Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
Did Richard Wagner incite Adolf Hitler to commit the Holocaust? The music of composer Richard Wagner is banned in Israel, as he is regarded as a precur-sor of the Nazi ideology. In Richard and Adolf, Nicholson explores the anti-Semitic elements of Wagner s polemical works and his music, and the immense influence this had on the man who was to become Germany s Fuhrer. Reference is also made to the texts of the major operas, reckoned by many to be the greatest works of art of all time. Biographers have often avoided delving into the uglier elements of both of the subjects personalities. Without seeking sensationalism, this book does not shrink from exploring their seedier side, including their sexual dalliances and perversions, in its quest to understand the full range of factors that led to Hitler's pursuit of the Holocaust. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Clearly a book of little importance or value
Is this a work that the serious student of either Wagner, Hitler, or German history in general will have to take seriously? The title, certainly, suggests that this is not the case, but that we are dealing instead with yet another exercise in cheap sensationalism. 'Richard and Adolf' rather than 'Wagner and Hitler'? The subtitle also has an almost obscenely flippant quality to it, grotesquely at odds with the gravity of the subject, and quite obviously intimating that this is not a work of real scholarship.

I will confess right away that I haven't read the book; but that I still have little hesitation in awarding it a single star. The reasons for this are as follows.

I have read the first ten pages or so available through Amazon's preview system, and the errors they contain are so egregious that it is difficult to see how they cannot but discredit the entire book, whatever its subsequent chapters may contain.

On p. 14, the author refers to Wagner's opera cycle the 'Ring of the Nibelungs'. The correct title is 'The Ring of the Nibelung,' in the singular. This may seem like a matter of detail, but if Nicholson cannot even get the titles of Wagner's works right, what trust can we put in his capabilities to deal adequately with more intricate issues? That this elementary mistake has been made before by other writers in fact makes it even worse, as one could have expected Nicholson to have learned from the many times it has been corrected in the past. In addition, this is an error which strongly suggests that the author has a very limited knowledge of German, as anyone who does have command of that language would know full well the elementary difference between 'Der Ring *des* Nibelungen' (the original German title) and 'Der Ring *der* Nibelungen' (Nicholson's invented German title). The same error is repeated in the index, moreover - where, additionally, 'Die Walküre' is translated as 'The Valkyries.'

On p. 16, Nicholson writes about "Wagner's opera Parsifal where the Knights of the Grail refreshed themselves spiritually before rescuing damsels in distress, treating the poor and fighting holy wars against the infidels and the Jews." I know there are some people who will not accept that this is incorrect, but will go on insisting that Parsifal is in fact packed with mysteriously hidden references to Jews. But there is of course no mention whatsoever in Parsifal (neither in the finished opera, nor in the prose draft) that the knights are ever sent out on 'holy wars' against 'the Jews.' If we are meant to understand that this is somehow 'implied' in the opera, that it is a hidden 'subtext,' then Nicholson could perhaps have been so kind as to provide us with some reasons for why this is so. He does not, he merely smuggles it in as a premise. Again, those who want to accept this because they like to think of Wagner as some sort of forerunner of Nazism can of course do so; but they should be aware that they are accepting it solely on faith, as no arguments for this preposterous silliness has been put forward.

On the same page, we then find the one sentence that - for me at least - discredits this book beyond rescue. Writing about the holy spear of Longinus, in an argument that relies heavily on Ravenscroft's science fiction version of history, Nicholson states: "Wagner had told Chamberlain of the significance of the Holy Spear." Nicholson adduces no source for this claim, but that is of little importance here. What matters is this: Wagner and H. S. Chamberlain never met. They never exchanged a single word. Wagner never even knew Chamberlain existed. A young Chamberlain once *saw* Wagner across a room during a dinner party. But they *never* ever met, they *never* ever spoke with one another. Chamberlain is one of the most important intellectual forerunners of the Third Reich, and his writings had a huge impact on a number of other figures. His books ran through many, many editions, were translated into numerous languages, and were debated all over in Europe and the US. And Nicholson doesn't even know the most basic fact about his relationship with Wagner - that the two never met. How can we possibly resist the conclusion that Nicholson's grasp of German intellectual history is so incredibly flimsy, that his sense of chronology is so spectacularly inaccurate, that we just cannot take the man seriously, however much we would want to. Apparently, Nicholson is a judge by profession; and though that would indeed suggest that he is not entirely devoid of intelligence, it is perhaps also well to remember that he clearly is not a historian.

This concludes my review of what Amazon lets me read of the first chapter. Browsing the internet, I also came across the following alleged quote from Nicholson's book: "Wagner wrote that one day the German people would not shrink from their sacred duty to find a 'great solution to the Jewish problem.' " If the quote is accurate - and from what I've read, I have little reason to think it isn't - this is yet another egregious error. The Wagner citation Nicholson adduces is from the late essay 'Erkenne dich selbst' ('Know yourself'), and it is neither accurate (Wagner never spoke of a 'Jewish problem'), nor does it say what Nicholson tries to insinuate that it says. It is a very alarming instance of intellectual dishonesty.

Finally, I would suggest that most of the other reviews offered here (the one by Stephan Peters perhaps excepted) are so uninformed that they hardly inspire much confidence in the writer either. I am sure that amateur bigots consumed by their hatred for 'the ugliness of Richard Wagner' will find much that appeals to them in Nicholson's work. The scholarly community, however, has passed its judgment on this book by disregarding it. For the reasons I have given above, I feel confident that this was the right decision.

Richard and Adolf
I really wanted to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. As a student of history and music, it seemed to promise to dovetail nicely into my pursuits. However, it just seemed to make more "conclusion jumps" that I had a hard time reconciling what I knew of both figures. While there does seem to be some connection of the two, the support for many hypotheses offered is just not there. In a slim (and yes, 449 pages here is slim!) volume, I just expected there to be more pie instead of all the whipped cream that I was offered. The extraneous details got a bit tired, and all the good, hard evidence there was too little of. It almost seemed as if it were two separate books at times - one about Wagner and one about Hitler, with only the thinest of threads tying them together.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Richard and Adolf
By
Christopher Nicholson

A Review
By
Colin J. Edwards

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". (Samuel Johnson 1775)

Patriotism seems a rather pedestrian word to use when considering the activities of Richard Wagner and Adolf Hitler in Germany during the first half of the 20th century. It was extreme patriotism, amplified by mental instability that created these monsters. They were not alone of course; Japan demonstrated similar traits in the same period.

Christopher Nicholson's book, `Richard and Adolf', records in the minutest detail the manifestations of Wagner's and Hitler's obsessions, and the impact they had on European Jewry. He postulates that Wagners anti-Semitism as demonstrated in his major musical works provided the launch pad for Hitler's excesses.

The book is beautifully produced. It is well bound and the pages are fine quality paper that will accommodate many readings.

The work is catalogued as a Holocaust book, but it is more than that. It is a detailed expose of how two disturbed people are hypnotized by an 800 year old poem, and use that as a justification for the calculated murder of 5 million innocent people.That is not to mention the millions that died as a result of their dementia.

Nicholson's book is a scholarly tome. All facts are annotated, and his bibliography runs to 7 pages.

However, Mr. Nicholson is a lawyer - a High Court Judge in fact, and his book reads rather like a brief. That does not in any way detract from the value of this work, but I did have the feeling that `Richard and Adolf' read like 2 briefs presented to condemn these individuals. That is not to suggest that these indefensible lunatics shouldn't be condemned, but I didn't think the numerous abusive after-thoughts at the end of paragraphs was appropriate. Facts alone are sufficient to condemn Wagner and Hitler, and personal evaluations serve little purpose.


I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants a greater understanding of why someone would want to legislate to harass, hound and murder innocent families. But be prepared for the realization that Hitler didn't do it alone - indeed, he didn't do it at all. Nicholson doesn't site one incident of any resistance movement in Germany or anywhere else against Germany's attempt to exterminate European Jews.

This is an important work particularly for a generation to whom World War II was something someone mentioned during a history lesson. `Richard and Adolf', describes how a population with exaggerated patriotic zeal, can be manipulated by one individual to destroy their own people, the people in the continent around them and ultimately themselves.

Everyone should read this book to remind themselves of the cataclysmic dangers of Nationalism.

Appreciation depends on your reason for reading.
This book will leave you with a different impression depending on your purpose in reading it.

If you want to begin a serious scholarly inquiry on the subject, you will be disappointed.

There are plenty of footnotes and citations, but I don't think I found any that cited primary sources.
Most were references to various biographies of Wagner--many of which undoubtedly begin with the phrase "Richard Wagner was born..." This author reserves this phrase for the beginning of the third chapter.

Even easy to find primary sources were not researched or cited.
Nicholson quotes an English translation from "Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland" by Heinrich Heine, however he cites "Newman, Life of Richard Wagner, vol.2, 261" for the quote.

The book almost reads like something Novosti Press might have published in English during the Cold War. Here is an example:
"Did Heine know that his own works would be...thrown on the great fires...when the nation threw its soul at the devil?"
This is typical of the writing style of the entire work.

There are also statements I wish had a footnote; e.g. "Hitler's fear arose from specters of those he had killed, visiting him--principally his erstwhile comrade-at-arms and lover Ernst Rölm..." This statement had no source or footnote, not even something like: "Patton, George C, On Hitler and his relationship with Rölm, Speech given to the US Third Army, Oppenheim, March 22, 1945."--except Nicholson would have cited "Wallace, The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People". Wallace in turn might have gotten the information from Patton's speech. In all fairness, Nicholson cites Machtan, "Hidden Hitler" for most of his innuendo that Hitler was a closet homosexual.

In fact, huge portions of the book are devoted to Nietzsche, Ludwig II Siegfried Wagner, Hitler, and Richard Wagner's trysts, perversions, or sexual liaisons. While these would be necessary in a biography, I didn't see how they help answer the question asked in the title.

HOWEVER

If you are looking for an overview of Wagner's life and anti-Semitism written in easy to understand language without having to read seventeen different biographies of Wagner written in Universitese with long quotes in French or German this will probably fit the bill nicely.

It does a good job of describing the roots of Wagner's anti-Semitism in his own personal life, his anti-Semitic essays and innuendo in his operas, his relationship with Nietzsche, Chamberlain, etc.

It reads like a History Channel special- and does have a lot of good information. I never knew about the Spear of Longinus before reading this book, and found it fascinating!

I found the last chapter, "Wagner in Israel," very interesting and definitely worth reading.

The binding, paper type, printing and typeset are excellent.

I hope this review has been helpful to both types of readers

A Master Work
This great master workdeserves to be greatly admired and applauded. Rarely had I read a book which was so thoroughly researched as this was.Rarely have I read such wonderful English.And rarely has an author produced such a powerful, incontrovertible case.
How I hope those who have insisted on playing Wagner's music will read your book from start to finish.

... Read more

Product Description
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) has often been regarded as asymbol of "Germanness." Despite this view, few studies have beenundertaken regarding his nationalistic thinking. Imagined Germanyfocuses on Wagner's idea of Deutschtum, especially during theunification of Germany, 1864-1871. Salmi discusses how Wagner definedGermanness, what stereotypes, ideas, and sentiments he attached to it,and what kind of state could realize Wagner's natural ideals. ... Read more

Product Description
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. ... Read more

Product Description
This highly original book draws on narrative and film theory, psychoanalysis, and musicology to explore the relationship between aesthetics and anti-Semitism in two controversial landmarks in German culture. David Levin argues that Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Fritz Lang's 1920s film Die Nibelungen creatively exploit contrasts between good and bad aesthetics to address the question of what is German and what is not. He shows that each work associates a villainous character, portrayed as non-Germanic and Jewish, with the sometimes dramatically awkward act of narration. For both Wagner and Lang, narration--or, in cinematic terms, visual presentation--possesses a typically Jewish potential for manipulation and control. Consistent with this view, Levin shows, the Germanic hero Siegfried is killed in each work by virtue of his unwitting adoption of a narrative role.

Levin begins with an explanation of the book's theoretical foundations and then applies these theories to close readings of, in turn, Wagner's cycle and Lang's film. He concludes by tracing how Germans have dealt with the Nibelungen myths in the wake of the Second World War, paying special attention to Michael Verhoeven's 1989 film The Nasty Girl. His fresh and interdisciplinary approach sheds new light not only on Wagner's Ring and Lang's Die Nibelungen, but also on the ways in which aesthetics can be put to the service of aggression and hatred. The book is an important contribution to scholarship in film and music and also to the broader study of German culture and national identity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen
What verbiage! Get to the point!
I'm sorry; I read and re-read and still have no clear idea what the author is trying to say.
The author could have saved much paper by writing one clearly stated sentence--and been done with it.
If I see the word inflected one more time--well I already screamed.
It does have some neat pictures from the Fritz Lang movie.
And while I have seen the Verhoeven Nasty Girl movie (and liked it and found it quite interesting), it seems out of place to put its commentary in a book along side Wagner's Ring, Lang's movie and the book Das Nibelungenlied.

Save your money
I heard the author speak at a conference on Wagnerism and Music
overseas, and it contained the gist of this book.Basically the
author is a professional hand-wringer victim, who travels around
the world cadging free meals and lodging by trotting out a very
shop-worn personal rant against Wagner, Lang, and the Nibelung
legend.It reminded me of nothing so much as a very whiny baby
who's grown up to be an equally whiny guy who's found a comfy
living whining at music conferences, and is ultimately a boring,
tiring person who needs to get a real life-and stop whining!

His rant really ticked me off, it is very puerile and boring.

If ya gotta buy the book, buy it used.

The misrepresentation is mainly by omission
David Levin's book _Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang and the Nibelungen_ centers around the allegation that Mime in Wagner's opera _Siegfried_, and Alberich in Fritz Lang's 1920 film _Die Nibelungen_ (both dwarfs), are antisemitic representations.

Levin's arguments for these twin accusations will cause jaw-dropping disbelief in anyone familiar with Wagner's or Lang's work. He writes: "Thus Mime is repeatedly shown to be narrating (a terrible thing in Wagner's eyes and works) while Alberich embodies a version of 'Hollywood' cinema (a terrible thing in Lang's eyes and works)."

