[WWV 86d]. Götterdämmerung... Vollständiger Klavierauszug von Karl Klindworth by WAGNER, Richard 1813-1883 - 1875

Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne [PN 21500], 1875. Folio. Contemporary dark brown tooled half calf with dark green cloth boards, decorative initials "P.R." to upper, gilt titling to spine in ruled compartments, all edges gilt. 1f. (general title, "Der Ring des Nibelungen), 1f. (title), 1f. (half-title), [1] (cast list and contents), 2-357, [i] (blank) pp. Lithographed throughout.

Cloth portion of binding slightly stained, worn and frayed at edges, light blue watered silk endpapers slightly soiled. Slightly foxed and browned. First Edition. Fuld ,p. 465. Deathridge, Geck and Voss (WWV), p. 402. Klein, p. 51. The general title and half title are common to the full scores of all four Ring operas.

Götterdämmerung is the fourth opera in the Ring cycle. Excerpts were first performed in a concert at the Musikverein in Vienna on March 25, 1875; the entire work was first performed as part of the Ring cycle at Bayreuth on August 17, 1876.

"The final opera of the Ring... provides an appropriately weighty conclusion to the epic cycle. 26 years elapsed from the time Wagner made his first prose draft for the work (then called Siegfrieds Tod) to the completion of the full score, with inevitable consequences in terms of stylistic unity. Retrogressive elements of grand opera exist side by side with motivic integration representative of Wagner's most mature style. And yet, the stylistic integrity of Götterdämmerung is scarcely compromised, so skilfully are the disparate elements welded together and so intense the dramaturgical conviction. The resources and stamina demanded by the work (from both singers and orchestra), combined with its sheer length and theatrical potency, make it one of the most daunting yet rewarding undertakings in the operatic repertory." Barry Millington in Grove Music Online.