English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They
provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete
text of each opera in English and the original. "A Landmark in Musical
History" is John Luke Rose's title for the introduction to this
extraordinary piece of theater. It belongs to the German tradition of
mystical writing and a short note on the poem itself by Martin Swales
and Timothy McFarland elucidates some of Wagner's literary techniques.
Anthony Negus, who assisted Reginald Goodall on the WNO production of
this opera, has contributed a penetrating analysis of the musical
structure of the opera, while Patrick Carnegy assesses the remarkable
solutions to staging an opera which some argue is best experienced with
your back to the performers!