Wagner's <b><i>Ring</i></b> Cycle is one of the great works of art of all time. <b><i>The Nibelung's Ring</i></b> explains the mythological background to the work, the process of composition, and the meaning of the four component operas. The expanded new edition also features two entirely new sections, a prose translation of the entire cycle in contemporary language, and a section identifying and commenting on many of the musical 'themes' that pervade the cycle and bind it together musically. <b><i>The Nibelung's Ring</i></b> also contains forty full - page reproductions of a complete set of magnificent and rarely seen lithographs by Hugo Braune which alone make the book a collector's item.