Anyone who's seen or heard a Wagner opera knows that far from narration being "a terrible thing in Wagner's eyes", it's a Wagner specialty. All Wagner's important characters are incorrigible narrators, to an extent that's notoriously off-putting for newcomers. (Levin later claims that Mime is unique because he narrates events that haven't previously been represented in dramatic form. Nice try, but so do most of Wagner's other characters, from Senta and the Dutchman to Wotan and Gurnemantz.)

This isn't just a minor error. It's actually Levin's whole argument concerning Wagner: that Wagner's character Mime was a narrator, Wagner hated narrators and thought narration was somehow Jewish, therefore Mime is an antisemitic representation and the _Ring_ is an antisemitic parable.

But if we took Levin's test seriously, all the major Wagnerian characters would be Jewish representations, and Wagner would emerge as the most obsessively philosemitic dramatist in history. (Except that according to Levin's test, everyone in Greek tragedy and Japanese Noh drama is Jewish too.)

Levin's accusation against Fritz Lang is that his _Nibelungen_ film, made in Germany in 1920, was antisemitic in its depiction of the dwarf Alberich. Levin gave two grounds for his claim that Lang's Alberich is an antisemitic representation.

First, Levin said that Lang's biographer Lotte Eisner had claimed that critic Siegfried Kracauer had thought that Lang's depiction of Alberich was antisemitic. Unfortunately for Levin, Kracauer's discussion of Lang's film is in print, and Kracauer made no such allegation. More importantly, Kracauer's opinion would only have weight if Kracauer had actually provided arguments or evidence in support of this reading of Lang's film. So Levin's first piece of supporting evidence is unsubstantiated hearsay; that one critic, Kracauer, may or may not have thought Lang's Alberich was a Jewish caricature, but provided no arguments in support of that interpretation, which he probably did not support.

Well, you can't get much more convincing than that!

And Levin doesn't. His other argument is that Alberich took Siegfried into an underground cave and shone an image on the wall: the Nibelungs mining for gold. Levin argued, essentially, that projecting images on a wall (a symbol of filmmaking) is somehow a Jewish thing to do. Therefore Lang's Alberich is an antisemitic Jewish caricature.

Obviously that's not much of an argument, expressed so baldly. So Levin expressed it hairily. Delving into the works of Freud, Klein, Lacan, etc, he engaged in a great deal of oracular pronouncing and general arm-waving. It's probably fair to describe Freudianism as a dead religion now the Freud Wars are over, and Levin did his case little good by tying so much of it to the Freudian tradition.

But against Levin's psychoanalytic flights of fancy there's just one awkward fact. It's that Fritz Lang was of Jewish descent, and he fled Nazi Germany to America (to Hollywood) partly because of politics and partly because of his Jewish ancestry.

How did Levin deal with that awkward fact? The same way he dealt with the awkward fact that _everybody_ in Wagner is a narrator, not just Mime. Levin simply didn't mention it. But at one point he cited a biography of Fritz Lang, so he can't credibly claim ignorance of the awkward fact.

An intellectually honest academic has to mention facts that hurt their thesis, and argue around them. A book that simply buries awkward facts, presumably in the hope that the readers won't know better, is not an intellectually honest book.

Levin does a lot of omitting awkward facts. For example Levin tells us that when Wagner's Siegfried (_Siegfried_ Act II) killed Mime it was because Mime was sort of Jewish; Siegfried heard Mime narrating, and realised that narrators are aliens who should be killed. Next stop, Levin suggests, is the Holocaust.

But Levin can only argue this by omitting the actual content of Mime's speech. Mime was telling Siegfried, inadvertently but truthfully, that he intended to drug Siegfried unconscious and then decapitate him. Thus Siegfried could not risk sleeping, if he wanted to wake up again. In a forest, unattended by a police service with the resources to apprehend murderous stalkers, Siegfried killed Mime in self-defence: not because Mime was a narrator, but because Mime would kill him the next time he fell asleep. (By the way Mime's threat to Siegfried was not even narration. It was exposition. Since "narration" is such a central concept in Levin's book, he should at least know what "narration" means.)

Here, as with his claims about narration in Wagner, and whether Fritz Lang is likely to have made antisemitic movies, Levin used the technique known as "misrepresentation by omission". He also applied this technique in his discussion of Wagner's prose. But although I'd meant to discuss such things as Levin's claim that Siegfried burnt down the world ash tree in order to forge Nothung (a false claim that suggests that Levin may not have actually read the _Ring_ libretto), and many other things, I'm close to the word limit.

Basically this book is nonsense. Wagner students are used to this sort of thing; Wagner brings out this sort of tin-foil-hatted lunacy in some academics. But admirers of Fritz Lang, in the real world a victim rather than a perpetrator of Nazi bigotry, have the right to be a little annoyed by this mildly misleading piece of work.

Cheers!

Laon ... Read more

Product Description
The third opera in Wagner’s monumental tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is reproduced here, complete and unabridged, from the first edition (1876). Wagner enthusiasts, opera lovers and musicians will appreciate this affordable edition of an influential Romantic-era masterpiece.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent, high-quality yet cheap reproduction of 1st-Edition score of great opera!
Keith Dillon has already said much of what needs be said about this score.Ideally I'd have given it a 4.5 or even only 4 stars due to 2 faults with those initial Schott editions - except Mr. Dillon has already beaten me to it (yet his review is warmer...)!Consequently, I'll raise my mark to counter-balance given the low price.[Getting the current Schott Complete-Wagner Works Edition, which does follow proper conventions, surely would cost a king's ransom...]

The faults are:1) Inconsistency about ordering of instruments and/or voices per system; 2) Slightly less than ideal clarity in printing due to the styles/fonts of engraving then used.

Regarding the first point:it was a period of transition from an initial time where other instruments and voices would be inserted between the upper strings (violins, violas) and the low ones (which still were notated à la "Continuo" function long after that style of composition had died) versus today's systematisation where everything is grouped by order of class of instruments and/or voices (woodwinds, brass, percussion, harps, keyboards, solo-voices, choral-voices, strings - going from top to bottom in a system).That full-transition hadn't quite finished yet (it so did around 1910 with Peters' editions of the Wagner operas - "Tristan und Isolde" used the old order Wagner used, whereas "Die Walküre" and "Parsifal" were in the new order - other composers like Richard Strauss were already established however with the new order...).

Also, as an extra challenge, tenor voices (in this case: Siegfried, Mime) are notated using the tenor clef - not that I mind;however, others might.

Anyway, those are minor quibbles - in compensation one knows that he's dealing with very reliable scores proofed (if I recall correctly) by Wagner himself, with few mistakes if any - all of which can be corrected by listening to appropriate recordings.Definitely recommended!

The Return of the Walkure
Siegfried is the third opera in Wagner's tetrology, the Ring of the Nibeling. It tells the story of Siegfried, the young hero who bursts through a ring of fire to saves Brunnhilde, his aunt and eventual lover,from a fate of eternal sleep. This opera contains remarkable music, such asBrunnhilde and Siegfrieds' love duets, and the prophetic twittering of theforest bird. As with Das Rheingold, Dover republished the B. Schott's Sohneedition, which means that what we see on the page was approved by Wagnerhimself. Again, Dover editions are reasonably priced, easy to read, andcapable of enduring all reasonable, and some unreasonable wear and tear.Dover's Siegfried is large enough to conduct from, which isn't always truewith Dover's Wagner scores. In any case, a copy of this score belongs inthe home of all self respecting Opera lovers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Out of print masterpiece
It is unfortunate that this magisterial biography of Richard Wagner is out of print.Without question, in breadth, depth, and literary style this is the best biography of Der Meister ever written.Like Wagner's music, its effect is hypnotic; once started you have to finish it--all 2,000 plus pages of it.I read it during one summer back in 1983.Foolishly, I sold my 4-volume set long ago and only repurchased it on this web site a few days ago.I was lucky to get a great price.If you like Wagner you MUST read this.If you can't afford one, skip a mortgage payment--it'll be worth it--artistically speaking.A perfect companion to this is Solti's studio recording of Der Ring from 1959-1965--another hundred or so.Everything for Art! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Wagner's vast "Der Ring des Nibelungen" cycle comprises four full-length operas ("Das Rheingold", "Die Walkure", "Siegfried" and "Gotterdammerung") and is arguably the most extraordinary achievement in the history of opera. His own libretto to the operas is an intricate system of metric patterns, imaginative metaphors and alliteration, combining to produce the music in text. This boxed set provides a line-by-line translation of the four opera librettos, a running commentary on the action and signals as to when each leitmotif appears. Each leitmotif is a musical theme or motif which denotes a character, emotion, object or event, and these musical themes were used by Wagner as a unifying force within his dramas. The listener following the opera with the libretto is able to pinpoint the various themes (in the Ring cycle there are 81 leitmotifs) and so increase understanding of the drama. Sabor's translation seeks to preserve the original metre and elucidate the complexities of Wagner's intricate libretto. The volumes are supplemented with scene-by-scene synopses, short discussions of each leitmotif, a discography, videography and bibliography.The companion volume offers essays on the meaning of the Ring, on Wagner's turbulent and fascinating life, his varied literary sources from the world of myth, the genesis of the cycle and its performance history over the last 120 years.Amazon.com Review
The operatic world is full of guides to the psyche and music(not to mention the politics) of Richard Wagner. Can there possibly bean excuse for publishing another one? Indeed there is, when theinsights are as fresh (or as well documented) and thoughtfullyassembled as in this new companion to the Ring. Der Ring desNibelungen: A Companion offers obscure details to lure even themost avid Wagnerite, but is brief and accessible enough to be of useto Wagnerian newcomers as well. Rudolph Sabor's survey of Wagner'slife is necessarily brief, but still full of interesting details andinsights, while his examination of the sources drawn on by thecomposer-librettist is extremely helpful. Wagner, who was fond ofpromoting an image of himself as a Jovian creator--in his mythos, hiswork supposedly sprang from his head full-blown with no preparationneeded, like Athena from the pate of Jupiter--was actually a verycareful researcher who used every bit of background he could find inhis librettos. Interesting parallels are drawn to other works byWagner, and there is a short but helpful explanation of whatleitmotifs are and how they're used. Der Ring des Nibelungen: ACompanion also looks at a number of important productions of theRing, from the leafy and naturalistic to attempts to force-fita Marxist interpretation on the mythic work; lists resources forfurther research; and includes a well-done bibliography anddiscography with the author's comments on each recording. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Concern about the German translation
I have used this translation together with those by William Mann (Friends of Covent Garden) and Lionel Salter and my opinion is that the latter two more accurately translate the German.I do no undersatnd Mr Sabor's reference to 'accuracy' in his translation:at times questions in German become statements in English,tenses are confused and straight-forward words appear to be incorrectly translated.I am very disappointed in the translation and would point people to either Mann or Salter.Where the books are of value are the annotations of the 'leimotive' by the approrpiate lines.There are in addition so other sundry notes,though at times these did seem to me to be fatuous.I would suggest the introductions need to be re-written so that an unsuspecting user would not accept Mr Sabor's translation by cross-corrolating each word.To me it appears strange that Mr Sabor states 'a new translation is demanded' of 'The Ring' - in my opinion,as a German speaker,his is not the translation that I would demand.

Der Ring Des Nibelungen : A Companion.
This book really made me understand the complex and wonderfull work of Richard Wagner. He really knew how to compose a great masterpiece. I always admired his music and now that I read the Book Der Ring des Nibelungen (03times ! ) I am sure that he is the best composer ever. For the people wholoves classical music this is the best book to start understanding itsenvironment. I read Sergio Perazo's reviews, and I totally agreed with him.He (sergio) gave the exactly idea how good this book is. I am startingreading this book for the forth time.

A better understanding of the Ring Cycle
Wagner's Der Ring de Nibelungen is one of the most complex and significant artisitic creations in the world of opera. For those eager to approach the Ring and learn about this masterpiece this is the RIGHT book. One of thekeys to understanding the Ring is based on its system of leitmotifs -recurring moments used to represent carachters, objects, events oremotions. These dramatic agents are very well explained (there's a sequenceof other 4 books of Mr Sabor where you'll find the libretto translationsand references to the leitmotifs as they appear throughout the work). Abiography of Wagner precedes a chapter regarding the sources of the Ring.These are fascinating topics about the composer and his masterpiece. Thereis also a great chapter telling about the Ring story and its carachters.The Bayreuth story and a full bibliography, videography and a list of allthe leitmotifs complements this excellent book. After reading this book theRing will become an even more pleasing and understandable experience.

Excellent Information on The Ring
Mr. Sabor's historical commentary, list of leitmotiven and their appearances in the operas, and side comments cannot be equaled. This elegant set of books -- one for historical analysis, overview andperformance practice of the entire cycle and one for each opera in thecycle -- is especially useful for Wagner beginners as well as seasonedmusicologists. The translation of the libretti is beautifully poetic --retaining much of Wagner's original alliteration and meter -- although itis not the most literal. (It could be used for singing if one was soinclined, and is a good deal better than most translations done for thispurpose). I have used this set of books for a good deal of research on TheRing and usually need no others, although I do like to compare anytranslations with a more literal version, like the type usually found alongwith a recording. The discography/videography of the Ring is useful if notthe most insightful. The substance, though, is most satisfactory, and at areasonable price, too.

very helpful commentary and beautiful translation
Listening to the Ring with Sabor's translations and comments is very pleasant.His English is beautiful and leitmotifs are all pointed out when they occur in the libretto. (of course the German is there to see as well.)Helpful comments about orchestration and interpretion enhance theexperience. Summaries of plot and explanations of leitmotifs are presentedat the beginning of each act as well as expanded within the text.A greatway to get to know the Ring. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent reprint of a good first edition of a great work!!
The reviewer who praised this reprint before my post here has said all that needs to be said in favour of this work!!My only quibbles - and the reason I can't give this edition a full 5 stars - have to do with Schott's fonts and the ordering of their staves in the systems.

[For details, please see my equivalent review for "Siegfried in Full Score", which Dover reprint is from the same first-edition source as this one.]

Nevertheless, warmly recommended!

Twilight of the Gods
This is an immense work of Herculean intensity. At its worst this operacan be a little thick but even theworst music here is beautiful! Thescoring is superb, the harmonies rich. This is the only part of The Ring touse a chorus. The first moments of the piece set the tone of apocalypticdrama.

It's a big work but once you get involved in the action (thistakes a few seconds at most), the time flies by and before you know it, itis over.It is a great idea to equip oneself with the score for mostproductions as, unfortunately, there are very few good productions of thisever. It is a complicated score, exhausting and difficult to sing andinterpret. A pity, for when Gotterdammerung is done right there are fewthings as powerful and beautiful in the world. ... Read more

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The stories from Wagner's classic Operas including; Lohengrin -
Lohengrin, in medieval German story, a knight of the Holy Grail, son of Parzival. He is sent to rescue Princess Elsa of Brabant from an unwanted suitor.

The story revolves around the real-life guild of Meistersinger (Master Singers), an association of amateur poets and musicians, mostly from the middle class and often master craftsmen in their main professions. The Mastersingers developed a craftsmanlike approach to music-making, with an intricate system of rules for composing and performing songs.

The Flying Dutchman- Flying Dutchman, according to folklore, is a ghost ship that can never go home, and is doomed to sail the oceans forever.


[Kindle] ... Read more

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Though his image is tarnished today by unrepentant anti-Semitism, Richard Wagner (1813–1883) was better known in the nineteenth century for his provocative musical eroticism. In this illuminating study of the composer and his works, Laurence Dreyfus shows how Wagner’s obsession with sexuality prefigured the composition of operas such as Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal. Daring to represent erotic stimulation, passionate ecstasy, and the torment of sexual desire, Wagner sparked intense reactions from figures like Baudelaire, Clara Schumann, Nietzsche, and Nordau, whose verbal tributes and censures disclose what was transmitted when music represented sex.

Wagner himself saw the cultivation of an erotic high style as central to his art, especially after devising an anti-philosophical response to Schopenhauer’s “metaphysics of sexual love.” A reluctant eroticist, Wagner masked his personal compulsion to cross-dress in pink satin and drench himself in rose perfumes while simultaneously incorporating his silk fetish and love of floral scents into his librettos. His affection for dominant females and surprising regard for homosexual love likewise enable some striking portraits in his operas. In the end, Wagner’s achievement was to have fashioned an oeuvre which explored his sexual yearnings as much as it conveyed—as never before—how music could act on erotic impulse.

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The cultural controversies he helped to create have long since died down, but Richard Wagner still remains a polarizing icon. Just as he dreamed of combining the arts, his influence extends well beyond the field of classical music to theater, literature, painting, and more. Wagner represents a phenomenon which is hard to ignore. His compulsive need to document his thoughts—apart from his art—finds an echo in the enormous body of explanation Wagner has inspired. Yet even with so much written about him, Wagner continues to be a deeply misunderstood figure.

This guide aims to unlock the world of Richard Wagner and his works, his monumental achievements, and, ultimately, the great emotional power inherent in his art. This emotional power is double-edged, often serving as a kind of mirror for what each listener brings to it. The book challenges the assumptions and stereotypes of the "Wagnerian" idea of art.

Decoding Wagner presents a straightforward, fresh overview of what Wagner attempted to achieve with his "artwork of the future." Lively discussions of his major works place them in the context of his life and consider the interplay of dramatic and musical elements with philosophical ideas which are so unique to Wagner.

Two accompanying full-length CDs illustrate and trace his growth as a composer. Decoding Wagner appraises the enormously expressive richness that continues to make his art compelling and relevant for contemporary audiences.Amazon.com Review
In the voluminous Wagner bibliography, Thomas May's book occupies a special place. Concise but remarkably information-packed and accompanied by two CDs of excerpts, it is addressed to those who seek a deeper understanding of Wagner's operas. The controversies--artistic, human and moral--generated by Wagner's innovative ideas and reprehensible behavior frequently obscure the greatness of his achievements. May performs an extraordinary feat: although unflinchingly aware of Wagner's arrogance, self-aggrandizement, duplicity, faithlessness, hedonism, greed, political opportunism, chauvinism, and anti-Semitism, he communicates boundless admiration for the composer andpassionate love for his works. Suggesting that the very schism between Wagner's flawed character and idealistic aspirations inspired "monumentally stirring meditations on the contradictory range of human experience," he correlates and reconciles his "monstrous ego" with his sublime genius.The evolution of Wagner's operas, from his early and incomplete attempts to the late, often extensively revised masterpieces, culminated in a lofty artistic vision: the "total artwork" which, combining all the arts, would result in heightened experience and spiritual elevation. Wagner wrote his own texts, considering poetry and music inseparable and himself equally master of both, an assessment not universally shared. May takes the librettos very seriously, following them from their historical or mythological origin to their final form with formidable but unobtrusive erudition. Among his references are the Buddha, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Thomas Mann, and T.S. Eliot, and he must have read everything about Wagner as well as Wagner's own often repellent autobiographical, theoretical, and political writings (which make one wish he had written nothing but music). May's musical analyses are equally riveting and absorbing. He traces the operas' ever-increasing depth, breadth, and grandeur, the growing importance and masterful use of the unifying leitmotif and the "Wagnerian" orchestra, and the often hidden strands that connect them despite their individual uniqueness. Opera lovers spurred by May's book to hear these works performed could not wish for a more knowledgeable, illuminating, and inspiring guide. --Edith Eisler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good Selection of Music, Superficial Insubstantial Text
What an audacious title!Decoding Wagner, all done in 204 pages, without all those pesky footnotes.You will not get a sense of what the librettos actually mean though.He does not decode Wagner, not by a long shot.Wagner's works defy simplification, so writing a generalized book that claims to decode all of Wagner at a grade 9 reading level in 200 pages is bound to fail.And this one does.I think I would have given this 5 stars if the title had been "An Invitation to Wagner's World" or "Elementary Wagner", but then again that wouldn't have sold as well.

I don't think the author has a good enough grasp of 19th century thought, Wagner's writings, or the primary sources Wagner used in writing his Librettos; nor do I think he understands German.The text and analysis appear to have been cobbled together from secondary sources, but because there are no footnotes I don't know for sure.There is a fair amount of description of the types of music and how they relate generally to the drama (and no you won't have to know how to read music to understand his descriptions), a decent amount of plot recapitulation, and a fair amount of biographical information.There is very little in the way of decoding Wagner.

I suppose that is not too surprising.Wagner was a very prolix headache inducing writer, and often times he was also self contradictory.Further, he loved to obscure things and make people have to work to understand what he was trying to get across, especially when it came to his librettos.Getting a handle on what his operas mean is a demanding task.Demanding books don't sell very well though, and plowing through Wagner's philosophy is difficult.Yet that is what is required to decode the man and his works.And the resultant decoding is bound to be difficult and confusing.It is much simpler to gloss over things and write in general terms things that make sense to a modern mind.If you want an example of an actual decoding of Wagner, read Barry Millington (Cambridge Opera Journal Vol. 3 No 3 1991).You will see how difficult it is.

Why is it hard? Because Wagner intentionally obfuscated his intentions.Wagner wrote "Such a career as mine must ever cheat the onlooker: he sees in me acts and undertakings he deems to be my own, whereas at bottom they are quite alien to me: who marks the repugnance that often is filling my soul?"Cosmia (wagner's wife) wrote in her diary "He [Wagner] enjoys writing, but feels it will be some time before he writes another text: " I have posed enough riddles," he adds." So Wagner hides his true intent.Who could understand his operas?Here is a couple of more quotes: "After a year's preparation, I shall present my complete work in a series of 4 days: with this I shall make the men of the revolution recognize the meaning of the revolution according to its most noble contents. That Audience will understand me the present cannot.""..the multitude leaves me indifferent...it can't grasp what I am driving at...my only holdfast is the individual in whom I can see that through my art I have preached to his conscience...and made him a fellow-combatant against the good-for-nothing reign of worldly wisdom."So Wagner himself says that his works are not meant to be understood by the masses, but only by a select few, i.e. 'fellow combatants'.He did think he would be able to communicate with the masses though.He thought that there would be an unconscious, uncritical communication with them.Basically, they would not understand but their subconscious would get the message.

