Wagner, the Communist?

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Wagner, the Communist? New York University UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Wagner, the Communist? Author: Professor: Ian Fales Shanker Satyanath 1 Introduction Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a composer, conductor, and theatre director known primarily for his work in opera, and he revolutionized the world of opera through his conception of the \Gesamtkunstwerk," or \total work of art," where he synthesized all aspects of the opera including the visual, dramatic, and musical arts. He advanced the musical language to affect all future classical music, to a point where no composer of this era or after could escape his influence. Most notably, he introduced extreme chromaticism, rapidly shifting tonal centers, and elaborate systems of leitmotifs to his operas and these compositional techniques became the backbone of modern art music (Weiner 1997). However, Richard Wagner was also a polemicist with controversial and explicit antisemitic views. His many writings, including his infamous essay \Das Judenthum in der Musik" (\Jewishness in Music"), expressed hostile views towards Jews that were al- ready on the rise in Germany leading up to World War 2 (Weiner 1997). While some of his closest friends, colleagues and supporters were Jewish, he held malicious views to- wards Jews as a nation throughout his career, and more intensely towards his last years. The point of contention for historians today is whether this antisemitism bled into his music, and how this affected audience perception of his operas. Many argue that specific antagonists, namely Mime from Die Ring, Sixtus Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger, and Klingsor in Parsifal, personify specific Jewish stereotypes, and while they are never iden- tified as explicitly Jewish, they match the writings of Wagner on how a Jew \behaves" (Weiner 1997). The opposing camps deny these allegations, citing the lack of material confirming if any of Wagner's contemporaries viewed his music dramas as antisemitic, and the fact that many of Wagner's colleagues were of Jewish origin. This debate was catalyzed following the tragedy of the Holocaust, and many historians postulate whether Wagner's influence in the years prior affected the success of the Nazi regime. Once Hitler consolidated power, he appropriated his operas as an embodiment of the German spirit, and multiple productions of Die Meistersinger were 1 sponsored by the Nazi regime. Wagner was forcibly associated with the Nazi regime, and this link continues to affect his image and influence how historians interpret his music (Dennis 2003). Studying Wagner through a lens that does not consider the Holocaust or World War 2 is necessary to deduce how audiences would interpret his operas in that era, but this is exceptionally difficult. The goal of this paper is to quantify the effect of Wagner's music on the politics of the last Weimar Republic in an effort to create a nonpartisan interpretation of his legacy. Specifically, the paper tries to find evidence that exposure to Wagner's operas, especially his most antisemitic and nationalist compositions, primed audiences to support the Nazi regime or other nationalist political parties. With the vast literature on the antisemitism present in Die Ring, Parsifal, and Die Meistersinger as well as other strong nationalist themes in Parsifal and Die Meistersinger, I believed these operas provided the mechanism for \treatment," which is exposure to the antisemitic, and nationalist ideologies embedded into his operas. Con- trolling for key demographic variables as well as preexisting antisemitism, I test the exposure to Wagner's operas before 1928 against the vote share of varying political par- ties/presidential candidates during elections spanning from 1928 to 1933. While the re- sults did not match my original hypothesis, they yield interesting results that contribute further to the debate, as well as provide implications for further research. 2 Literature Review The two facets of Wagner's ideology most pertinent to this paper are his anti- semitism and his nationalism. They are both represented heavily in his operas and are themes central to the platform of the Nazi party, and the presentation of these themes to audiences is the mechanism through which opera-goers received \treatment". 