'THE RING'
SIR,—It was refreshing to read Mr. David Cairns's article on The Ring at Covent Garden. It has been obvious for some time that the majority of London music critics have no idea what The Ring is about, but regard it as (in Mr. Cairns's words) 'a rambling and sometimes wearisome fable.'
It is doubtful, moreover, whether anybody em- ployed at Covent Garden (with the exception of the visiting German artists) knows .enough German to appreciate that the story is `the inevitable com- plement of the music, its equal in power and fascination.' Ninety-nine per cent. of the audiences are in the same state of ignorance.
To emphasise the importance he attached to the words, Wagner published the poems of The Ring before he started to compose the music and issued many letters and pamphlets in explanation of them. Despite this we continue to insult his memory by these annual festivals of unintelligibility. The begin- ning of a remedy is to sing The Ring in English. Thoroughly adequate translations exist, including one by the greatest living authority on Wagner—Mr. Ernest Newman.—Yours faithfully,
O. H. BOSWORTH
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