Are there any good articles about the Richard Wagner / mythology background?

Hi,
I'm currently searching material on the connections/parallels the Star Wars saga has to Wagner's work. My emphasis lies on the mythological themes and basics, not so much on the leitmotivic character of John Williams' music.
I've already searched the net, but I'd be happy if there are still some good articles (or maybe even hints at books) that deal with this topic.
So, any help is appreciated... thanks in advance!

 

Try here:

http://www.trell.org/wagner/starwars.html

here:

http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/index.html

Here are some of my own observations:

TPM + DAS RHINEGOLD: Both are light preludes to grand epics which lay out all the central players, their conflicts and the world they are set in.

AOTC + DIE VALKURE: both feature a forbidden romance; Palpatine's secret creation of a Clone army is a parallel to Wotan's creation of an army of Valkyries; both climax in a fight which complicates matters but doesn't solve anything & serves to join the hero & heroine; ESB has similar consonances, of course.

EIII + SIEGFRIED: both set the offspring of the Hero & Heroine on their way into the world ignorant of their parentage; an old order ends; a hero is established who will go wrong in the end and not fulfill his destiny (Anakin in the PT).

OT + GOTTERDEMMERUNG: both conclude an epic; the hero goes wrong but is redeemed by love & killed.

One can see similarities between Beyreuth, a theater created by Wagner to stage his operas properly & Skywalker Ranch, ILM, THX etc...

The best book about the Ring (it's *very* short too) is
"Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round by M. Owen Lee"; find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0879101865/104-1113235-8201516?v=glance

I also highly recommend "Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Rudolph Sabor.

Use either or both with this CD "Deryck Cooke: An Introduction To Der Ring Des Nibelungen". Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000424H/ref=pd_ecs_m_b_a/104-1113235-8201516?v=glance&s=music&n=

The best translation for a beginner is "The Ring Of The Nibelung" by Andrew Porter.

P. Craig Russell's BRILLIANT 2-volume comic book adapation is also a GREAT place to start.

On DVD try the 1990 Metropolitan Opera production which is 'traditional' and gives a good idea of what Wagner intended (apart from some casting gaffs).

The James Levine, George Solti & Placido Domingo single-disc highlight CDs are good starting points too.

Fritz Lang's 5 hour silent epic, recently restored to DVD, "Die Niblungen" is NOT based on Wagner but DOES draw on some of the same sources & obviously influenced Lucas & Star Wars, the PT in particular & is worth looking at.

Cheers!

 

This is great stuff, Clear_Water! Thanks for posting it! That reaffirms my instinctive connection of Lucas' mythos with Saxon/germanic root amterial. Cool. Always neat to have a personal theory affirmed.


*Derisa*

 

My pleasure. I might also add that in Siegfried/EIII the Hero rebels against his mentor: Sigfried against Mime & Anakin against Obi Wan.