2 2.1 Antisemitism The literature of quantitative studies on Wagner's antisemitism is near nonex- istent, but the qualitative debate surrounding Wagner's ideology within his music is ongoing. His antisemitism is undeniable, as he made many public statements regarding Jews throughout his career, but historians continue to question the presence of this anti- semitism within his music dramas. One bloc asserts that certain characters of certain op- eras represent the most obvious Jewish stereotypes of the time and that Wagner designed these characters with the understanding that audiences would be sensitive and aware of these underlying implications. The other bloc denies these theories on the premise that little documentation exists of Wagner's contemporaries acknowledging these antisemitic tropes, and that World War 2, along with Hitler's idolization and weaponization of Wag- ner, made future critics more sensitive to potential antisemitism in his compositions that was otherwise unquestioned. I believe that Wagner's audiences were keenly aware of the Jewish stereotypes of the day, and Wagner's messages were clear in his operas. Through the characters of Beckmesser, Mime, and Klingsor, Wagner creates a harmful image of the Jew based off a character he had previously described in his writings, and the plot of each character's respective opera successfully ostracizes, others, and/or humiliates these characters. I next explain the context of Wagner's antisemitism and the role of each of these characters in his operas. Wagner's most infamous and explicit antisemitism is seen in his essay \Das Judenthem in der Musik" ("Jewishness in Music"), an essay in which he attacks the way Jews produce and interact with music. He claimed Jews speak European languages improperly or as an alien; they lack the ability to express true passion and, because music is assumed as an extension of language, compositions by Jews are unable to translate true emotion, only imitative works. He attacks specifically the composers Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn, for he felt their styles, limited by their Jewishness, were inhibiting the potential of German music (Wagner and Fischer 2010). 3 A central facet to translating Wagner's ideology to his audience is the awareness of the audience to Wagner's Jewish tropes. Pre-1945 concertgoers immediately under- stood the \common stock of antisemitic stereotypes" in his works, and only after the Second World War did \such ideological implications" become \increasingly denied or repressed, as the cultural vocabulary of the world in which he is read and performed has changed" (Millington 1991). As a result, a commonly understood facet of Wagner's work became a topic of debate. Shifting societal expectations have allowed a \widespread dis- avowal of precisely the racist and exclusionary dimension of his essays and music dramas" that were so obvious to his prewar audiences (Weiner 1997). For the sake of the experi- ment, we will assume audiences easily follow the Jewish tropes that Wagner presents. The most notable example of antisemitism in Wagner's operas is cited from his famous work Die Meistersingers von Nuremburg. In this opera, set in 16th century Nuremburg, the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs and his guild of mastersingers pursue their craft and/or music following a strict foundation of rules and traditions. A goldsmith's daughter, Eva, and a knight, Walther von Stolzing are in love, but Eva can only marry the winner of an upcoming song contest, as per tradition. Sachs decides to tutor Walther on the art of songwriting in order to help him win the contest, while the town clerk Sixtus Beckmesser threatens to steal Eva's hand in marriage with his own song. This challenger Beckmesser is the antagonist of the plot, and his odd mannerisms are accompanied by moments of public humiliation brought on by the aryan and nationalist Walther von Stolzing. It is this character and his storyline that are said to represent both harsh Jewish stereotypes and Wagner's personal antisemitism. Wagner's version of the Jew of his operas is described in detail in \Jewishness in Music," where he defines the Jew as one who shuffles and blinks, schemes and argues, and cannot be trusted. Wagner's Jew is incapable of creating true art or being part of an authentic artistic endeavor, and \the exceptions are so rare and special... they only confirm the general rule." The Jew speaks the language of the country in which they reside, but they \speak it always as an alien," and this then causes music created by 4 Jews to lack \all capability of therein expressing himself idiomatically, independently, and conformably to his nature" (Weiner 1997). As a result, the successful Jewish artist is a thief and plagiarist. This harsh and specific stereotype of a Jewish person is brought to life in the character of Beckmesser. Barry Millington explains how Beckmesser \slinks up the alley behind the night watchmen in Act II," \limps and stumbles about the stage in Act III," and \blinks with embarrassment when Eva turns away from his ingratiating bow at the song contest." He steals the song that he thought belonged to Sachs and attempted to claim it as his own, personifying the thieving and unoriginal Jew. Beckmesser “fulfills the classic role of the scapegoat," representing many of the negative themes throughout the plot (Millington 1991). On the most individual level, Beckmesser is a clear representation of how Wagner believes Jews to be. However, Beckmesser must also be considered in a broader societal context. Die Meistersinger was written during a period of strong German nationalism. In the 1860s, the German economy was surging with industrial growth and social cohesion, encouraging a powerful wave of national feeling, but Wagner, along with a large middle- class bloc, was concerned over the sacrifice of traditional German values.
