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About This Book
Wagner's operatic works rank with the supreme achievements of western culture. But acceptance of Wagner's musical genius is tempered by feelings of misgiving and many believe the composer's underlying ideas to be indefensible. A self-styled social revolutionary, Wagner thought the world could be redeemed through vegetarianism and Aryan philosophy.Introducing Wagner: A Graphic Guide separates the composer's art from the ideas and the arrogant destructive personal behaviour of the man.
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Introducing Wagner
In Israel, Wagnerâs music is effectively unplayable because of its associations with the Third Reich. Rare performances draw public protest, questions in the Knesset.
In Bayreuth, though, Wagner occupies the right-hand throne to God.
Every July and August pilgrims gather from the corners of the earth to pay him homage at the annual festival devoted solely to HIS music. As fanatical as any world religion, it is a genre of heroâworship known as WAGNEROLATRY.
1. The Operas
There are 13, of which 10 count among the mightiest artistic achievements ever encompassed by man (or woman)ânot to mention overtures, songs, marches, symphonies, chamber music and symphonic poems â
Libretto* The IDEA and story line - often all the lyrics to an opera or operetta the screenplay and script
To compare them with CATHEDRALS is appropriate ~~~~
2. The IdeasâŚ
10 bound volumes of essays and autobiographical writings which, for better or worse, have had a major influence on cultural debate in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Wagner wrote not just about aesthetics but about religion, politics, social reform, science, diet and⌠race.
He was a dedicated anti-Semite.
Some of his ideas were laughably utopian - not least the theory that the worldâs ills could be solved by:
Others were more ominous:
Wagnerâs music may have been hijacked by the Nazis: you canât blame him for the fact that Hitler stole his tunes. But his ideas were an outright gift to the Holocaust and take some explainingâŚas we shall see.
He alsoâŚ
⢠forecast Sigmund Freudâs psychoanalytical investigation of the power of the unconscious (Wagnerâs operas understood psychology before it was invented)
⢠explored the significance of myth in art long before the modern anthropologist Claude LĂŠviâStrauss;
⢠set a new agenda for the arts and their role in society that would influence (in some cases positively overwhelm) not only musicians but writers, painters, dramatists for generations on.
Itâs probably not TOO outrageous to suggest that Wagner actually invented MODERN ART.
3. The Man
Wagner was a charismatic figure and made extensive provision for personal immortality, starting with an AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH at the age of 29 (he began keeping notes at 22), then A COMMUNICATION TO MY FRIENDS, and finally MEIN LEBEN. These accounts fabricate the myth of Wagner as a messianic artistâhero and distort the true facts.
In truth, he was an arrogant, manipulative egocentric who exploited the loyalties of those who admired him and believed his genius placed him beyond the requirements of reasonable behaviour.
What critics make of all this depends on the extent to which his works, ideas and life can be disentangled and considered separately. If nothing else, the lesson of Wagner is that great artists are not necessarily great human beings and often need special pleading from their biggest fans.
THE LIFE: Wagner spent much of it on the run â from creditors, governments and cheated husbands.
He was born in LEIPZIG in 1813 â the same year as his great opera rival Giuseppe Verdi. Any...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Introducing Wagner
- Wagner Chronology
- Select Bibliography
- Discography