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 Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 08:58:33PMPeter Lang www.peterlang.com via free access 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 Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 08:58:33PM Peter Lang www.peterlang.comvia free access 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 Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 08:58:33PM Peter Lang www.peterlang.com via free access 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 - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 08:58:33PM via free access Hannu Salmi Imagined Germany Richard Wagner’s National Utopia Second Edition PETER LANG New York • Bern • Berlin Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 08:58:33PM via free access 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 Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 08:58:33PM via free access.