Richard Wagner and His World (ebook)

Argumento de Richard Wagner and His World (ebook)

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) aimed to be more than just a composer. He set out to redefine opera as a "total work of art" combining the highest aspirations of drama, poetry, the symphony, the visual arts, even religion and philosophy. Equally celebrated and vilified in his own time, Wagner continues to provoke debate today regarding his political legacy as well as his music and aesthetic theories. Wagner and His World examines his works in their intellectual and cultural contexts.

Seven original essays investigate such topics as music drama in light of rituals of naming in the composer's works and the politics of genre; the role of leitmotif in Wagner's reception; the urge for extinction in Tristan und Isolde as psychology and symbol; Wagner as his own stage director; his conflicted relationship with pianist-composer Franz Liszt; the anti-French satire Eine Kapitulation in the context of the Franco-Prussian War; and responses of Jewish writers and musicians to Wagner's anti-Semitism. In addition to the editor, the contributors are Karol Berger, Leon Botstein, Lydia Goehr, Kenneth Hamilton, Katherine Syer, and Christian Thorau.

This book also includes translations of essays, reviews, and memoirs by champions and detractors of Wagner; glimpses into his domestic sphere in Tribschen and Bayreuth; and all of Wagner's program notes to his own works. Introductions and annotations are provided by the editor and David Breckbill, Mary A. Cicora, James Deaville, Annegret Fauser, Steven Huebner, David Trippett, and Nicholas Vazsonyi.

"Grey once again has ferreted out themes and original material on the composer which have not been over-exposed in English translation."--Mike Ashman, Gramophone

"Offers much stimulating material, presented in kaleidoscopic fashion, that should be required reading for anyone desiring a more profound insight."--Della Couling, Classical Music Magazine0Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Permissions xv

PART I: ESSAYS
From Page to Stage: Wagner as Regisseur 3
KATHERINE SYER
Wagner and Liszt: Elective Affinities 27
KENNETH HAMILTON
From Opera to Music Drama: Nominal Loss, Titular Gain 65
LYDIA GOEHR
Eine Kapitulation: Aristophanic Operetta as Cultural Warfare 87
in 1870
THOMAS S. GREY
A Note on Tristan's Death Wish 123
KAROL BERGER
Guides for Wagnerites: Leitmotifs and Wagnerian Listening 133
CHRISTIAN THORAU
German Jews and Wagner 151
LEON BOTSTEIN

PART II: BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXTS
Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient and Wagner's Dresden 201
CLAIRE VON GLÜMER, HENRY CHORLEY
TRANSLATED, INTRODUCED, AND ANNOTATED BY THOMAS S. GREY
Catulle Mendès Visits Tribschen 230
CATULLE MENDÈS
TRANSLATED, INTRODUCED, AND ANNOTATED BY THOMAS S. GREY
Recollections of Villa Wahnfried from Wagner's American Dentist 237
NEWELL SILL JENKINS
INTRODUCED AND ANNOTATED BY THOMAS S. GREY

PART III: TOWARD A MUSIC OF THE FUTURE, 1840-1860
The Overture to Tannhäuser 251
FRANZ LISZT
INTRODUCED, EDITED, AND ANNOTATED BY DAVID TRIPPETT
TRANSLATED BY JOHN SULLIVAN DWIGHT
Letters to a Young Composer About Wagner 269
JOHANN CHRISTIAN LOBE
INTRODUCED, EDITED, AND TRANSLATED BY DAVID TRIPPETT
Franz Brendel's Reconciliation Address 311
FRANZ BRENDEL
INTRODUCED AND ANNOTATED BY JAMES DEAVILLE
TRANSLATED BY JAMES DEAVILLE AND MARY A. CICORA

PART IV: WAGNER AND PARIS
Wagner Admires Meyerbeer (Les Huguenots) 335
RICHARD WAGNER
TRANSLATED, INTRODUCED, AND ANNOTATED BY THOMAS S. GREY
Debacle at the Paris Opéra: 347
Tannhäuser and the French Critics, 1861
OSCAR COMETTANT, PAUL SCUDO
TRANSLATED BY THOMAS S. GREY
INTRODUCED BY ANNEGRET FAUSER
ANNOTATED BY ANNEGRET FAUSER AND THOMAS S. GREY
The Revue wagnérienne: Symbolism, Aestheticism, 372
and Germanophilia
J. K. HUYSMANS, TEODOR DE WYZEWA, EDOUARD DUJARDIN
INTRODUCED BY STEVEN HUEBNER
SELECTIONS TRANSLATED BY BRENDAN KING AND CHARLOTTE MANDELL

PART V: THE BAYREUTH ERA
Press Releases from the Bayreuth Festival, 1876: 391
An Early Attempt at Spin Control
J. ZIMMERMANN
INTRODUCED, TRANSLATED, AND ANNOTATED BY NICHOLAS VAZSONYI
Hanslick contra Wagner: 409
"The Ring Cycle Comes to Vienna" and
"Parsifal Literature"
EDUARD HANSLICK
TRANSLATED, INTRODUCED, AND ANNOTATED BY THOMAS S. GREY
Hans von Wolzogen's Parsifal (1887) 426
HANS VON WOLZOGEN
TRANSLATED, INTRODUCED, AND EDITED BY MARY A. CICORA
Cosima Wagner's Bayreuth 435
RICHARD POHL, ARTHUR SEIDL, EUGEN GURA, ARNOLD SCHERING, HEINRICH CHEVALLEY
TRANSLATED BY MARY A. CICORA
INTRODUCED AND ANNOTATED BY DAVID BRECKBILL

PART VI: THE COMPLETE PROGRAM NOTES OF RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner Introduces Wagner (and Beethoven): 479
Program Notes Written for Concert Performances by and of Richard Wagner, 1846-1880
RICHARD WAGNER
TRANSLATED, ANNOTATED, AND INTRODUCED BY THOMAS S. GREY
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Beethoven's Eroica Symphony
Beethoven's Coriolan Overture
Overture to Tannhäuser
Overture to Der fliegende Holländer
Prelude to Lohengrin
Tannhäuser
Lohengrin
L. van Beethoven, String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, op. 131
Tristan und Isolde: Prelude to Act 1
Tristan und Isolde: Prelude to Act 1 and Conclusion ("Transfiguration")
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Preludes to Acts 1 and 3
Götterdämmerung
Die Walküre
Parsifal: Prelude to Act 1
Index 523
Notes on the Contributors 539