Most modern Wagner writers tend to downplay or eliminate nationalism, anti-Semitism, and anti-French in his works.And that's what May does here.He does touch on the most obvious examples, such as Beckmeister in Die Meistersinger, but in a wholly inadequate way.Taking the Beckmeister example, May minimizes the malevolence of Wagner's intent by stating that Beckmiester should be seen in the same light as some of Dickens more racist characters.The problem is Dickens was not a violent anti-Semite, nor did he try to start a movement.I don't know why people have such a resistance to see the intentionally obscure encoded nationalism and racism in the librettos, but they do.

So making sense of Wagner is a complicated riddle solving and painful experience.This book is none of those things and therefore its conclusions and generalizations do not illuminate the works of Wagner.But it makes for easy reading and will fool the reader into thinking he has Wagner figured out.

On the positive side, the two cds provide a nice overview of Wagner's music, and are worth the price of the book, especially if you have no Wagner in your collection.

interesting book with cds
This well writen book has an analysis of all Wagner operas. I found it helpful, used together with the Metropolitan Opera site.

An opera celebration
I used to be an opera singer and I have to say this is a fabulous book for any fan of Wagner. Tom May has done a terrific job of making this difficult material accessible, and the accompanying CDs help considerably. Even if you feel you have read everything there is to read about the maestro, you will find this book absorbing and very illuminating. Plus you'll probably want to buy a new recording of Tristan und Isolde as well [maybe the most beautiful music ever written, in my humble opinion].I think Amazon may sell that too.LOL

Very solid overview of Wagner's operas - 2 Good Music CDs
I found this tobe an excellent overview of Wagner and his operas ina book of only 200 pages or so. This book is for someone who is fairly familiar with the plots of Wagner's operas -- no plot summaries are presented -- and givesa good sense of how Wagner developed as both a composer and dramatist.The book is written mostly around the ten major operas wrote -- a chapter for each with an extra chapter to introduce the Ring. Although the book is relativelyshort, the reader learns a lot about Wagner's sources,his use of these sources, and key features of the individual operas. A portion of the discussion of the operas is tied to the CDs - one for the Ring and the other for the non-Ring operas.The CDs are primarily "greatest hits" - from the operas, with text making reference to different points on the CD in terms of timing.

This book is probably not the first book you read on Wagner-- I would recommend "Wagner Without Fear" by William Berger as an introduction to Wagner and his work. For other readers, this book really provides quite a bit of diverse information in a small space. The book is well-written and meets the needs of many readers in that it written around individual operas. A reader can go right to the opera of interest, but I think may will also want to read through the entire book to better understand the context of individual operas and their placein Wagner's development.

The book has a good bibliography (though it would have been nice to have some annotation).

The book isa goodvalue as is, but with the 2 CDs (primarily BMG recordings), it becomes an excellent value. Any reader interested in Wagner should consider owning this book.5 stars.

Accessible, lively and well-written
This is a terrific read: entertaining and briskly paced. May considers historical and social factors in Wagner's work without bogging down the reader with theory or dull historicism. In fact, this work brings me a greater appreciation for Wagner than I thought possible (I'm not, my apologies, an opera fan). I would recommend it to the casual theater goer, the fine arts critic, opera fans, and anyone interested in music or 19th century theater. ... Read more

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Long considered a masterpiece, Wagner's Ring has baffled and confused critics because of the highly complex meaning of its text and music. The diverse range of commentaries written on the subject since the first performance over one hundred years ago reveals just how little critics have understood The Ring. Deryck Cooke displays his masterly common sense in this study of how and why The Ring took the shape it did. This volume represents only a portion of the enormous book he had planned--his untimely death prevented him from writing a full analysis of the music. Even as it stands, I Saw The World End will give fresh understanding and appreciation to every lover of Wagner's music. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

SUPERB STUDY, CUT SHORT BY AUTHOR'S DEATH
This book amply shows what a tragedy it was that Deryck Cooke died whilst still at the height of his powers.He was one of the most approachable and reliable of music critics and musicologists.No-one was better at tracing a path through the minefield of different editions of the Bruckner symphonies.No-one was more perceptive in elucidating Mahler's music and its interpreters.His performing edition of the 10th Symphony still stands as a paradigm for how these things should be done and how they should be presented to the world.40 odd years later, his book, The Language of Music, remains a fascinating and significant exposition of the building-blocks of music, an exploration of how certain intervals and phrases which are the basic vocabulary of musical expression seem to retain a common 'meaning' across the work of very different composers from the Baroque era to the 60's.

But this monumental study of Wagner's Ring, which he left less than half finished at his death, would probably have been his greatest contribution to musical exegesis.What is left for us is an introduction which cogently dispenses with the narrow-minded interpretations proposed by the socialist, anti-capitalist Shaw in The Perfect Wagnerite and the Jungian psychology of Donington in Wagner's Ring and its Symbols.There then follows a tantalising look at the music itself in which he shows that one particular leitmotif misnamed by Wolzogen in his pioneering study as Flight, a mistake blindly followed by most subsequent commentators, is in fact the fundamental Love motif of the entire cycle.From this he draws the not unreasonable conclusion that this is, musically and philosophically, a crucial half of the essential dramatic conflict of the tetralogy between Power and Love.This particular chapter is especially frustrating in the glimpse it gives us of just how penetrating and perceptive his promised but unfulfilled analysis of the music would have been.

What we do get is a fascinating study of how Wagner bent the myriad of literary sources he used into a taut and coherent dramatic structure.And what parts of the final Ring libretto were entirely the product of his own imagination.It makes for a detective trail along the lines of John Livingstone Lowe's pursuit of all the sources for Coleridge's Kubla Khan in The Road to Xanadu.But even this part of the argument only takes us through the evolution of Das Rheingold and Die Walkure before it is cut off in its prime.However, it is still more than enough to leave us with and important study, written with all Cooke's familiar approachability and common sense.

This may be just the torso of the book Cooke intended to write.But anyone interested in how Wagner's enormous work came to take the form it did should derive enormous pleasure as well as elucidation from it.The title, by the way, is taken from some wonderfully evocative lines that Wagner wrote for Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene, but cut before he set them to music.

The blessed end
Of all things eternal,
Do you know how I reached it?
Deepest suffering
Of Grieving love
Opened my eyes:
I saw the world end.

Wagner expert explains the Ring
Deryck Cooke gets under the surface but without any any confusing and pretentious psychobabble.

