ABSTRACT
Here the author takes on the prevailing view that the Ring in its final form communicates a Schopenhauerian vision of renunciation. The author argues that even without the explicit guidepost of the Feuerbach ending, which Wagner ultimately removed from the final version, the entire structure of the Ring articulates a philosophy completely at odds with Schopenhauerian renunciation. The author introduces a new interpretation of the final musical theme of the Ring - the so-called Redemption motif. This motif has been variously described as a celebration of love, of compassion, of resignation, or, following a remark of Wagner to Cosima, of Brünnhilde herself. The author rejects all these perspectives as insufficient and argues instead that Wagner’s final theme communicates a celebration of life and the potential of the human species to continually move forward as each generation contributes to the whole - in short, species values.
