DC Wagner Society presents "The Two Rings" (Tolkien and Wa..

In celebration of the completion of Peter Jackson's

monumental cycle of motion pictures The Lord of the Rings and in

anticipation of this year's performances of

Der Ring des Nibelungen at the

Metropolitan Opera --


The Wagner Society of Washington, DC presents


"The Two Rings: J.R.R.Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Richard Wagner's The
Ring of the Nibelung"


with


Edward R. Haymes
Professor of German and Comparative Literature
Cleveland State University


Thursday, March 18, 2004


7:30 p.m.


Funger Hall
George Washington University
2201 G Street, NW
Washington, DC



J.R.R.Tolkien vigorously denied any connection between his ring and "the
Nibelung's Ring." In actuality there is a great deal that is in common between
the two great "Ring Cycles" and this talk sets itself the goal of exploring
these and showing the many ways that the two great works illuminate each other.
Tolkienians will learn something about Wagner and vice versa.



Edward R. Haymes is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Cleveland
State University. He published a book on the Middle High German Nibelungenlied
in 1999 and co-authored a survey of Heroic Legends of the North in 1996. He
regularly teaches as a guest at the Humboldt University in Berlin and has
lectured on medieval literature and Richard Wagner at many universities and
conferences in the US and Germany.



The Wagner Society of Washington, DC
P.O. Box 33051
Washington, DC 20033

Telephone: 301.907.2600
FAX: 301.907.8671

WWW: http://www.wagner-dc.org


Posted by

Janice Rosen, Founder

Interesting, but...

Janice Rosen <symphonia DeleteThis @att.net> wrote:
 > J.R.R.Tolkien vigorously denied any connection between his ring and "the
 > Nibelung's Ring." In actuality there is a great deal that is in common between
 > the two great "Ring Cycles" and this talk sets itself the goal of exploring
 > these and showing the many ways that the two great works illuminate each other.
 > Tolkienians will learn something about Wagner and vice versa.

I don't think Tolkien would have "denied any connection",
if by that you mean that he denied that "there is a great deal
that is in common between the two [works]". He may well have
denied that he was directly inspired by Wagner. However, he
knew perfectly well that both he and Wagner were inspired by the
same sources. I guess it depends on what you mean by a
"connection".

--Jamie. (nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita)
andrews .uwo } Merge these two lines to obtain my e-mail address.
@csd .ca } (Unsolicited "bulk" e-mail costs everyone.)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->