The sorcerer of Bayreuth : Richard Wagner, his work, and his world / Barry Millington.
| Author/creator |
Millington, Barry |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | New York : Oxford University Press, ©2012. |
| Description | 320 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm |
| Subject(s) |
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| Contents | Father of the man: paternity and childhood -- Learning the craft: youthful apprenticeship -- Earning his keep: first professional appointments -- Under the yoke: Kapellmeister in Dresden -- The eternal wanderer: Der fliegende Holländer -- Desperately seeking Venus: Tannhäuser -- Swansong to traditional opera: Lohengrin -- Revolutionary road: uprising in Dresden -- The Zurich years: Wagner's exile in Switzerland -- The rise and fall of Valhalla: Der Ring des Nibelungen -- 'Most excellent friend': Franz Liszt -- Muses, mistresses and mother-figures: Wagner's women -- The behemoth of Bayreuth: Wagner's personality -- Always short: Wagner and money -- In the pink: the role of silks and satins in Wagner's life -- 'My adored and angelic friend': Ludwig II -- Fatal attraction: Tristan und Isolde -- 'Art is what matters here': Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg -- Grit in the oyster: the role of anti-Semitism in Wagner's life and work -- Creative spark: sources of inspiration in Wagner's work -- The silent sufferer: Cosima Wagner -- Tribschen idyll: the Lucerne years -- A home for the gods: the Bayreuth project -- Wagner's last card: Parsifal -- Death in Venice: the events of Wagner's last days -- Perfect and imperfect Wagnerites: the spread of the Wagner cult -- Panning for gold: Wagner and cinema -- Swastikas over Bayreuth: Wagner and the Third Reich -- Regime change: the grandsons usher in the era of new Bayreuth -- Renewing the legacy: Bayreuth today and in the future. |
| Abstract | Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is one of the most influential--and also one of the most controversial--composers in the history of music. Over the course of his long career, he produced a stream of spellbinding works that challenged musical convention through their richness and tonal experimentation, ultimately paving the way for modernism. This book presents an in-depth but easy-to-read overview of Wagner's life, work and times. It considers a wide range of themes, including the composer's original sources of inspiration; his fetish for exotic silks; his relationship with his wife, Cosima, and with his mistress, Mathilde Wesendonck; the anti-semitism that is undeniably present in the operas; their proto-cinematic nature; and the turbulent legacy both of the Bayreuth Festival and of Wagnerism itself. Making use of the very latest scholarship--much of it undertaken by the author himself in connection with his editorship of The Wagner Journal--the author reassesses received notions about Wagner and his work, demolishing ill-informed opinion in favour of proper critical understanding. It is a radical--and occasionally controversial--reappraisal of this most perplexing of composers. The volume's arrangement--unique among books on the composer--combines an accessible text, intriguing images and original documents, thus ensuring a consistently fresh approach. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| LCCN | 2012017940 |
| ISBN | 9780199933761 |
| ISBN | 0199933766 |
| Standard identifier# | 40021651548 |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.W1 M57 2012 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |