Richard Wagner and His World

Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-691-14366-8
Verlag: Princeton University Press

Buch, Englisch, 576 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 945 g

Reihe: The Bard Music Festival

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Grey, Thomas S.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein Einzelne Komponisten und Musiker
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen Opernmusik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface 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 Schr?der-Devrient and Wagner's Dresden 201

CLAIRE VON GL?MER, HENRY CHORLEY

TRANSLATED, INTRODUCED, AND ANNOTATED BY THOMAS S. GREY

Catulle Mend?s Visits Tribschen 230

CATULLE MEND?S

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 Tannh?user 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 Op?ra: 347

Tannh?user 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 wagn?rienne: 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 Tannh?user

Overture to Der fliegende Holl?nder

Prelude to Lohengrin

Tannh?user

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 N?rnberg: Preludes to Acts 1 and 3

G?tterd?mmerung

Die Walk?re

Parsifal: Prelude to Act 1

Index 523

Notes on the Contributors 539

Über Autor(innen)

Grey, Thomas S.
Thomas S. Grey is professor of music at Stanford University. His books include "Wagner's Musical Prose: Texts and Contexts" and "The Cambridge Companion to Wagner".