Product Description
Many music lovers find Wagner's operas inexpressibly beautiful and richly satisfying, while others find them revolting, dangerous, self-indulgent, and immoral.The man who W.H. Auden once called "perhaps the greatest genius that ever lived" has inspired both greater adulation and greater loathing than any other composer.

Bryan Magee presents a penetrating analysis of Wagner's work, concentrating on how his sensational and deeply erotic music uniquely expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche.He examines not only Wagner's music and detailed stage directions but also the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, as well as shedding new light on his anti-semitism and the way in which the Nazis twisted his theories to suit their own purposes. Outlining the astonishing range and depth of Wagner's influence on our culture, Magee reveals how profoundly he continues to shock and inspire musicians, poets, novelists, painters, philosophers, and politicians today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

A Classic
It's amazing how much information and insight Magee manages to pack into so short a book. Indeed, I would recommend reading this classic study of Wagner even if you're *not* interested in the composer, just because the prose is so exemplary in its lucid brevity. No time at all is wasted for the kind of platitudinous banter that usually fills the pages of academic writing. Magee always gets to the point right away. Consider the way he opens his first chapter, dealing with "Wagner's Theory of Opera" (you can read the first pages with Amazon's preview system): first a few essential facts, then a brief but to-the-point reflection on what is remarkable about these facts (namely that Wagner should have taken a six-year break from composing in order to instead theorize about composing). Just in two concise paragraphs Magee has you hooked. Seldom have I encountered prose that is so effective.

The reason Magee writes so well is of course that he is in the possession of a first-rate mind. This is equally obvious in his highly original treatment of the six different "aspects of Wagner" he covers in this volume. His essay on "Jews--Not Least in Music," for instance, is brilliantly unconventional, displaying a courageous independence of thought, a quality that's only too rare in scholarship on Wagner. I'm not sure he's always correct in his analysis of this matter, but he is definitely worth reading (and if you complement it with Magee's discussion of Wagner's anti-Semitism in The Tristan Chord, you know almost all you need to know on the topic). His two essays on "Wagnerolatry" and "The Influence of Wagner" are gems as well, and particularly the second one has been amply utilized in subsequent scholarship on Wagner.

In short, this work is a classic, surely among the ten or so best books on Wagner ever written.

Short and to-the-point
I find it a bit ironic that some of the reviews here seem to be longer than the book itself!It's short, pithy and covers the topics most often raised by Wagner-haters.I agree with the customer who mentioned keeping spare copies to give to people - it covers so much, so well, in such a short space, I think it's a brilliant introduction to Wagner and will encourage further reading by those who might otherwise be inclined to dismiss him as unforgivable in spite of the power of his music and thought.

4 and 1/2 for Being TOO SHORT!
Magee ended up outdoing himself in his later work "The Tristan Chord". And this is worth overall 4.5 stars for the same reasons: balanced, eminently insightful writing and just enough quirkiness to keep the interest at a high level throughout.

I guess it says alot for this book that I knocked off a half star entirely for its brevity. You end up wanting MORE at the end. Maybe I should have just relented and given this one 5 huh?

Think outside the opera box
Even though this book is years old, the ideas remain fresh and challenging. Questions of pacing in performance (maybe the dreaded longueurs are not necessary), and origins of Wagner's antiSemitism (an interesting twist on the privilege of the cultural outsider).
An easy read, something to discuss at intermission.

Brilliantly
This may seem odd, but to those of you interested enough to read reviews of this short book of essays on Wagner written nearly 40 years ago, my first advice is to read (no, run!) to Byran McGee's "Tristan Chord," published only a couple years ago, which in my humble opinion is one of the two greatest analytical works of Wagner's operas published in the last century.(The other is Deryck Cooke's "I Saw the World End"--an analysis of the "Ring" first published in 1979.)

McGee in that longer book and in this shorter collection of brief essays exemplifies the finest qualities of the English in his Wagner criticism:common sense, plain language, brilliant argumentation.He is such a relief from scholars (sorry, particularly German scholars) who think that opaque or convoluted rhetoric suggests depth.That's a [...].Mr. McGee by comparison is fresh air...and his brilliance is self-evident.

