29 Hannu Hannu Salmi • Richard Wagner (1813–1883) has often been regarded as a symbol of “Germanness.” Despite this view, few studies have been undertaken regarding his nationalistic thinking. Imagined Germany focuses on Wagner’s idea of Deutschtum, especially during the unification of Germany, 1864–1871. Salmi discusses how Wagner defined Germanness, what stereotypes, ideas, and sentiments he attatched to it, and what kind of state could realize Wagner’s national Germany Imagined Hannu Salmi ideals. “Salmi makes an important contribution to our understanding of one of the most fascinating artistic figures in German politics and culture, particularly his political role.” Michael Meyer, California State University, Northridge Imagined Germany “Salmi lays forever to rest the myth, propagated by some of Wagner’s older apologists and by many of his more recent critics, that there existed a communality of interests between Wagner and Bismarck, as well as between the new ‘Reich’ and the Wagnerian cultural Richard Wagner’s enterprise. Salmi shows, more clearly than anyone has done thus far, how Wagner at first styled himself as the ‘most German of National Utopia Germans’ only to realize, in the end, that he had been crucified ‘am Kreuz des deutschen Gedankens’.” Hans Rudolf Vaget, Smith College Second Edition Hannu Salmi is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku in Finland. He has published numerous articles on the history of music in Finland and Germany, but is also known as a historian of film and popular culture. German Life and Civilization Peter Lang www.peterlang.com 9781433173660_cvr_eu.indd All Pages 21-Feb-20 16:12:06 29 Hannu Hannu Salmi • Richard Wagner (1813–1883) has often been regarded as a symbol of “Germanness.” Despite this view, few studies have been undertaken regarding his nationalistic thinking. Imagined Germany focuses on Wagner’s idea of Deutschtum, especially during the unification of Germany, 1864–1871. Salmi discusses how Wagner defined Germanness, what stereotypes, ideas, and sentiments he attatched to it, and what kind of state could realize Wagner’s national Germany Imagined Hannu Salmi ideals. “Salmi makes an important contribution to our understanding of one of the most fascinating artistic figures in German politics and culture, particularly his political role.” Michael Meyer, California State University, Northridge Imagined Germany “Salmi lays forever to rest the myth, propagated by some of Wagner’s older apologists and by many of his more recent critics, that there existed a communality of interests between Wagner and Bismarck, as well as between the new ‘Reich’ and the Wagnerian cultural Richard Wagner’s enterprise. Salmi shows, more clearly than anyone has done thus far, how Wagner at first styled himself as the ‘most German of National Utopia Germans’ only to realize, in the end, that he had been crucified ‘am Kreuz des deutschen Gedankens’.” Hans Rudolf Vaget, Smith College Second Edition Hannu Salmi is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku in Finland. He has published numerous articles on the history of music in Finland and Germany, but is also known as a historian of film and popular culture. German Life and Civilization Peter Lang www.peterlang.com 9781433173660_cvr_eu.indd All Pages 21-Feb-20 16:12:06 29 Hannu Hannu Salmi • Richard Wagner (1813–1883) has often been regarded as a symbol of “Germanness.” Despite this view, few studies have been undertaken regarding his nationalistic thinking. Imagined Germany focuses on Wagner’s idea of Deutschtum, especially during the unification of Germany, 1864–1871. Salmi discusses how Wagner defined Germanness, what stereotypes, ideas, and sentiments he Imagined Germany Imagined Hannu Salmi attatched to it, and what kind of state could realize Wagner’s national Imagined Germany ideals. “Salmi makes an important contribution to our understanding of one of the most fascinating artistic figures in German politics and culture, particularly his political role.” Michael Meyer, California State University, Northridge Imagined Germany “Salmi lays forever to rest the myth, propagated by some of Wagner’s older apologists and by many of his more recent critics, that there existed a communality of interests between Wagner and Bismarck, as well as between the new ‘Reich’ and the Wagnerian cultural Richard Wagner’s enterprise. Salmi shows, more clearly than anyone has done thus far, how Wagner at first styled himself as the ‘most German of National Utopia Germans’ only to realize, in the end, that he had been crucified ‘am Kreuz des deutschen Gedankens’.” Hans Rudolf Vaget, Smith College Second Edition Hannu Salmi is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku in Finland. He has published numerous articles on the history of music in Finland and Germany, but is also known as a historian of film and popular culture. German Life and Civilization Peter Lang www.peterlang.com 