Masterly Exegesis
This book is a model of thoughtful interpretation.Cooke begins by setting out why interpretation of the Ring cycle has been so difficult.This is seen as due partly to the enormous complexity of the work, partly due to the fact that prior major interpretations have been based on somewhat unrealistic preconceptions, for example, Bernard Shaw's social-political interpretation, and partly due to prior major interpretations bypassing close analysis of the music itself.Cooke develops a set of explicit criteria for an accurate interpretation of the Ring and applies them to prior major interpretative efforts.His critique of Robert Dornington's Jungian analysis, for example is moderate in tone but devastating in effect.Cooke defends Wagner against the charge that the plot and characters of the Ring are a shoddily assembled hodge-podge of myth.Cooke performs a careful analysis of Wagner's sources, using the same editions that Wagner drew from.Cooke demonstrates Wagner's careful and artful selection and modification of elements from German and Nordic mythology into a sophisticated and well integrated drama.Cooke's recurring term for Wagner's craft is masterly and he is correct.With this background, Cooke moves to a careful analysis of the plot and characters of the first 2 operas, Rheingold and Valkyrie.An essentially step by step analysis shows how Wagner used plot and character to advance his theme of the conflict of power versus love.
The only defect of this book is that it ends with the conclusion of Valkyrie.Though this book is over 350 pages long (in a small but not miniscule font), this would have been only the beginning of Cooke's projected opus on the Ring.Presumably, there would have been an equivalent amount of enlightening text on Siegfried and Gotterdamerung.Cooke then apparently planned a major work analyzing the development of musical aspects of the drama.Listeners who have heard Cooke's excellent introduction to the leitmotivs of the Ring will have had a taste of what Cooke planned.Its truly unfortunate that Cooke didn't live to complete this project.

Sadly, unfinished
i saw the world end is one of the most brilliant studies of wagner's ring. unfortunately, deryck cooke died before he finished his survey. still, i saw the world end remains an important work detailing the ring and die walkure in particular.

extraordinary book
This really is an extraordinary book - it is the most comprehensive, insightful, and consistent study of Wagner's Ring des Niblungen.It offers some musical analysis of the leitmotivs, and is one of the first books to begin a revision of von Wolzogen's grossly erroneous analysis of the leitmotivs; it provides a plethora of highly organized information about the stages of Wagner's sketches and librettos and the original myths/legends/sagas from which he drew; and a scene by scene analysis of Rheingold and Walkure.

This book actually makes sense of Der Ring des Niblungen - no easy task, as anyone familiar with the opera tetralogy is well aware.If you are interested in the tetralogy and want to know more about it, this is THE book.There are, however, two tragedies associated with this book: the first is that the author's untimely death prevented him from finishing the book (though the material printed is itself finished).The whole book should have been about three times the length of the printed material.The second tragedy is that it is OUT OF PRINT - this is absolutely disgraceful...hopefully this title will come in to print again.

Get a hold of a copy of this book if you can. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent, Compelling Biography
I found this book an excellent introduction to Wagner's life and works. It presents the Jekyll / Hyde personality of the composer while emphasizing his genius and his inability to accept mediocre performances of his, or anyone else's works. I found this book very readable and interesting throughout.

best single biography on Richard Wagner
I've read a lot of books on Richard Wagner, and this is the one I'd recommend as the single best book.

Why?

Because, hard as it is to be fair in the treatment of a controversial figure like Wagner, Derek Watson succeeds. He doesn't gloss over Wagner's bad habits, chief of which are his abuse of friends and supporters, his virulent anti-Semitism, his self-indulgence, and his continuing problems regarding his own money and the money of others.Yet Watson also balances these vices with a bigger picture of the man's incredible creative abilities.He knew he was a genius, and others saw this too--to the extent that they willingly allowed themselves to be taken advantage of.

In addition to a fair and balanced summary of Wagner's life, there is a glossary of major figures in Wagner's life, and dozens of photographs of Wagner and his contemporaries.If I could have only a single book on Wagner, this would be my choice! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

A fascinating life finally revealed in full
Oliver Hilmes (seconded by a skillful translation from Stewart Spencer) begins this invaluable, extremely readable life of Richard Wagner's great helpmate by documenting the defects of all previous biographies.All were hobbled by lack of access to the Bayreuth Archives (including hundreds of letters and other documents that pack the pages here), or were politically managed by forces within the family and/or members of the cult Cosima had so relentlessly constructed around her late husband.The result is a detailed, exhaustive study that never feels cumbersome, being leavened by a sly wit and a keen eye for the illuminating tidbit.

There are stories told here that beggar the imagination, stories that confirm Nike Wagner (Richard's great-granddaughter) in her famous statement that to be born a Wagner was like being raised "in the German branch of the House of Atrius".Hilmes' description of Cosima's demeanor and actions during the 24 hours immediately following Wagner's death is in itself worth the price of the book.

Hilmes examines at length the connection between the Festival and the growing German Nationalist movement that led directly to the alliance of the Festival, Cosima's daughter-in-law Winifred, and Adolph Hitler.For those who claim "Wagner was a Nazi" or, when called on that, "Well, Wagner WOULD have been a Nazi", Hilmes traces the real origin and development of the unheilig Bayreuth-Wagner axis and its name was Cosima Liszt von Bulow Wagner.

Honest portrait of a historic figure
This book gives an objective portrayal of a woman who was very much a product of circumstances and of her generation, yet very much ahead of her time in some ways. Her life was both magic and tragic. A lot of tangential history is provided with regard to the important men in her life - Liszt, von Bulow, and Wagner. The historical events of the day are blended in to show their impact on her life and her personality. In the end, one is left with a sense of ambivalence regarding her "likeability". Like her father, Liszt, and her husband, Wagner, she could be both admired and despised at the same time. She was a rabid anti-Semite, even worse than both of her husbands. Yet without her strong will and influence and ability to work with some of the very people she despised, the Bayreuth festival would have never survived.
The author provides a good narrative, easily readable, and not overly-burdened with trivia. The author had at his disposal letters and documents that were unknown to previous biographers, and therefore is able to paint a more accurate picture of her. One is still left wondering what responsibility, if any, Cosima shares for the linkage of Wagner to Hitler. It is hinted that she may indeed have been introduced to Hitler in the 1920's when he was given a tour of the Wahnfried home by Winifred Wagner, but admits that there are no supporting documents to prove that they ever met. Overall a very interesting read.

Bayreuth: Spiritual Home of Nazism
Hilmes has written a finely detailed study of the woman who made Bayreuth into a self-serving institution that memorialized not only Richard Wagner (both as musician and writer), but also the anti-semitic and jingoistic hangers-on who helped to manufacture his image.Cosima transformed Wagner's actual politics, which leaned toward the left, into a cult of "Aryan Culture" that sought the approval of the far-right.It is thus no surprise that in her final years Cosima was one of Adolph Hitler's earlest and most earnest admirers.

Yet this is also a compassionate biography:Cosima had a terrible childhood.The illegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt, she was brought up by a series of totalitarian governesses who shaped her autocratic personality.Liszt pushed her into an unhappy marriage with Hans Von Bulow, one of Wagner's earliest champions.Wagner returned the favor by seducing his wife, who eventually secured a divorce from von Bulow.

Cosima enjoyed a wide acquaintance among political powers of her time, including the royal family.Hilmes provides a substantial number of concisely written sketches of these political figures, as well as of the three conductors who were crucial to Bayreuth's early success.

In less able hands this biography could have been merely a farrago of (sometimes) absurd characters.But Hilmes creates not only an intriguing biography of Cosima herself, but also a picture of Wilhelmine Germany, and its fatal descent into war and societal self-destruction.