Recommended publications
  • The Total Work of Art in European Modernism Series Editor: Peter Uwe Hohendahl, Cornell University
    The Total Work of Art in European Modernism Series editor: Peter Uwe Hohendahl, Cornell University Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought publishes new English- language books in literary studies, criticism, cultural studies, and intellectual history pertaining to the German-speaking world, as well as translations of im- portant German-language works. Signale construes “modern” in the broadest terms: the series covers topics ranging from the early modern period to the present. Signale books are published under a joint imprint of Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library in electronic and print formats. Please see http://signale.cornell.edu/. The Total Work of Art in European Modernism David Roberts A Signale Book Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library Ithaca, New York Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library gratefully acknowledge the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the publication of this volume. Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writ- ing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2011 by Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roberts, David, 1937– The total work of art in European modernism / David Roberts. p. cm. — (Signale : modern German letters, cultures, and thought) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5023-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Modernism (Aesthetics) 2.
    [Show full text]
  • The Death and Life of the Total Work of Art Henry Van De Velde and the Legacy of a Modern Concept
    THE DEATH AND LIFE OF THE TOTAL WORK OF ART Henry van de Velde and the Legacy of a Modern Concept Carsten Ruhl, Chris Dähne, Rixt Hoekstra (Eds.) INTRODUCTION 7 THE SYMBOLIC DIMENSION BETWEEN Carsten Ruhl, Rixt Hoekstra, Chris Dähne NATURE AND ARTIFACT 117 The Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm FROM TOTAL DESIGN TO TOTAL THEORY 12 Carlotta Torricelli Carsten Ruhl THE CREATIVE DESTRUCTION OF THE TOTAL WORK OF ART 128 EDUCATING THE GESAMTKUNSTWERK 24 From Hegel to Wagner and Beyond Henry van de Velde and Art School Reform Wolfram Bergande in Germany, 1900–14 Katherine Kuenzli INSULAR UTOPIAS? 146 Henry van de Velde, Peter Zumthor, and the Gesamtkunstwerk A COLLISION OF WORLDS 41 Ole W. Fischer Art and Commerce in the Age of Henry van de Velde THE NOTION OF THE TOTAL WORK OF ART AND John V. Maciuika ITALIAN BUILDING CUltURE AFTER WORLD WAR II 164 Silvia Malcovati EXISTENZMINIMUM AS GESAMTKUNSTWERK 63 Robin Schuldenfrei CAN THE IMMIGRANT SPEAK? 179 Autonomy and Participation in IBA 1984/87 PANS, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE 79 Esra Akcan Theo van Doesburg and the Question of the “Aesthetic Unity of All the Arts” THE CRITICAL ARABESQUE 195 Matthias Noell On Jean-Luc Godard’s Nouvelle Vague (1990) Regine Prange GESAMTKUNSTWERK AND GENDER 94 From Domesticity to Branding and Back Again AcUTE AESTHETICS 217 Kathleen James-Chakraborty Anke Finger EXPRESSING POLITICS IN URBAN PLANNING 105 ARCHITECTURES TO BE INHALED 227 Two Projects by Herman Sörgel for Munich Constructing the Ephemeral between the Monarchy and Republic Ákos Moravánszky Rainer Schützeichel THE GESAMTKUNSTWERK IN THE AGE OF TERROR 244 Esther da Costa Meyer Hegel’s philosophy, notably The Phenomenology of Spirit, his Lectures on Aesthetics, THE CREATIVE held in Berlin in the 1820s, and the later Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, casts a long shadow on the philosophies of art that followed—a shadow that is high con- trast, especially in the nineteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Influence of Ludwig Feuerbach's Philosophy
    1 THE INFLUENCE OF LUDWIG FEUERBACH’S PHILOSOPHY UPON THE LIBRETTO OF RICHARD WAGNER’S MUSIC-DRAMA ‘PARSIFAL’ By Paul Heise Research Consultant – The Richard Wagner Society of Florida [email protected] Home Tel: 727-343-0365 Home Add: 2001 55TH St. South Gulfport, FL 33707 ELABORATION OF A TALK PRESENTED TO THE BOSTON WAGNER SOCIETY ON 5/30/07, AT THE WELLESLEY FREE LIBRARY While it is well known that the atheist German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach’s influence upon Richard Wagner’s libretto for his music-drama The Ring of The Nibelung is great, it is usually assumed that Feuerbach’s influence upon Wagner’s writings and operas dropped off radically after his 1854 conversion to the pessimist philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. For this reason the librettos of Wagner’s other mature music- dramas completed after 1854, namely, Tristan and Isolde, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, and Parsifal, are widely regarded as expressions of Wagner’s post-1854 Schopenhauerian phase. It is therefore quite surprising to find in key passages from the libretto of Wagner’s last work for the theater, Parsifal, a remarkable dependence on Feuerbachian concepts. This paper will examine that influence closely. A familiarity with the libretto of Parsifal is assumed. This paper has retained all the extracts from Feuerbach’s and Wagner’s writings (and recorded remarks) discussed in my original talk of 5/30/07. However, a number of key extracts which had to be dropped from the talk due to time constraints have been restored, and other extracts added, both to fill in logical gaps in the talk, and also to address certain questions posed by audience members after the talk.
