The trouble with Wagner / Michael P. Steinberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steinberg, Michael P., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883. Ring des Nibelungen.

Wagner, Richard.

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

Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883.

Ring des Nibelungen (Wagner, Richard).

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

x, 151 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.

Summary:

In this unique and hybrid book, cultural and music historian Michael P. Steinberg combines a close analysis of Wagnerian music drama with a personal account of his work as a dramaturg on the bicentennial production of The Ring of the Nibelung for the Teatro alla Scala Milan and the Berlin State Opera. Steinberg shows how Wagner uses the power of a modern mythology to heighten music's claims to knowledge, thereby fusing not only art and politics, but truth and lies as well. Rather than attempting to separate value and violence, or "the good from the bad," as much Wagner scholarship as well as popular writing have tended to do, Steinberg proposes that we confront this paradox and look to the capacity of the stage to explore its depths and implications. Drawing on decades of engagement with Wagner and of experience teaching opera across disciplines, The Trouble with Wagner is packed with novel insights for experts and interested readers alike.

Contents:

Introduction: Wagnerian songlines

History and the stage

Siegmund's death

Bad education

Les passions humaines

Afterword: on purity, danger, and the postsecular moment.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226594194

022659419X

OCLC:

1028881405