The Diary of Richard Wagner, 1865-1882 PDF Download

Author: Richard Wagner
Publisher: Orion
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Author: Joachim Köhler
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300104226
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 726

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Book Description
This major new biography of Richard Wagner is iconoclastic, astringent and bold. It explores the philosophical roots of Wagner's work, which the composer himself deliberately obfuscated. It re-evaluates Wagner's relationships with his mother, step-father and - most revealingly - his wife, Cosima, standing received opinion on its head. And he meets head on, and confirms, the controversy over Wagner's anti-semitism. At the same time, and notwithstanding, Kohler profoundly acknowledges Wagner's genius.

Author: Raymond Furness
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780232233
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
With their complex textures, rich harmonies, and elaborate use of leitmotifs, the operas of German composer Richard Wagner (1813–83) remain some of the most influential—and contentious—in the history of the genre. But while he won renown with what he achieved on the stage, his life was marked by political exile, turbulent love affairs, and poverty. And because Wagner and his music are exceedingly intertwined with the great upheavals of his time, it is difficult to produce an impartial assessment of his output. Appearing at the bicentennial of his birth, Richard Wagner provides a clear and balanced view of both Wagner’s great successes and the controversies generated by his life and art. Using Wagner’s wide-ranging engagement with mythology as a starting point, Raymond Furness explores the composer’s music and prose writings. He delves deeply into Wagner’s essential operas, such as The Ring and Tristan and Isolde, offering fascinating insight into these works. Because the great operatic pieces often overshadow the rest of Wagner’s compositions, Furness also considers neglected fragments like “Wieland the Smith,” “The Mines at Falun,” and “The Visitors,” producing a more rounded critical picture of the composer. With up-to-date dissections of recent Bayreuth productions and a refreshingly uncluttered approach to a much-misunderstood life, Richard Wagner is an engaging look at one of music’s most beguiling figures.

Author: Michael Saffle
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135839530
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
Richard Wagner: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as a composer and performer.

Author: Martin Geck
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226924629
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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“[An] intriguing exploration of the composer’s life and thought as exemplified by his music. An excellent biography.” —Library Journal Best known for the four-opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung, Richard Wagner (1813–83) was a conductor, librettist, theater director, and essayist, in addition to being the composer of some of the most enduring operatic works in history. Though his influence on the development of European music is indisputable, Wagner was also quite outspoken on the politics and culture of his time. His ideas traveled beyond musical circles into philosophy, literature, theater staging, and the visual arts. To befit such a dynamic figure, acclaimed biographer Martin Geck offers here a Wagner biography unlike any other, one that strikes a unique balance between the technical musical aspects of Wagner’s compositions and his overarching understanding of aesthetics. A landmark study of one of music’s most important figures “People who would like to know more about Wagner, and people who have loved his music for years . . . will find a great deal in this book to enjoy and to admire.” —Tablet “Geck describes a Wagner who is grounded, focused and even cautious, a savvy realist and ironist rather than a flamboyant, flailing ideologue . . . Suffused with his readings of contemporary productions of the operas, Geck’s musical analyses are succinct and superb” —New York Times “As an editor of Wagner’s Complete Works, Geck brings a deep familiarity with the composer to his task.” —Weekly Standard “A thoroughly approachable yet consistently provocative study.” —Thomas S. Grey, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Wagner

Author: John Louis DiGaetani
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 078648246X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Once tainted by association with Hitler and Nazism, Richard Wagner's work has experienced an international cultural renaissance in the last 25 years. His magnum opus, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him over 20 years to finish, is a complex tale with themes of greed, corruption and loss, spun out in more than 16 hours of powerfully moving opera. This book, with provocative essays for both the uninitiated and the seasoned fan, examines Wagner's Ring cycle from a wide array of modern perspectives. Divided into six parts, this anthology first offers a foundation for the Ring, with a chronology and an introduction, along with a look at Wagner as an enterprising marketer. Part Two explores different interpretations of the Ring, with reference to politics, romanticism and international inspirations. Part Three studies the complex relationship between Wagner's Ring and Germany, with a summary of the opera's influence on German culture and a discussion of its Munich premiere. Part Four offers a production history, including studies of the Ring's effects in America and its influence on world literature. Part Five provides a technical examination of language in the Ring, as well as an interview with the famous Wagnerian soprano Jane Eaglen. The book concludes with an essay on the trouble with Wagnerian opera and an overview of the recorded Ring on disc, video and print.

Author: Gary Freedman
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1312561084
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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An evening at the home of the composer Richard Wagner and his wife, Cosima. The book combines features of a short story and a play and is written entirely in quotations.

Author: Shaw
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004652299
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Author: Oliver Hilmes
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300219466
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was an anomaly. A virtuoso pianist and electrifying showman, he toured extensively throughout the European continent, bringing sold-out audiences to states of ecstasy while courting scandal with his frequent womanizing. Drawing on new, highly revealing documentary sources, including a veritable treasure trove of previously unexamined material on Liszt’s Weimar years, best-selling author Oliver Hilmes shines a spotlight on the extraordinary life and career of this singularly dazzling musical phenomenon. Whereas previous biographies have focused primarily on the composer’s musical contributions, Hilmes showcases Liszt the man in all his many shades and personal reinventions: child prodigy, Romantic eccentric, fervent Catholic, actor, lothario, celebrity, businessman, genius, and extravagant show-off. The author immerses the reader in the intrigues of the nineteenth-century European glitterati (including Liszt’s powerful patrons, the monstrous Wagner clan) while exploring the true, complex face of the artist and the soul of his music. No other Liszt biography in English is as colorful, witty, and compulsively readable, or reveals as much about the true nature of this extraordinary, outrageous talent.

Author: Milton E. Brener
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
ISBN: 9781861055361
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Who inspired Carmen's fiery heroine? Was there a plot behind the hostile reception to the premiere of Madame Butterly? What compromises did Richard Strauss make with the Nazi government to get his Die Schweigsame Frau produced? Opera Offstage brings to light the intriguing tales behind 27 of the greatest operas of all time. Milton Brener ignites new appreciation for these classics and their composers by revealing the histories and human circumstances surrounding their creation.