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Richard Wagner: The Last of the Titans
Contributor(s): Köhler, Joachim (Author), Spencer, Stewart (Translator)
ISBN: 0300104227     ISBN-13: 9780300104226
Publisher: Yale University Press
OUR PRICE:   $59.40  
Product Type: Hardcover
Published: December 2004
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Annotation: In this new biography of Richard Wagner, K]hler draws on social and political analysis, documentary interpretation, and psychological insights to paint a rounded picture of Wagner as both a controversial historical phenomenon and a complex human being.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Music | Genres & Styles - Opera
- Biography & Autobiography | Music
Dewey: B
LCCN: 2004110664
Physical Information: 2.29" H x 6.4" W x 9.46" (2.94 lbs) 704 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 19th Century
- Cultural Region - Germany
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

In this new biography of Richard Wagner, Joachim K hler draws on social and political analysis, documentary interpretation, and psychological insights to paint a rounded picture of Wagner as both a controversial historical phenomenon and a complex human being.
K hler's reading of the letters, diaries, and other documents of the main protagonists, some of them unfamiliar even to seasoned Wagnerians, results in some breathtaking but convincing reappraisals. He examines Wagner's love affairs with Jessie Laussot, Mathilde Wesendonck, and Judith Gautier and assesses their lasting emotional effect. He re-evaluates Wagner's relationships with his mother, step-father, sister, and--most revealingly--his wife, Cosima, a relationship seen as based on fear rather than love. K hler explores the philosophical roots of Wagner's work, which the composer himself deliberately obfuscated. And he analyzes Wagner's relationship with King Ludwig, whom Wagner is revealed to have blackmailed, and with Nietzsche, whom he tried to destroy.
The traumas of his youth haunted Wagner throughout his life, as his emotional development underlay his notorious anti-semitism. K hler's interpretation of Wagner's dreams, as recorded in Cosima's diaries, offers astonishing insights into the paranoia and insecurity of a man who was one of the leading composers of his age.