ABSTRACT
In all quotations from the poem of Der Ring des Nibelungen, the author employs the words actually set to music in the orchestral score, unless specifically stated otherwise. The author refers the reader to an admirable new edition provided with German, French and English words, in eleven volumes, coat-pocket size; yet, unless the reader be a professional musician, or quite an exceptional amateur, he is likely to feel somewhat at sea in an orchestral score, and may prefer to spend one-twentieth or one-fortieth of its cost upon a simple "textbook". There can be very little doubt that wellnigh all the variants in Die Walküre and the first two acts of Siegfried were also effected in the process of musical composition, that is some years before the 1863 edition; but, without an opportunity of consulting the original autographs, the author prefers to abide by a certainty.