This is a short book, six essays, each well defined on various aspects of Wagner.Two are clearly the most interesting:first, McGee's analysis of why Wagner's music excites such passion (pro or con)--i.e., what makes that music so affecting, so transcendant, so "dangerous" to many of us.He explores our guilty pleasure in Wagner better than any author has ever done.And second, his book offers a very interesting essay on the reasons for the flowering of Jewish intellectuals who so dominated and contributed to late 19th and early 20th century culture after over a thousand years of Jewish irrelevance to wider Western culture.

Those two essays make the book definitely worth acquiring and reading.The other essays are fine, if less sparkling.But I cannot emphasize enough:if you have any interest in Wagner, you must acquire Mr. McGee's "Tristan Chord."It is the best overall key to understanding Wagner's operas in print today. ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Wagner and the Centrality of Love is a bold book which argues that Wagner's music dramas cannot be understood if treated separately from his essays, his life, the intellectual and artistic climate of his day, and the broader history of Germany. Wagner attempts a range of reconciliations that are radical in content and form and appear to succeed partly because he is in well-nigh complete command of the aesthetic product; not only text and music, but also production practice. Nonetheless, all the reconciliations ultimately break down, but in a manner that is illuminating. This is not a celebration of the seamless work of art, but a radical unpicking of the seemingly seamless. 'Love' is the central organising concept of the whole Wagnerian project. Love - sexual and spiritual, egotistical and charitable, love of the individual and of the race - is the key Wagnerian driving force. And therefore so is hate. Of course Wagner cannot employ love without its opposite, and it is critically significant that his anti-semitism is based upon his view that the Jews are 'loveless'. The book handles Wagner's anti-semitism (and the ongoing row about it) in a unique way, in that it is shown to be aesthetically and intellectually productive (for him!). This leads to a radical reinterpretation of Wagner's music dramas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

First rate summary of the Ring; a real workhorse of a book!
Clear concise overview of the Wagner Ring Cycle story and associated Leitmotives.Equally useful to the beginner as well as the more advanced student of music. The progressive changes of the motives over the duration of the cycle are well explained. I have read several books about the ring, but find myself returning to this book the most ... Read more

Product Description
All modern artists have had to market themselves in some way. Richard Wagner may just have done it better than anyone else. In a self-promotional effort that began around 1840 in Paris, and lasted for the remainder of his career, Wagner claimed convincingly that he was the most German composer ever and the true successor of Beethoven. More significantly, he was an opera composer who declared that he was not composing operas. Instead, during the 1850s, he mapped out a new direction, conceiving of works that would break with tradition and be literally 'brand new'. This is the first study to examine the innovative ways in which Wagner made himself a celebrity, promoting himself using every means available: autobiography, journal articles, short stories, newspaper announcements, letters, even his operas themselves. Vazsonyi reveals how Wagner created a niche for his works in the crowded opera market that continues to be unique. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A UNIQUE AND ENJOYABLE TAKE ON WAGNER'S CAREER
Not only is Vazsonyi's book an enjoyable read, as he describes Wagner's behind-the-scenes machinations on behalf of his music career, but you can learn a lot about how hype works.

Vazsonyi backs his book with solid scholarly research while writing in a style that is a pleasure to read. Though the book's apparent intended readership is music scholars and Wagner aficionados, a wider audience will find it accessible and could learn a lot from this fascinating case study.

Along with this, Vazsonyi's study of Wagner provides a fun way to learn more about a dynamic period in European music and history.


--Bill Brent [7 October 2010]
... Read more

Product Description
Do you cringe when your opera-loving friends start raving about the latest production of Tristan? Do you feel faint just thinking about the six-hour performance of Parsifal you were given tickets to? Does your mate accuse you of having a Tannhäuser complex? If you're baffled by the behavior of Wagner worshipers, if you've longed to fathom the mysteries of Wagner's ever-increasing popularity, or if you just want to better understand and enjoy the performances you're attending, you'll find this delightful book indispensable.

William Berger is the most helpful guide one could hope to find for navigating the strange and beautiful world of the most controversial artist who ever lived. He tells you all you need to know to become a true Wagnerite--from story lines to historical background; from when to visit the rest room to how to sound smart during intermission; from the Jewish legend that possibly inspired Lohengrin to the tragic death of the first Tristan. Funny, informative, and always a pleasure to read, Wagner Without Fear proves that the art of Wagner can be accessible to everyone.

