The Consolations of History: Themes of Progress and Potential in Richard Wagner’s Gotterdammerung PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Consolations of History: Themes of Progress and Potential in Richard Wagner’s Gotterdammerung PDF full book. Access full book title The Consolations of History: Themes of Progress and Potential in Richard Wagner’s Gotterdammerung by Alexander H. Shapiro. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Alexander H. Shapiro Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000672808 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 276
Book Description
In this book on Richard Wagner’s compelling but enigmatic masterpiece Götterdämmerung, the final opera of his monumental Ring tetralogy, Alexander H. Shapiro advances an ambitious new interpretation which uncovers intriguing new facets to the work’s profound insights into the human condition. By taking a fresh look at the philosophical and historical influences on Wagner, and critically reevaluating the composer’s intellectual worldview as revealed in his own prose works, letters, and diary entries, the book challenges a number of conventional views that continue to impede a clear understanding of this work’s meaning. The book argues that Götterdämmerung, and hence the Ring as a whole, achieves coherence when interpreted in terms of contemporary nineteenth-century theories of progress, and, in particular, G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophies of mind and history. A central target of the book is the article of faith that has come to dominate Wagner scholarship over the years – that Wagner’s encounter in 1854 with Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy conclusively altered the final message of the Ring from one of historical optimism to existential pessimism. The author contends that Schopenhauer’s uncompromising denigration of the will and denial of the possibility for human progress find no place in the written text of the Ring or in a plausible reading of the final musical setting. In its place, the author discovers in the famous Immolation Scene a celebration of mankind’s inexhaustible capacity for self-improvement and progress. The author makes the further compelling case that this message of progress is communicated not through Siegfried, the traditional male hero of the drama, but through Brünnhilde, the warrior goddess who becomes a mortal woman. In her role as a battle-tested world-historical prophet she is the true revolutionary change agent of Wagner’s opera who has the strength and vision to comprehend and thereby shape human history. This highly lucid and accessible study is aimed not only at scholars and researchers in the fields of opera studies, music and philosophy, and music history, but also Wagner enthusiasts, and readers and students interested in the history and philosophy of the nineteenth century.
Author: Alexander H. Shapiro Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000672808 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 276
Book Description
In this book on Richard Wagner’s compelling but enigmatic masterpiece Götterdämmerung, the final opera of his monumental Ring tetralogy, Alexander H. Shapiro advances an ambitious new interpretation which uncovers intriguing new facets to the work’s profound insights into the human condition. By taking a fresh look at the philosophical and historical influences on Wagner, and critically reevaluating the composer’s intellectual worldview as revealed in his own prose works, letters, and diary entries, the book challenges a number of conventional views that continue to impede a clear understanding of this work’s meaning. The book argues that Götterdämmerung, and hence the Ring as a whole, achieves coherence when interpreted in terms of contemporary nineteenth-century theories of progress, and, in particular, G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophies of mind and history. A central target of the book is the article of faith that has come to dominate Wagner scholarship over the years – that Wagner’s encounter in 1854 with Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy conclusively altered the final message of the Ring from one of historical optimism to existential pessimism. The author contends that Schopenhauer’s uncompromising denigration of the will and denial of the possibility for human progress find no place in the written text of the Ring or in a plausible reading of the final musical setting. In its place, the author discovers in the famous Immolation Scene a celebration of mankind’s inexhaustible capacity for self-improvement and progress. The author makes the further compelling case that this message of progress is communicated not through Siegfried, the traditional male hero of the drama, but through Brünnhilde, the warrior goddess who becomes a mortal woman. In her role as a battle-tested world-historical prophet she is the true revolutionary change agent of Wagner’s opera who has the strength and vision to comprehend and thereby shape human history. This highly lucid and accessible study is aimed not only at scholars and researchers in the fields of opera studies, music and philosophy, and music history, but also Wagner enthusiasts, and readers and students interested in the history and philosophy of the nineteenth century.
Author: Alexander Shapiro Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 9780367243210 Category : Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
The Consolations of History in Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung presents a study of Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelungenthrough an analysis of the words and music of the final opera Götterdämmerung. The book effectively rehabilitates Götterdämmerungby giving greater credence to its original dramatic and philosophical aims, arguing that Götterdämmerung, and hence The Ringas a whole, achieves coherence when read in terms of contemporary nineteenth-century theories of progress, in particular, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophies of mind and history. It examines a number of recurring themes that continue to shape contemporary interpretations of the opera and demonstrates how The Ring as completed in 1872 embraced a sanguine faith in the march of history and human spiritual and cultural evolution. This is an ambitious and novel interpretation of a key operatic work. It will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Opera Studies, Music and Philosophy, Music History, and all those interested in the works of Richard Wagner. vel interpretation of a key operatic work. It will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Opera Studies, Music and Philosophy, Music History, and all those interested in the works of Richard Wagner.
Author: Melissa Maerz Publisher: Harper Paperbacks ISBN: 9780062908490 Category : Languages : en Pages : 464
Book Description
The definitive oral history of the cult classic Dazed and Confused, featuring behind-the-scenes stories from the cast, crew, and Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater. Dazed and Confused not only heralded the arrival of filmmaker Richard Linklater, it introduced a cast of unknowns who would become the next generation of movie stars. Embraced as a cultural touchstone, the 1993 film would also make Matthew McConaughey's famous phrase--alright, alright, alright--ubiquitous. But it started with a simple idea: Linklater thought people might like to watch a movie about high school kids just hanging out and listening to music on the last day of school in 1976. To some, that might not even sound like a movie. But to a few studio executives, it sounded enough like the next American Graffiti to justify the risk. Dazed and Confused underperformed at the box office and seemed destined to disappear. Then something weird happened: Linklater turned out to be right. This wasn't the kind of movie everybody liked, but it was the kind of movie certain people loved, with an intensity that felt personal. No matter what their high school experience was like, they thought Dazed and Confused was about them. Alright, Alright, Alright is the story of how this iconic film came together and why it worked. Combining behind-the-scenes photos and insights from nearly the entire cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and many others, and with full access to Linklater's Dazed archives, it offers an inside look at how a budding filmmaker and a cast of newcomers made a period piece that would feel timeless for decades to come.
