisation enough. Many of the editions have been reprinted by Ernst Eulenburg and arranged as vocal scores. A review of the edition may even be premature, bearing in mind that – contrary to Schott’s recent publicity – four volumes have yet to be released. What can one say about an edition that has to all purposes already become part of the furniture?

The fact is that the RWSW has not received anywhere near the scholarly attention or recognition it merits.