Includes:
- The strange life of Richard Wagner--German patriot (and exile), friend (and enemy) of Liszt and Nietzsche
- Essential opera lore and "lobby talk"
- A scene-by-scene analysis of each opera
- What to listen for to get the most from the music
- Recommended recordings, films, and sound tracks ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Getting to know Wagner
Have read this before and am now buying for friends as an introductory book to get to know Wagner and his Operas.

Excellent introduction to Wagner
Being a Mozart-Puccini-Lehar-... fan, but taking the plunge by buying tickets to Die Walküre this summer in Zürich, I looked for an introductory book on a "scary" subjet and decided on this one, despite a few cranky Amazon reviews.What a pleasure it was to read, and useful, too!It is a very complete book for the neophyte, has lots of material, not only good synopses with commentary, but a lot of context, describing Wagner's life and loves, his relations (often strange and strained) with father-in-law Liszt, other musicians, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, conductor von Bülow (whose wife he swiped) and others.One gets a good sense of the times in 19th century Germany and Europe in general.It's written in a pleasant, non-pedantic style, with just enough humorous comments without being off-putting.There is also a wealth of practical information - one might complain about his suggesting timing washroom breaks during performances, but it makes sense for a neophyte who doesn't realise that certain Wagnerian acts alone are longer than many Italian operas in their entirety!He warns about some acts that might appear longish in a first hearing, but says to read the libretto beforehand, hang in there, but if that still doesn't work, well, maybe Wagner isn't your cup of tea after all!There's a terrific description of Bayreuth, its history and its current festival atmosphere, lots of bibliographic sources for those who want to delve further into "understanding" Wagner's works, but emphasises that they were written mainly to be enjoyed by ordinary folks, and not particularly for the self-appointed "elite".There is a good chapter on various recordings and historic performances, a glossary, how to behave at intermissions (!) and at Bayreuth, discussions of logical inconsistencies which are legion in Wagner's work (as in most operas), a description of how the various characters are developed in the Ring cycle, etc.All in all, a terrific introductory book.

Once Afraid of Wagner
I have to admit that I was once afraid of Wagner. For years, I listened to Italian and French opera and loved much of it. However, I just stayed away from Wagner. Recently, I heard Mr. Berger being interviewed about Wagner on NPR. I was immediately taken by his humor, his vast knowledge of the composer's life and his work. So, based on that interview and the reviews on this website, I purchased this book. I can actually say that I no longer fear Wagner. I bought my very first Wagner operas - the entire Ring cycle - and I have enjoyed them more that I could ever imagined. And I can thank Mr. Berger for that. His book on Wagner is easy to read and makes listening to the operas an absolute pleasure. So, have no fear, get this book! Although I already love Verdi and Puccini, I have already ordered Mr. Berger's books on those two great Italian opera composers. Well done, Mr. Berger!

Great Overview
A very reader-friendly review of Wagner's life and then a serious concentration on all of his operas.

Excellent resource for all opera fans.
This is an excellent book for someone like me - a total novice to Wagner and his music.I have always enjoyed Wagner's music and was desperately looking for some introductory material to his works.What I wanted was something that was not too simplistic and not too academic.Well, this is it.

The book contains a brief section on biography followed by a great introduction to each of Wagner's operas. I read each of the opera introductions at least twice and then watch the opera on DVD (The Met's version by Levine).What a treat!

I do understand how some of the more scholarly amongst us find this work shallow and demeaning.But friends, for someone like myself, who does not read music; and has no formal training in music, books such as these are a good first start.And who knows - this book may introduce some yet unknown kid to the joys of opera.

Excellent work.Thank you. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
The second in performing sequence, and the most popular and frequently performed of the Ring operas, superbly reprinted here in the authoritative C. F. Peters edition published in Leipzig, ca. 1910.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent score of great work!
Unlike Schott's editions (which Dover uses for its reprints of the other 3 operas of the cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen" {"The Nibelung's Ring"}, the Peters version reprinted here DOES have the voice and instrumental staves mostly arranged in proper order, making things a great deal easier to follow.[Alas, there's one exception - having the voices (though not stage instruments - that part at least is already in proper order) between the violas and the 'celli {harking back to Baroque "basso-continuo" usage} - at least they're consistent with it which helps...]Also the fonts used by the Peters engraving are somewhat clearer than those of Schott in their first editions (their current edition of the complete works of Richard Wagner is SUPERLATIVE but no doubt fantastically expensive!!!).