    [Show full text]
  • Avant-Gardes & Totalitarianism
    Tzvetan Todorov Avant-gardes & totalitarianism Translated by Arthur Goldhammer The history of modernity is character- Those who did not wish to turn back ized by an immense transformation: the the clock but were still dissatis½ed with transition from a world structured by re- the present then sought a second way, ligion to a world organized exclusively in that of an absolute accessible to the au- terms of human beings and worldly val- tonomous individual. The search for this ues. This process of emancipation and second way itself took several forms; humanization, which has been going on the most influential of these identi½ed for several centuries, has taken two main the individual absolute with beauty and forms. First came the project of replac- favored what Friedrich Schiller would ing the divine absolute with a collective call the aesthetic education of man. human absolute, what revolutionaries This doctrine was Romanticism, adopt- in France called ‘the Nation.’ Initial en- ed ½rst in Germany and then through- thusiasm for this project began to wane, out Europe; it glori½ed the poet in place however, from the moment the Revolu- of the prophet and the work of art in tion engendered the Terror. The struggle place of prayer. “Beauty in its absolute for liberty had ended in the suppression essence is God,” declared a spokesman of liberty: was this not proof that the for the movement. project itself had been ill-conceived The fact that Romanticism reserved from the beginning? such a role for art and poetry, exempla- ry incarnations of the beautiful, did not mean that it neglected other human ac- Tzvetan Todorov is Directeur de Recherche hono- tivities: for Schiller and his successors, raire at the Centre National de la Recherche Sci- aesthetic education and political vision enti½que in Paris.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Wagner and Literature: New Directions: Introduction'
    This is a repository copy of 'Wagner and Literature: New Directions: Introduction'. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/80544/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Allis, MJ (2014) 'Wagner and Literature: New Directions: Introduction'. Forum for Modern Language Studies. ISSN 0015-8518 https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqu031 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 1 Some late revisions made to this draft were subsequently incorporated at the publication stage. The final version is available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqu031 Wagner and Literature: New Directions Introduction Many readers of this Special Issue will be aware of the plethora of events last year marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner (1813-83).
    [Show full text]
  • Wagner 1900 (Oxford, 9-11 Apr 18)
    Wagner 1900 (Oxford, 9-11 Apr 18) Faculty of Music and Jesus College, University of Oxford, Apr 9–11, 2018 Registration deadline: Mar 18, 2018 Merel van Tilburg Wagner 1900. An interdisciplinary conference featuring two performances Registration is now open for ‘Wagner 1900’, an interdisciplinary conference hosted by Jesus Col- lege and the Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford on 9-11 April 2018. With a rich academic programme, Wagner 1900 will investigate the impact of Richard Wagner on fin-de-siècle Vienna in music, history, politics, the visual arts, theatre and German culture. The conference features two performances: Kokoschka’s Doll/The Art of Love (2017), Holywell Music Room, 10 April Kokoschka’s Doll, commissioned from John Casken by the ensemble Counterpoise, investigates the tempestuous love affair between Alma Mahler and Oskar Kokoschka. The singer/narrator will be the distinguished bass Sir John Tomlinson. The first half of the programme sets the scene with a sequence of music and text featuring the work of Gustav and Alma Mahler, Wagner and Zemlinsky, under the title The Art of Love: Alma Mahler’s Life and Music. The sequence, per- formed by the mezzo-soprano Rozanna Madylus, incorporates an unpublished song by Alma previ- ously unperformed in the UK. Isolde (1903/2018), Sheldonian Theatre, 11 April Isolde combines a historical perspective on the landmark Mahler/Roller production of Tristan und Isolde in Vienna (1903) with a bold new interpretation of the opera, performed in an intimate cham- ber reduction, focusing on the character of Isolde. The performance will be conducted by John Warner and directed by Cecilia Stinton, with Kirstin Sharpin (Isolde) and Mae Heydorn (Brangäne).
