Customer Reviews

Wagner: The Terrible Man and His Truthful Art

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Although this book consists of merely three lectures, and can be finished off in about 2 or 3 hours without difficulty, it has as much fresh insight as many other titles that take much longer to study. The first lecture exploring the influence of classic Greek mythology and cultural recognition through artistic expression - ie roughly how the Greek society established itself through artistic endeavour - gives the reader a pretty clear idea what Wagner was trying to accomplish for Germany through his music dramas, and also confirms a pretty outlandish level of self-confidence to even make such an attempt. The second lecture has some material which has already been covered in other books - notably Aspects of Wagner by Magee - but is still interesting. The final lecture with a detailed study of Tannhauser is excellent, the most interesting commentary on this opera I have read to date. The choice of Wassily Kandinsky's Die Nacht, inspired by Act II of Tristan und Isolde, for the front cover was very appropriate. Strongly recommended.

M. Owen Lee is perhaps best known to opera lovers through his appearances on the Texaco Opera broadcasts, some of which have formed the core of two of his previous books. In his latest book, Father Lee demonstrates the personally committed criticism which is characteristic of his radio lectures. This is no mere apologia for Wagner. The author is painfully aware of Wagner's human failings, not merely the oft-discussed anti-Semitism, and he is troubled by the fact that the music of such a monster could move him so deeply. This book gives us a wonderful insight into the author's soul as he grapples with this question. I especially enjoyed the discussion of "Tannheuser" in the final chapter. (A few years ago I wrote to him about his love of Wagner, and he cared enough to write me a detailed letter in response--another sign of his genuine commitment to the subject). This book tells us not only about Wagner but also about the author himself, who has a unique capability of engaging the reader in a genuine dialogue.

In this book, M. Owen Lee grapples with the issue of whether we can (and should) enjoy Wagner's art, in the knowledge of Wagner's notorious flaws (such as his fiery anti-semitism, etc.) Drawing from classical Greek mythology, Mr. Lee discusses how it is common for great artists to have flawed personal lives, and that the value of the artwork should therefore be judged independently of its creator. Indeed, the artist creates his art as an act of self-healing. He therefore encourages the enjoyment of the music of Richard Wagner. (Yep, the Wagnerholics of the world can now listen without guilt. :-)

A lot of the material is taken from the book, "Aspects of Wagner", which M. Owen Lee acknowledges as a source. Since I had read these books back-to-back, the repetition of material was easy to see.

There is also a discussion of the opera "Tannhauser", which is discussed in about the same level of detail as his commentaries on the Ring.

Father M. Owen Lee, who is known for his erudite commentaries on Metropolitan Opera broadcasts has recently published another book about the Wagner's Ring Cycle, called "Athena Sings. Wagner and the Greeks." Father Lee is a Classics scholar, so it should be no surprise that the Greeks also inhabit "Wagner: The Terrible Man and His Truthful Art." One of the chief characters that Wagner is compared to in this slender book is Philoctetes, who was given a great gift by the god Apollo, but was also maimed with an incurable wound.

The three essays that make up this book were written to be given during the 1998 Larkin-Stuart lectures at the University of Toronto. These lectures are devoted to religious and ethical concerns, and Father Lee took the opportunity to examine the relationship of the artist, Wagner to his art.

The first lecture, "Wagner and the Wound That Would Not Heal" tells the story of Philoctetes, who was shunned by his fellow soldiers because of his unhealing wound. Finally, they exiled him on an island on their way to conquer Troy. In their tenth year of war, after the death of Achilles, the Greeks heard a prophecy "that the city would never be taken unless the wounded Philoctetes was brought to Troy with his bow (the gift from Apollo)." The Greeks sailed back to the island where they had abandoned Philoctetes and persuade the wounded, bitter man to use his gift to help them.

Father Owen is not a Wagner apologist, but he asks us to recognize our debt to the "hateful, wounded man [we] are in need of"---he whose music can penetrate deeply into our psyche and bring us, if not peace, then at least self-knowledge.

The second lecture, "Wagner's Influence: The First Hundred Years" discusses the effect that Wagner exercised, for good and ill, on music, art, literature, politics, and psychology. The author quotes philosopher Bryan Magee as being able to say: "Wagner has had a greater influence than any other single artist on the culture of our age."

Of course, the worm at the core of this lecture is Wagner's "unquestioned influence on Adolf Hitler." There are still people who won't listen to Wagner's music, and Father Lee acknowledges this artist's blatant anti-Semitism: "He probably wreaked more havoc on himself with his essay 'Judaism in Music' than with anything else he wrote." A hundred years later, Goebbels was able to use it as vicious propaganda.

Can we acknowledge this hateful, wounded man and still be pierced by the beauty of his music? The author goes on to quote Leonard Bernstein's article in the 'New York Times,' entitled "Wagner's Music isn't Racist:"

"...And if Wagner wrote great music, as I think he did, why should we not embrace it fully and be nourished by it?"

The third and last lecture that completes this book is entitled, "You Use Works of Art to See Your Soul." Father Owen Lee concentrates on Wagner's early opera, "Tannhäuser" to prove his point, with help from authors such as Baudelaire and Goethe. He is even tempted to wonder if Wagner had Martin Luther in mind when he created his tormented young hero, "who was gifted in song, clashed with the Pope, sought refuge in the Wartburg, defied the society he knew, and profoundly changed it."

Or perhaps, Wagner was thinking of Wagner.

These essays have convinced this reviewer at least, that a seriously flawed human being can produce indispensable, undying, truthful art.

I like M. Owen Lee. He has balanced views of Wagner. He doesn't lavish praise on Wanger, but on the other hand doesn't dismiss him out of hand either. As a classicist, Fr. Lee is better able to understand a man who was himself well versed in the ancient classics of Greek literature.

Well, not really: it is hard to encapsulate one of the greatest artists of all time in a thin volume. But Father Lee,whom many will recall as one of the delights of the Texaco Metropolitcan Opera broad casts, does a very good job.
Fr. Lee puts Wagner's shortcomings as a person -- shortcomings that he generally assumes his audience is well-familiar with -- in the kind of perspective afforded by the Greeks.
Fr. Lee also does a wonderful job of putting Wagner's unfortunate anti-Semitism into context. While not escusing it by any means - and Lee does a masterful, brief exposition on how the Nazis later MISUSED Wagner (predictably for the low-brows the Nazis tended to be, they never did get Wagner right, an important, but frequently overlooked point; and one that Lee implies, rather than states overtly) -- he places it in the context of Wagner's generally odious means of relating to people in general. For far from wishing the Jews to be exterminated, Wagner's solution to the problem of an alien people in the midst of a culture not their own was assimilation. With his own project as the guide leading,not just Jewish Germans, but indeed all Germans, to find within his re-telling of the heroic myths a national identity. That Wagner's solution was as offensive as it was forgotten can only be laid in part to his collossal narcissism.
Wagner lived like the world owed him a living. And the thing that Fr. Lee makes us realize is, the great man, for once, had it absolutely right.