Author: Timothy Rice Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 135170883X Category : Music Languages : en Pages : 450
Book Description
Gateways to Understanding Music explores music in all the categories that constitute contemporary musical experience: European classical music, popular music, jazz, and world music. Covering the oldest forms of human music making to the newest, the chronological narrative considers music from a global rather than a Eurocentric perspective. Each of sixty modular "gateways" covers a particular genre, style, or period of music. Every gateway opens with a guided listening example that unlocks a world of music through careful study of its structural elements. Based on their listening experience, students are asked to consider how the piece came to be composed or performed, how the piece or performance responded to the social and cultural issues at the time and place of its creation, and what that music means today. Students learn to listen to, explain, understand, and ultimately value all the music they may encounter in their world. FEATURES Global scope—Presents all music as worthy of study, including classical, world, popular, and jazz. Historical narrative—Begins with small-scale forager societies up to the present, with a shifting focus from global to European to American influences. Modular framework—60 gateways in 14 chapters allow flexibility to organize chronologically or by the seven recurring themes: aesthetics, emotion, social life, links to culture, politics, economics, and technology. Listening-guided learning—Leads to understanding the emotion, meaning, significance, and history of music. Introduction of musical concepts—Defined as needed and compiled into a Glossary for reference. Consistent structure—With the same step-by-step format, students learn through repeated practice how to listen and how to think about music. In addition to streamed audio examples, the companion website hosts essential instructors’ resources.
Author: DK Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0744033470 Category : Music Languages : en Pages : 354
Book Description
Packed with photographs, composer biographies, analyses of major works, and essential information on every musical genre, style, form, instrument, and ensemble, DK's Complete Classical Music Guide is a portable encyclopedic guide to more than one thousand years of Western classical music. From Bach to Berlioz, Glinka to Gershwin, Stravinsky to Shostakovich, and everyone in between, the Complete Classical Music Guide contains more than three hundred composer profiles, and offers a clear definition of the particular styles and characteristics of seven key eras: Early Music (1000-1600); The Baroque Era (1600-1750); The Classical Era (1750-1820); The Romantic Era (1810-1920); Romantic Opera (1810-1920); National Schools (1830-1950); and Modern Music (1900-). The Complete Classical Music Guide also includes a timeline that charts the evolution of musical styles and forms, instruments, and provides explanations of the building blocks of music — melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, form, tempo, and dynamics. Previously published as Eyewitness Companion: Classical Music, this book has been reformatted and designed and now comes packaged in an exclusive presentation slipcase.
Author: Sabby Sagall Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 1137520957 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 368
Book Description
This book argues that the need for music, and the ability to produce and enjoy it, is an essential element in human nature. Every society in history has produced some characteristic style of music. Music, like the other arts, tells us truths about the world through its impact on our emotional life. There is a structural correspondence between society and music. The emergence of 'modern art music' and its stylistic changes since the rise of capitalist social relations reflect the development of capitalist society since the decline of European feudalism. The leading composers of the different eras expressed in music the aspirations of the dominant or aspiring social classes. Changes in musical style not only reflect but in turn help to shape changes in society. This book analyses the stylistic changes in music from the emergence of ‘tonality’ in the late seventeenth century until the Second World War.
Author: Fredric Jameson Publisher: Verso Books ISBN: 1781688176 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
The Antinomies of Realism is a history ofthe nineteenth-century realist novel and its legacy told without a glimmer of nostalgia for artistic achievements that the movement of history makes it impossible to recreate. The works of Zola, Tolstoy, Pérez Galdós, and George Eliot are in the most profound sense inimitable, yet continue to dominate the novel form to this day. Novels to emerge since struggle to reconcile the social conditions of their own creation with the history of this mode of writing: the so-called modernist novel is one attempted solution to this conflict, as is the ever-more impoverished variety of commercial narratives – what today’s book reviewers dub “serious novels,” which are an attempt at the impossible endeavor to roll back the past. Fredric Jameson examines the most influential theories of artistic and literary realism, approaching the subject himself in terms of the social and historical preconditions for realism’s emergence. The realist novel combined an attention to the body and its states of feeling with a focus on the quest for individual realization within the confines of history. In contemporary writing, other forms of representation – for which the term “postmodern” is too glib – have become visible: for example, in the historical fiction of Hilary Mantel or the stylistic plurality of David Mitchell’s novels. Contemporary fiction is shown to be conducting startling experiments in the representation of new realities of a global social totality, modern technological warfare, and historical developments that, although they saturate every corner of our lives, only become apparent on rare occasions and by way of the strangest formal and artistic devices. In a coda, Jameson explains how “realistic” narratives survived the end of classical realism. In effect, he provides an argument for the serious study of popular fiction and mass culture that transcends lazy journalism and the easy platitudes of recent cultural studies.
Author: Alexander H. Shapiro
Author: Alexander H. Shapiro
Author: Alexander Shapiro
Author: Melissa Maerz
Author: Timothy Rice
Author: DK
Author: George Titus Ferris
Author: Willa Cather
Author: Sabby Sagall
Author: Fredric Jameson
Author: Gustav Kobbé