    [Show full text]
  • Anarchism and Hellenism in Richard Wagner's Revolutionary Cultural Politics (1848-52)
    Anarchism and Hellenism in Richard Wagner's Revolutionary Cultural Politics (1848-52) The Greek “hearkened to the great story of Necessity told by the tragic poet through the mouths of his gods and heroes on the stage. For in the tragedy he found himself again, nay, found the noblest part of his own nature united with the noblest characteristics of the whole nation; and from his inmost soul, as it there unfolded itself to him, proclaimed the Pythian oracle. At once both God and Priest, glorious godlike man, one with the Universal, the Universal summed up in him: it were better to be for half a day a Greek in presence of this tragic Art-work, than to all eternity an―un-Greek God!” (Wagner 1966: 34-35) Writing in his essay “Religion and Philosophy in Germany” (1834) during the emergence of Left Hegelianism, Heinrich Heine draws a direct connection between philosophical doctrines and revolutionary forces in his native country, warning that the disciples of critique and nature, pantheism and idealism, will one day unleash their fury on humanity: “A play will be performed in Germany, compared to which the French Revolution will seem a mere inoffensive idyll.” The Elbe city of Dresden provided a stage for this play fifteen years later, during the wave of democratic revolutions that in 1848-49 swept many European cities including Paris, Vienna, Venice, Milan, Parma, Rome, Berlin, Munich, and Prague. In 1848, German principalities are in a state of unrest, as people demand constitutional government. During Saxony's revolt in March, Dresden, its capital, did not play a major role because its public life was not quite politicized.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi: Class of 1813
    Chapter 21: Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi: Class of 1813 I. Introduction A. Two of the most important and influential operatic composers of the nineteenth century were Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi. 1. Richard Wagner sought a radical reform of opera that would combine different art forms into the Gesamtkunstwerk, or total artwork. 2. Giuseppe Verdi was the dominant figure in Italian opera. II. Art and revolution: Wagner’s early career A. Wagner’s musical career had a slower start than most of the others we have studied. 1. His third opera, Rienzi (1838–40), was the most successful of the early works. 2. Soon after the premiere, Wagner was offered a prestigious job as Royal Court Kapellmeister, which enabled him to supervise production of his next opera: Der fliegende Holländer (1843). 3. Two more grand Romantic operas followed: Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. 4. Dutchman dealt with a phantom sea captain, but Tannhäuser was based on a historical person from the Middle Ages (see Chapter 2). a) In the “Rome monologue” in the final act, Wagner introduces what he later calls unendliche Melodie, a seamless stream in which every note is thematic and meaningful. B. A union of the arts 1. Wagner was the first composer to write his own librettos. 2. No Wagner opera premiered between 1850 and 1865. 3. Wagner developed an idea that the ancient Greeks had united the arts, but these had subsequently split into different areas. He saw a reunification of them in Gesamtkunstwerk (total or united art work). C. From theory into practice: The Ring of the Nibelung 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Wagner;
    CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY MUSIC .. ,^_ .9<"'"*" ''nlveralty Library ML 410.W1C44 1897 .Richard Wagner 3 1924 022 322 212 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022322212 Richard Wagner All Rights Reserved l:\fuLi HOUSTON STEWART CHAMBERLAIN ^K Richard Wasner TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN By G. AINSLIE HIGHT AND REVISED BY THE AUTHOR WITH PHOTOGRAVURES AND COLLOTYPES, FACSIMILES AND ENGRAVINGS Munich Verlagsanstalt F. Bruckmann A.-G. London Philadelphia B. Lippincott J. M. Dent & Company J. Company 1897 ; Preface to the German Edition my little treatise " Das Drama " ^ IN Richard Wagner s I announced my intention of writing a larger work on the Bayreuth Meister. Just at the moment when my preliminary studies had advanced so far that I could think of attempting the execution of my plan, the publishers, Messrs Friedrich Bruckmann, proposed that I should write the text for an illustrated Life of Wagner. Honourable as this commission was, it had little attraction for me at first. In Carl Friedrich Glasenapp's Life of Richard Wagner the world possesses a classical biography of the great word-tone-poet ; a voluminous autobiography will moreover some day be published; several excellent little popular accounts of his life have been written by various authors. A new biography therefore seemed to me scarcely calculated to meet any real requirement. The publishers however agreed to my proposal to compose, not a biography in the narrower sense of the word, but so to speak a picture; not a chronological enumeration of all the events of his life in proper order, but rather a sketch of the entire thought and work of the great man, and so I felt it my duty to postpone the execution of my first design, and to carry out the present work to the best of my abilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Art and Revolution
