Classically Romantic [Paperback]

Jeffrey L. Buller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2001

What did Richard Wagner know about ancient Greece? More importantly, what did he think he knew? How did his attitudes shape the Ring cycle? Classically Romantic explores how Wagner's ideas about the past were shaped, not by the classical world itself, but by the Romantic Age's select view of antiquity.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeffrey L. Buller is a nationally recognized authority on classical literature and its influence on modern opera. He has published extensively on such topics as Greek tragedy, Latin pedagogy, Baroque music, and the careers of twentieth-century classical singers. Buller received his B.A. in classical and modern languages from the University of Notre Dame (1976), and both his M.A. (1977) and his Ph.D. (1981) in classics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. An administrator as well as a scholar, Buller chaired the Department of Classical Studies at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, for eight years before serving as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. Buller speaks frequently to professional groups on a variety of issues, including higher education administration, classical literature, and Wagner's Ring cycle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corp; 1 edition (April 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738851086
• ISBN-13: 978-0738851082
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,100,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffrey L. Buller was born in Wisconsin and has held academic or administrative positions at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia, Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, and Florida Atlantic University in Palm Beach County, Florida. Known to different publics as a classicist, scholar of Wagnerian music drama, and expert in academic administration, Dean Buller has lectured and performed consultancies all over the world. From 2003-205, he served as the English language lecturer at the International Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany. Since 2009, he has worked closely with King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals and the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, providing administrative training and helping to create a new Academic Leadership Center.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No less than illuminating, June 21, 2002

By 

Giuseppe Tulli (Caracas, Distrito Federal Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Classically Romantic (Hardcover)

After just having read The Tristan Chord by Bryan Magee I happened to buy this book, which is somehow a complementary vision to the Schopenhaeurian's, brilliantly given in Magee's book. But I really was not ready for the big surprise.

By concisely beholding Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung in terms of Aristotle's elements of tragedy as expressed in his Poetics - plot (mythos), music, speech, thought, character and spectacle - Jeffrey Buller makes the most precise, lucid and revealing analysis of Wagner I've seen in a long time.

Particularly striking are the chapters on Speech, where alliteration or "Stabreim" is exposed; Thought, where "sleep" as a mythic entity is showed to be the key idea of the whole Ring - I'm still mind-boggled by the sheer brigthness of such an insight; and Character, where the idea of the mesianic hero is lucidly unveiled. There's even a pairing of Siegmund as mesianic hero with Hagen as his exact counterpart which never occurred to me.

In chapter 1, the problem of Wagner's early classical education is cleared out.

This book has given me many a precious clues to better understand a work so great as Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung.

I do heartily recommend it to anyone that cares about Wagner's work.