Editors Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington have translated and annotated 500 of Richard Wagner's letters and chronologically arranged them into six sections ranging from Wagner's compositional theories to his racism and love affairs.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In all his guisesbrother, husband, father, lover, betrayer; supplicant, scrounger, wheedler; author, conductor, great composerRichard Wagner is here, in 500 annotated, newly translated letters, some never before printed in their entirety, others appearing for the first time. Reflecting Wagner's complex, moody, self-absorbed, passionate nature, the letters are introduced in six masterful essay sections by two British music scholars. Wagner addresses Meyerbeer as "My deeply revered Lord and Master" and signs himself "Your ardently respectful and obedient servant," then attacks him in letters to Schumann and others. He tries to placate his jealous wife Minna when she discovers yet another of his many infidelities, then complains to a friend about how difficult she makes life for him. He carries on love affairs with the wives of friends but, even after his separation from Minna, continues to take responsibility for her material comfort. He goes on lying to King Ludwig II, his principal supporter, even after the king discovers Wagner's deceits. He tells Ludwig that he considers "the Jewish race the born enemy of pure humanity and all that is noble in man," then, when it suits his own needs, he makes use of Jewish musicians like Hermann Levi and Joseph Rubinstein. He urges young Nietzsche to moderate the expressions of his radical, unconventional views. He shows his chauvinistic "sense of humor" in a letter to Hans Richter discussing his own tasteless farce Eine Kapitulation in which he makes fun of the privations suffered by the French during the siege of Paris in 1870. Yet, when he writes about Beethoven or about other musical matters, he is capable of sobriety and sensitivity, and he is concerned that people without means should be able to attend performances at Bayreuth. A basic source for future biographers and a treat for all Wagnerians.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
$35. letters These 500 letters, chosen from an enormous corpus of available material "to illustrate Wagner's intellectual and artistic development," are organized chronologically into six sections and connected by extensive and highly informative essays detailing the biographical events that prompted them. Elegantly translatedthey sound neither stilted nor archaicthe letters reveal Wagner to be egomaniacal, ruthless, corrupt, hateful, bigoted, and, had he lived later, an ideal subject for Freud. But whether detailing plans for a new opera or describing in minutest detail the most intimate facts about his health, they are all wonderfully lucid. Of special interest to Wagner fans. William Shank, CUNY Graduate Sch. Lib.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
REALITY WAGNER OR THE WAGNER BIBLE,
This review is from: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner (Hardcover)
I have been listening to Wagner's music and studing him since I was 5 years old... So it is what that perspective I write this review... What is most facinating about this book, is that the reader is not reading someones persepctive about Wagner and what he said, but Wagner himself. There is virtually no lense of bias here, just Wagner in his own words. In addition, unlike "My Life" (Mein Laben), Wagner's autobiography, where many accuse him of coloring the facts; here Wagner just wrote what was on his mind. He never considered the letters would be published, much less being able for purchased through a medium like the internet. From the beginning letters to the final pages, you can see Wagner grow, concepts change and broaden. There is an entire letter for example, dedicated to explaining the meaning of Kundry's Kiss and her relationship to Parsial in Parisfal Act II. On the other hand the challanging aspect about the book, is that regarding such comments lays to rest most points of view and theories about such aspects of Wagner's music dramas. In other words, regardless of what lecturers or writers have said about Kundry's kiss (again as an example), Wagner's own definition must now become the foundation to any other interpretation. His letters speak of his works, friendships, philosophy and more... I highly recommend this book for the serious Wagner lover, student and researcher.... I have fondly renamed this book as the Wagner Bible.
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