The Cambridge Companion to Wagner

Leading specialists explore a wide range of topics and issues surrounding the influential and controversial figure Richard Wagner.

Thomas S. Grey (Edited by)

9780521644396, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 September 2008

388 pages, 19 b/w illus. 1 table 70 music examples
24.6 x 17.3 x 2.4 cm, 0.78 kg

"This volume provides a balanced introduction to the composer's life, times, works, and reception. A useful chronology … The repolitiizing of the 'Wagner question' is unquestionably one of this book's strengths and certain to make it compelling to a wide variety of readers."
Choice

Richard Wagner is remembered as one of the most influential figures in music and theatre, but his place in history has been marked by a considerable amount of controversy. His attitudes towards the Jews and the appropriation of his operas by the Nazis, for example, have helped to construct a historical persona that sits uncomfortably with modern sensibilities. Yet Wagner's absolutely central position in the operatic canon continues. This volume serves as a timely reminder of his ongoing musical, cultural, and political impact. Contributions by specialists from such varied fields as musical history, German literature and cultural studies, opera production, and political science consider a range of topics, from trends and problems in the history of stage production to the representations of gender and sexuality. With the inclusion of invaluable and reliably up-to-date biographical data, this collection will be of great interest to scholars, students, and enthusiasts.

Chronology
Part I. Biographical and Historical Contexts: 1. Wagner lives: issues in autobiography John Deathridge
2. Meister Richard's apprenticeship: the early operas (1833–40) Thomas S. Grey
3. To the Dresden barricades: the genesis of Wagner's political ideas Mitchell Cohen
Part II. Opera, Music, Drama: 4. The 'Romantic operas' and the turn to myth Stewart Spencer
5. Der Ring des Nibelungen: conception and interpretation Barry Millington
6. Leitmotif, temporality, and musical design in the Ring Thomas S. Grey
7. Tristan und Isolde: essence and appearance John Daverio
8. Performing Germany in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Stephen McClatchie
9. Parsifal: redemption and Kunstreligion Glenn Stanley
Part III. Ideas and Ideology in the Gesamtkunstwerk: 10. The urge to communicate: the prose writings as theory and practice James Treadwell
11. Critique as passion and polemic: Nietzsche and Wagner Dieter Borchmeyer
12. The Jewish question Thomas S. Grey
Part IV. After Wagner: Influence and Interpretation: 13. 'Wagnerism': responses to Wagner in music and the arts Annegret Fauser
14. Wagner and the Third Reich: myths and realities Pamela M. Potter
15. Wagner on stage: aesthetic, dramaturgical, and social considerations Mike Ashman
16. Criticism and analysis: current perspectives Arnold Whittall.

Subject Areas: Opera [AVGC9], Western "classical" music [AVGC], Music [AV]