Wagner handbook
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Wagner handbook
Harvard University Press, 1992
- Other Title
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Richard-Wagner-Handbuch
Available at 13 libraries
Note
Translation of: Richard-Wagner-Handbuch
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Rarely has anyone in the history of Western culture stirred up such deep, contrary, and enduring passions as Richard Wagner. A proposal to perform his work ignites controversy in Israel. Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries blares from helicopters slicing the air of Apocalypse Now. His name leads a list of Germany's spiritual heroes against a flaming backdrop in Anselm Kiefer's largest work. Idolized by Nietzsche, appropriated by Hitler, defended by writers from Mann to Adorno, emulated by countless composers, interpreted by artists and filmmakers, Wagner has left us a legacy as complicated as it is profound. To this day the sheer magnitude of his accomplishment retains its power to overwhelm.
This book is a measure of that magnitude, an unprecedented attempt to bring together in one volume what is known about the composer's life, his work, and his influence. Unparalleled in its scope and depth, this remarkable compendium offers readers a unique opportunity to understand what this prodigious man has meant to the Western world. Described by Brahms as a man of "colossal industry and horrendous energy," Wagner composed dozens of works, many of them towering masterpieces; he influenced a whole generation of conductors, took part in a revolution, counseled kings and diplomats, and organized the building of the Bayreuth festival theater. His writings on a wide variety of subjects fill sixteen substantial volumes and his thousands of personal letters document a wildly eventful private life.
The Wagner Handbook addresses all of these aspects of the composer's life and achievement. Central chapters include an account of Wagner's place in music history by Carl Dahlhaus; Werner Breig's treatment of individual musical works; Peter Wapnewski's discussion of Wagner's operatic works as literature; Isolde Vetter's chapter on Wagner in the history of psychology; surveys of performance question over the years by Jens Malte Fischer and Oswal Bauer. These and other topics-the individuals who most powerfully influenced the composer and those he influenced, his impact on music history, and the political exploitation of his ideas-are masterfully drawn.
Table of Contents
- Part 1 Works - the dramatist: the operas as literary works, Peter Wapnewski. Part 2 biography and reception - history, ideology, research: Wagner's place in the history of music, Carl Dahlhaus
- Wagner in the history of psychology, Isolde Vetter
- the revolutionary of 1848-49, Rudiger Krohn
- the question of anti-semitism, Dieter Borchmeyer
- the political influence and appropriation of Wagner, Ernst Hanisch
- a brief history of Wagner research, John Deathridge. Part 3 Works - sources, influences, aesthetics: Wagner and antiquity, Ulrich Muller
- Wagner's middle ages, Volker Mertens
- the dramatic texts, Peter Branscombe
- Wagner and Schopenhauer, Hartmut Reinhardt
- the music, Carl Dahlhaus. Part 4 Biography and reception - decadence and the dawn of "Wagnerism" - the patronage of King Ludwig II, Manfred Eger
- Wagner and Nietzsche, Dieter Borchmeyer
- Wagnerism as concept and phenomenon, Erwin Koppen
- Wagner and the visual arts, Gunter Metken
- Wagner in literature and film, Ulrich Muller. Part 5 Works - the composer: the musical works, Werner Breig. Part 6 Biography and reception - Bayreuth Festival and the Wagner family, Manfred Eger
- performance history - a brief survey, Oswald Bauer
- Sprechgesang or Bel Canto - toward a history of singing Wagner, Jens Malte Fischer
- Wagner's musical influence, Carl Dahlhaus. Part 7 Works - the writer: the prose writings, Jurgen Kuhnel.
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