9781433173660_cvr_eu.indd All Pages 21-Feb-20 16:12:06 German Life and Civilization Jost Hermand General Editor Advisory Board Helen Fehervary Ohio State University Peter Uwe Hohendahl Cornell University Robert C. Holub University of California at Berkeley Klaus Scherpe Humboldt University, Berlin Frank Trommler University of Pennsylvania Vol. 29 PETER LANG New York • Bern • Berlin Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw Hannu Salmi Imagined Germany Richard Wagner’s National Utopia Second Edition PETER LANG New York • Bern • Berlin Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw The Library of Congress has catalogued the first edition as follows Salmi, Hannu. Imagined Germany: Richard Wagner’s national utopia / Hannu Salmi. p. cm. — (German life and civilization, ISSN 0899-9899; vol. 29) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Wagner, Richard, 1813–1883—Political and social views. 2. Nationalism— Germany—History—19th century. 3. National characteristics, German. 4. Germany—Historiography. 5. Music—19th century— Philosophy and aesthetics. I. Title. II. Series. DD210.S24 943’.07’092—dc21 98-53632 ISBN 978-0-8204-4416-1 (first edition hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4331-7738-5 (second edition hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4331-6940-3 (second edition ebook pdf) ISBN 978-1-4331-7366-0 (second edition epub) ISBN 978-1-4331-7384-4 (second edition mobi) DOI 10.3726/b16835 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/. The online edition of this publication is available open access. Except where otherwise noted, content can be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ © 2020 Hannu Salmi Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006 www.peterlang.com Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Pa r t I: “What is German?”: Wagner’s Nationalist Writings and the Possibility of a New Germany Chapter 1: Wagner’s Concept of the German Past 23 On the Birth of the Romantic Sense of History 23 Wagner and the History of Germany 27 Mythical Germany 30 The Past as Building Material for National Identity 33 Chapter 2: The Home of the German Spirit 38 Germany before Unification: ‘An Atomistic Chaos’ 38 The State, the Nation or Culture 40 ‘The Spirit of the Genuine, True, Unadulterated’: The National Stereotypes 49 The German Genius and the Mission of German Culture 52 Chapter 3: The Gesamtkunstwerk and the Future Germany 69 The Rebirth of Antiquity 69 Wagner’s Theory of Art and the Gesamtkunstwerk 74 A Possible Germany 78 Pa r t II: “Towards The Power of Germany …”: Wagner’s Political Activity and The Unification of Germany, 1864–1871 Chapter 4: Wagner in Munich, 1864–65 87 Looking for a German Community 87 The Invitation to Munich 91 Ludwig II and Richard Wagner 96 The Political Gauntlet and Deportation from Munich 102 vi Contents Chapter 5: A Political Outcast between Bavaria and Prussia 117 Wagner’s and Ludwig’s Relationship during the Triebschen Years 117 The Austro-Prussian War: Wagner’s Changing Relation to Prussia 122 German Art and German Politics 131 The Mastersingers of Nuremberg 134 Chapter 6: “I Stir Them Ever to Strife …” 145 The Outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870) 145 “Hail to the Emperor!”: Wagner and the Unification of Germany 149 Pa r t III: The Paths of the Artist and the State Diverge Chapter 7: Disappointment with the New Germany 159 Bismarck’s Relationship with Wagner 159 “Without Germany’s Greatness My Art Was Only a Dream …” 165 Chapter 8: Bayreuth: Towards Immortality 172 The Foundation of the Bayreuth Festival 172 A Place in History 178 The Maintenance of the Wagner-Image by the Bayreuth Circle 184 Epilogue: “My Kingdom Is Not of This World” 195 List of Sources 205 Index 229 Acknowledgments Richard Wagner is surely one of the most debated personalities of the nine- teenth century. He is also one of the most thoroughly investigated figures of European history. When Barry Millington started his Wagner biogra- phy in 1984, he remarked that “the necessity for a new book on Wagner is to this day regularly and rightly questioned”. Why to write on Wag- ner? I believe that Wagner is constantly under scholarly scrutiny just be- cause he embodies the European dilemma. In his thinking and art, Wagner encapsulated the opposite sides of European identity. He was an ardent advocate of nationalism and, simultaneously, a spokesman for universal- ism. He trumpeted for “the purely human”, but was an extreme racist. He took part in the Dresden revolution 150 years ago, only to become later regarded as a conservative, even as an epitome of Nazism. The political side of Wagner has intrigued me since the late 1980s. In 1993, I wrote my dissertation on his political adventures under the ti- tle “Die Herrlichkeit des deutschen Namens …” Die schriftstellerische und politische Tätigkeit Richard Wagnersals Gestalternationaler Identitätwährend der staatlichen Vereinigung Deutschlands.