The Cambridge Companion to Wagner (Cambridge Companions to Music)

Cambridge University Press, 9/11/2008
EAN 9780521644396, ISBN10: 0521644399

Paperback, 386 pages, 24.7 x 17.4 x 2 cm
Language: English

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.