John Culshaw, Reflections on Wagner’s Ring (New York and London, 1976). A short and readable collection of essays (originally broadcast talks) by the record producer responsible for the pioneering Solti Ring cycle on Decca.
Robert Donington, Wagner’s Ring and Its Symbols (London and New York, 1963). The psychological approach: strikingly clever Jungian analysis that raises as many questions as it answers but has steered the thinking of a generation of interpreters.
Geoffrey Skelton (editor), Cosima Wagner’s Diaries (London, 1994). A masterly single-volume abridgement of the mass of Cosima’s daily reflections. Fascinating, horrifying, history-as-it-happened.
Bryan Magee, Aspects of Wagner (London, 1968). A very slim book but a modern classic: clear, concise, analysis of Wagner’s thinking and a model study of its kind.
Barry Millington (editor) The Wagner Compendium (London, 1992). A big, encyclopaedic reference book, impressively wide-ranging and well organized for easy use.
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner (London, 1947). A massive four-volume study with, in its day, biblical authority. Partisan but still persuasive.
Ernest Newman, Wagner Nights (London, 1949, New York, 1950). A blow-by-blow account of the main operas: background, content, implications. The essential bedside book for Wagner lovers.
Andrew Porter (translator) The Ring of the Nibelungs (London, 1976). The best translation going of Wagner’s Ring libretti, although there is a strong, scholarly and more recent contender from Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (London, 1993).
George Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite (London, 1898). A period classic peddling a strong political agenda. To be read with sceptical affection.
Frederic Spotts, Bayreuth: A History of the Festival (New York and London, 1994). Beautifully written, presented and illustrated with just the right balance between passion and detachment to give a fair idea of matters steeped in controversy.
Wolfgang Wagner, Acts (London, 1994). A family retrospect by the composer’s grandson. Interesting, but don’t believe a word of it.