George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856. Before becoming a playwright he wrote music and literary criticism. Shaw used his writing to attack social problems such as education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege. Shaw was particularly conscious of the exploitation of the working class. The Perfect Wagnerite is a politically oriented essay. Shaw was a life-long Socialist and one of the earliest Wagner enthusiasts. He praises Wagner's "Ring Cycle" as a denunciation of the evils of capitalism and as a musical triumph.
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- This item is eligible for our 4-for-3 promotion. Eligible products include select Books and Home & Garden items. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
still one of the best Ring commentaries in English,
By
This review is from: The Perfect Wagnerite (Paperback)
That this book is one-sided is well known -- Shaw focuses on The Ring overwhelmingly though the lens of his socio-political and economic interests. Nevertheless, it remains one of the greatest and most illuminating commentaries on The Ring written in English, perhaps surpassed only by Cooke's I Saw the World End.
In this short and lively book, Shaw reads The Ring as a dramatic allegory for social evolution, the corrupting influences of political power and capitalism, and the virtues of anarcho-socialist revolution. He finds ample evidence for his interpretation in the biography of Wagner, who fled Germany in exile after his participation in the failed May Revolution of 1849 in Dresden. Shaw spends precious little time on musicological analysis and gives short shrift to The Ring's sustained metaphysical and existential ramifications, which he views as tertiary threads of the narrative that ultimately derail The Ring in Twilight of the Gods. Shaw views the final opera in the series as a dramatic failure which subverts the brilliant structure of the first three operas by resorting to the gestures grand opera in the Meyerbeer style -- a style that Wagner himself stridently attacked for its staginess and melodrama. Shaw is quite right that there is a decisive shift in style and structure in Twilight compared with the preceding three evenings, and I share his opinion that it is the most problematic work, and the most in need of careful interpretation. But it can be included in the integral vision of the cycle if one includes all of the various aspects of the story, and it is obvious to nearly every reader that Shaw does not. That said, if one compares this volume to the dozens of similar pamphlets that appeared in Europe in the early twentieth century one will immediately see why Shaw's work remains a classic while the overwhelming majority of pedantic commentaries have fallen by the wayside. One may differ with Shaw in terms of emphasis, but whereof he speaks he deals with superb insight. Perhaps it need not be added that his prose is of literary caliber. Like Odin, Shaw purchased wisdom for the price of one eye, buying insight at the expense of perspective. But a god remains a god, and Shaw's vision, however one-sided, is as penetrating as his prose is illuminating.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
FRUSTRATINGLY DIDACTIC, BUT STILL FASCINATING,
By Klingsor Tristan (Suffolk) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Perfect Wagnerite (Paperback)
Wagner, it's often said, has had more books written about him than anyone in history with the exceptions of Napoleon and Jesus Christ. This is one of the most fascinating, coming as it does from George Bernard Shaw, a penetrating music critic under the pen-name Corno di Bassetto as well as the familiar dramatist.
This is GBS's take on Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung. It is a predictable mix of Shavian wit, perception and frustratingly obstinate didacticism. There is no doubt about the seriousness with which Shaw takes this massive work. He clearly sees it, still fairly fresh in people's experience as it was when his book was written, as one of the seminal works of his time. He writes to prove how much deeper its philosophy was than the simple charming fairy tale many took it for at the time. That he sees it essentially as a Shavian/Fabian fable is hardly surprising. If the book has a weakness it is, as Deryck Cooke points out in his excellent `I Saw the World End', that the whole argument is too narrow, too one-track to accommodate the many facets and many different interpretations that can all, quite justifiably, be placed on the Ring. This of all operatic works is bigger than any of its commentators. Even Shaw was aware of that. "Only those of wider consciousness can follow it breathlessly, seeing in it the whole tragedy of human history and the whole horror of the dilemmas from which the world is shrinking today," he wrote. When he wrote the book, Shaw intended it for the Wagner novice, helping them to a fuller understanding of the work - or, at least, how he saw it. It perhaps shouldn't be recommended for that purpose these days, but it still remains an essential read for anyone who has already started down the road to becoming a Perfect Wagnerite. Chances are you won't agree with some/most/any of it. But it is still a fascinating read for anyone with a serious interest in Wagner's works.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your money.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Perfect Wagnerite (Paperback)
A large portion of the book is taken up in plot synopsis of the Ring Cycle. You can get that right here on the Internet.
Another large portion is taken up in relating the plot of the Ring Cycle to political events in Wagner's own lifetime and Shaw's own lifetime. Nothing new here. Just glance at the today's newspaper and you will see that today's leaders are as greedy and corrupt and any of the parties which were fighting over the Rhine gold. Instead of all this, I very naturally expected this book to be about--well, music! In the last few pages, Shaw finally does discuss Wagner's music. If you already know that Wagner's operas are not chopped up into arias and recitatives, and if you already know that Verdi's early operas abound with waltz accompaniments and Wagner's operas do not, then you might already know most of what Shaw tells us. According to the publisher's notes, Shaw worked as a music critic before he worked as a playwright. I think I like him better as a playwright.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Arts & Photography > Music
- Books > History > World
- Books > Literature & Fiction > Essays