Engrossing Biography
What a woman! Daughter of Franz Lizst and Marie d'Agoult (Daniel Stern), Cosima, wife to critic/conductor/pianist Hans von Bülow, later mistress of and eventually wife to Richard Wagner, and, later still, creator of the Bayreuth cult which was to exert critical influence in German cultural and political development through the second World War.This biography, first published in Germany in 2007, serves her well.Mr. Hilmes was blessed by a seamless translation from Stewart Spencer which makes the book read as it had originally been written in flowing, witty and intelligent English.The book is thoroughly annotated and indexed, as well as generously illustrated with period photographs.It claims to make use of all new documentation made available presumably after German reunification and various accommodations within the Wagner family.

Traversing such a life which began at the apex of Romanticism and ended at an interval in 20th century barbarity is a journey that keeps the reader attentive to every stage in the formation of Cosima Wagner.An emotionally neglected child (except for interludes with grandmother Lizst), sternly raised by governesses and boarding schools, intelligent, a very talented musician and pianist in her own right but denied a career by her father, the one lesson Cosima seemed to have derived was that her destiny was to be humble and find fulfillment in serving superior talent.Considering her parentage, it is indeed a strange inheritance.

There is much we know about the von Bulow-Cosima-Wagner-LudwigII soap opera. Mr. Hilmes enriches whatever knowledge I already had with a wealth of detail and much insight.As fresh detail is brought forth, gradually one cannot help but marvel at the competence, the savoir-faire that one sees developing in Cosima through the years in which she was Wagner's secretary while still married to von Bülow, as well as later, after divorce from Bülow and marriage to Wagner ensued.True to form, she devoted herself totally to Richard Wagner and the development of his career, playing a significant part in the founding of the Bayreuth festival, though never seeking the spotlight. She was efficient, resolute and ruthless as well as self-effacing.She carried herself like the aristocrat she wasn't, and demanded that sort of respect from others, putting all others to the service of "Richard Wagner," not only The Master, but the family firm. Let us not forget that Richard Wagner was 24 years Cosima's senior.When they married in 1870, Richard was 57 and Cosima would turn 33.

Yet it does not take much persuasion to conclude that Cosima truly found fulfillment with the death of Richard Wagner.Now she had the ideal which to serve without the frailties of the human being (yes, there had been infedelities by Richard), and absolute control over the means with which to exercise it.That in the process she weilded an iron fist in running family, Festival and heritage she considered it a duty. It was all to serve the ideals of art according to the wishes of the Master. Later, the ideals became those of German national identity as revealed in the writings and operatic works of Richard Wagner. Indeed, with the introduction of Houston Stewart Chamberlain into Wahnfried, we enter a period in which music and aesthetics, arguably the Richard Wagner we admire today, is less of a focus but a portal into a cult, centered in Bayreuth, of what the German nation ought to be.The almost masochistic relationship between the first Parsifal conductor Herrman Levi, a Jew, and Cosima is amply discussed, and importantly so, as anti-semitism, present since the Master was alive, became an almost obsessive part of the cult after his demise. The reactionary, anti-democratic and nationalistic views of the Bayreuth clan became more pronounced after the German defeat in the first world war. The Weimar republic became anathema; at one time Cosima clamored in exasperation that Ludendorff should become dictator.But by this time Cosima's health was in decline. Hapless Fidi (composer/conductor son Siegfried) had started managing the Festival under much maternal guidance and supervision since 1906. Though a practicing homosexual, he later had married the 18-year-old and 28 years younger English orphan, Winifred Williams-Klindsworth.One is tempted to make parallels between Cosima and Winifred, but, personally, their backgrounds are very different, furthermore it is indeed another story.In the event, by 1922, Wahnfried, was already admiring Mussolini, Cosima remarking that he was the sort of man Germany needed.

In September 1923 Bayreuth's National Socialists organized a German Day and invited a not too well known but rising Austrian politician to lead the speeches: Adolf Hitler.Cosima, though frail due to her repeated Adams-Stokes attacks, watched the brown shirts parade.Hitler visited Wahnfried and spent time with Winifred and Fidi and may have met Cosima.It was the beginning of a family association that would last. Chamberlain, Eva and Daniela Wagner, and Winifred joined the National Socialists in 1926. Cosima and Siegfried did not.In many ways the Bayreuth cult had come to symbolize the ideological bent Germany would follow through the third Reich.At this time, with Wagner royalties having expired and the Wagner riches (they had become millionaires) dwindling, it had also become clear that the future of Bayreuth would lie with Adolf Hitler, a fact Winifred never forgot, but, again, that is another story (well told in: Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth.

Cosima died on 01 April 1930 at age 92; Siegfried survived his mother by 126 days.Within 24 hours of his death, Winifred assumed control of the Bayreuth Festival.

I have always felt that Hitler would have had the career he had without Bayreuth.Yet, from all I have read, I find it easy to believe that this most self-assured, indeed delusional, man, sought some sort of personal validation through his long association with the Wahnfried group, initially not so much with the fading Cosima as with Chamberlain, later with Winifred, and eventually with the young brothers, Wieland and Wolfgang.This again, is beyond the scope of Mr. Hilmes.

I know of no other Cosima biography in English. This one is packed with information and is a pleasure to read.It is not a biography of Richard Wagner, so those looking for a musico-centric volume should search elsewhere.But what the Master came to represent would not have been possible without Cosima, fairly or not.That the glories of his musical works live on is tribute enough to his genius, independently of the ideological currents which for a while and through the strong efforts of Cosima flowed from the Green Hill.This book is strongly recommended not only to music lovers but to anyone interested on the currents which steered historical events in the twentieth century. Oliver Hilmes has written a magnificent biography. ... Read more

Product Description
In this book Lucy Beckett gives a comprehensive account of Wagner's last and strangest opera. The literary sources of this work, its many links with Wagner's life and thought, its libretto, music and stage history, are all thoroughly examined. There is a full commentary, with extensive quotation, on the work's critical history, and finally, a fresh assessment of its place in the Wagner canon and of its unique quality as a music drama that is both modern and Christian. Full references, a bibliography and a discography are provided. A special chapter of musical analysis is contributed by Arnold Whittall. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Down to the point
I have found the book highly fascinating. It not only gives you a fair deal on the story itself - additionally it provides a huge amount on background information to Wagner, the history of the play, the story behind the story...

Particularly the parts about the origination of the theme of Parsifal is well researched and worth reading.

Scholarly review of Parsifal
This is a good book so far as it goes. It's a bit dry, but if you are sufficiently interested in the material than you should be able to get through it OK.

The book is divided into sections about Wagner's sourcematerial, a history of Parsifal performances, a musical commentary, adiscussion of the critical reactions to Parsifal from Wagner's time to thepresent, and a proposed interpretation.In the "interpretation"section, the author argues that Parsifal must be interpreted as a religiouswork.

I was disappoined with the book, because I was expecting a moredetailed interpretation (for example, what actually happens in Act II ofParsifal?)

The book is interesting, but was not quite what I was lookingfor.However, the chapter on Wagner's source material is a necessaryprerequisite on forming your own opinion of this work, so those of youstill grappling with this opera should consider purchasing this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1871 edition by C. F. W. Siegel, Leipzig. ... Read more