Wagner beyond good and evil / John Deathridge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deathridge, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Opera--19th century.

Opera.

Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883--Criticism and interpretation.

Wagner, Richard.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (321 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

John Deathridge presents a different and critical view of Richard Wagner based on recent research that does not shy away from some unpalatable truths about this most controversial of composers in the canon of Western music. Deathridge writes authoritatively on what Wagner did, said, and wrote, drawing from abundant material already well known but also from less familiar sources, including hitherto seldom discussed letters and diaries and previously unpublished musical sketches. At the same time, Deathridge suggests that a true estimation of Wagner does not lie in an all too easy condemnation of his many provocative actions and ideas. Rather, it is to be found in the questions about the modern world and our place in it posed by the best of his stage works, among them Tristan und Isolde and Der Ring des Nibelungen. Controversy about Wagner is unlikely to go away, but rather than taking the line of least resistance by regarding him blandly as a "classic" in the Western art tradition, Deathridge suggests that we need to confront the debates that have raged about him and reach beyond them, toward a fresh and engaging assessment of what he ultimately achieved.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1. Wagner Lives

2. "Pale" Senta

3. Wagner the Progressive

4. Fairy Tale, Revolution, Prophecy

5. Symphonic Mastery or Moral Anarchy?

6. Siegfried Hero

7. Finishing the End

8. Don Carlos and Götterdämmerung

9. Wagner's Greeks, and Wieland's Too

10. Dangerous Fascinations

11. Public and Private Life

12. Postmortem on Isolde

13. Strange Love, Or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Parsifal

14. Mendelssohn and the Strange Case of the (Lost) Symphony in C

15. Unfinished Symphonies

16. Configurations of the New

17. Wagner and Beyond

Abbreviations

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

"An Ahmanson Foundation book in the humanities"--Jacket flap.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-282) and index.

ISBN:

9786611752668

9781281752666

1281752665

9781435684768

1435684761

9780520934610

052093461X

OCLC:

476183688