    Art And Revolution RICHARD WAGNER Art And Revolution Table of Contents Art And Revolution...................................................................................................................................................1 RICHARD WAGNER...................................................................................................................................1 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE...............................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION TO ART AND REVOLUTION......................................................................................1 ART AND REVOLUTION...........................................................................................................................4 i Art And Revolution RICHARD WAGNER TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM ASHTON ELLIS This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online. http://www.blackmask.com • TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. • INTRODUCTION TO ART AND REVOLUTION. • ART AND REVOLUTION. Proofed and formatted by JP MOURLON, Paris, France TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. The INTRODUCTION translated on the opposite and following pages was written by Richard Wagner as the Preface to Volumes III. and IV. of his "Gesammelte Schriften," or Collected Writings, for the Edition of 1872; and applies not only to "Art and Revolution," but also to "The Art−Work of the Future" and "Opera and Drama," &c. INTRODUCTION TO ART AND REVOLUTION. THOMAS CARLYLE, in his History of Frederick the Great, (1) characterises the outbreak of the French Revolution
    [Show full text]
  • The Wagnerian Impulses in James Joyce's
    THE WAGNFRIAN IMPULSFS IN JAMFS JOYCE'S UL YSSFS AND A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN h" l~miA AIAv~nriAr 1\11/"'r-rAnnr - J --·. ··- • ,,_,"_' ·--· ···--· -~-~ SubmittedUniversity in fulfilment ofof the Cape requirements Town for U1e degree of Master oi Arts in u-,e Faculty of Arts, University of Cape Town. Supervisors: Professor A. Brink; Professor j_ Cartwright Co-suoervisor:- . ProfessorS. Reiner Date submitted: 22 September 1999 The financial assistance of the Centre for Science Development, (HSRC, South Africa) towards tfiis research is f;ereby acknowiedged. Opinior;s expressed and conciusior;s arrived at, are ifiose of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the Centre for Science Development. The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town CONTENTS Acknowledgements 4 Abstract 5 introduction 7 A Note on Translation 13 Chapter 1: HEROES OF THE WAGNER DRAMA 14 -17 I I The wish to be her knight 20 The end he was bom to serve 23 Tourments of tosend years 26 Mild Aunt Lisa "My favourite Wagner opera" ~1 Guttergioomering 33 Priest of the eternal imagination 36 The musics of the futures 38 Chapter II: WAGNER'S RECEPTION IN ENGLAND AND IN IRELAND 45 46 Wagner in Irish Culture & Politics 49 1"&..--~-~ Ill.
    [Show full text]
  • Fall 2011 in Deiner Zauber Holde Nacht
    Wagneriana Zu dir, Frau Venus, kehr’ ich wieder, Fall 2011 In deiner Zauber holde Nacht. Volume 8, Number 4 —Tannhäuser From the Editor his fall brought us two terrific events. On September 24 Sirius XM and Metropolitan Opera’s charming host Margaret Juntwait gave a talk titled “The Met on the Other Side of the Camera and the Microphone,” fol- T lowed by an opera quiz in which she awarded CDs to those who answered her questions correctly. The Col- lege Club was the perfect venue for this intimate and fun get-together, which was followed by an informal recep- tion. For photos of the event, see page 8. On October 30 the talented filmmaker and writer Hilan Warshaw gave a fascinating talk and presentation on the influence of Wagner on films, with rare video footage. Although the talk was a repeat of last year’s event, there was so much new material here that it might as well have been part 2 of the same topic. For those who could not attend, there is a DVD available of the lecture and video clips. We are now planning winter and spring events. On February 24, Music Advisor Jeffrey Brody will present Vis- conti’s marvelous film Ludwig. On April 22, Maestro Brody will give a lecture/demonstration titled “The Unknown Wagner-Humperdinck Collaboration,” featuring the world premiere (since 1882) of Humperdinck’s Parsifal music. In this issue you will find two reviews of the Metropolitan Opera’s simulcast of Siegfried. In addition, there is a review of Tannhäuser in Paris, appropriately followed by an article by member and art historian Donald Rosenthal on paintings of scenes from this opera.
    [Show full text]