This score of one of Wagner's most accessible works is not only a steal at the price, it's an excellent score, period (though I could visualise it using fewer pages if the engravings were done differently whereby the systems would have been somewhat smaller but done for a larger paper-size).GET IT!!!!

A Wonderous Edition
Dover, as always, has given to Art, primarily music, a wonderful gift.It is good to know of a publishing house with value to the greatness of Art, rather than the greatness of profit.The edition itself is a reproduction of an edition approved by Wagner himself, and is quite a necessity for any who wishes to indulge in the delights and caprice of Wagnerian music-drama.The format is easily read, and even more easy to follow; it is a great production of an opera in full-score.

Good Score
Before I got the score, I had listened to the opera once through and after grasping the basic story with the libretto, I decided to go ahead and see what German opera was all about even though I had been told by many people that it was 'heavy' and I should avoid Wagner at all costs.

The result was something I hadn't been expecting. The score is wonderfully presented and extremely clear. Of course, its a big score (just over 700 pages) but opens out flatly and doesn't damage the spine - quite clever thing from Dover! Text is all in German apart from a translation of the contents, characters and orchestration so unless you've mastered the German language, get your hands on a german or music dictionary. See through is minimal.

The score had been intended to be the second package to arrive but ended up being the last. The reason: someone had mixed their 'r' and 'c' up and instead of posting to Ireland, they somehow managed to send it a few miles north to Iceland. It arrived though, explaining the long journey it had undertaken!!! A good bargain for such a complex and diverse score.

the dark beauty of wagner...
this has got to be one of the greatest operas of all time. dover's publication is neatly laid out and easy to follow. the paper and binding are good quality; i own many dover scores and they've all held up verywell, even though i use them a lot.

'full score' means you get the musicas it was written for every instrument (including vocals), just as thecomposer intended for it to be played, just as you would hear it performedlive or on cd. a list of instruments is also included to give an idea ofthe massive orchestra that the work calls for. if you don't know german,you may want an english translation of the libretto (it's not translatedhere), and a good german to english dictionary, as wagner wrote his musicalinstructions (tempo, articulation)in german, rather than the usualitalian.

for composers or music lovers, this is a great way to studyorchestration and composition, right at the feet of one of the masters... ... Read more

Product Description
Tristan and Isolda - Opera in Three Acts is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Richard Wagner is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Richard Wagner then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume comprises papers presented at the 1988 Wagner conference in Seattle exploring this opera cycle as music, myth, theatre art, and literature, including comparisons with T. S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" and James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Out of print masterpiece
It is unfortunate that this magisterial biography of Richard Wagner is out of print.Without question, in breadth, depth, and literary style this is the best biography of Der Meister ever written.Like Wagner's music, its effect is hypnotic; once started you have to finish it--all 2,000 plus pages of it.I read it during one summer back in 1983.Foolishly, I sold my 4-volume set long ago and only repurchased it on this web site a few days ago.I was lucky to get a great price.If you like Wagner you MUST read this.If you can't afford one, skip a mortgage payment--it'll be worth it--artistically speaking.A perfect companion to this is Solti's studio recording of Der Ring from 1959-1965--another hundred or so.Everything for Art! ... Read more

Product Description
Did Richard Wagner incite Adolf Hitler to commit the Holocaust? The music of composer Richard Wagner is banned in Israel, as he is regarded as a precur-sor of the Nazi ideology. In Richard and Adolf, Nicholson explores the anti-Semitic elements of Wagner s polemical works and his music, and the immense influence this had on the man who was to become Germany s Fuhrer. Reference is also made to the texts of the major operas, reckoned by many to be the greatest works of art of all time. Biographers have often avoided delving into the uglier elements of both of the subjects personalities. Without seeking sensationalism, this book does not shrink from exploring their seedier side, including their sexual dalliances and perversions, in its quest to understand the full range of factors that led to Hitler's pursuit of the Holocaust. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Clearly a book of little importance or value
Is this a work that the serious student of either Wagner, Hitler, or German history in general will have to take seriously? The title, certainly, suggests that this is not the case, but that we are dealing instead with yet another exercise in cheap sensationalism. 'Richard and Adolf' rather than 'Wagner and Hitler'? The subtitle also has an almost obscenely flippant quality to it, grotesquely at odds with the gravity of the subject, and quite obviously intimating that this is not a work of real scholarship.

I will confess right away that I haven't read the book; but that I still have little hesitation in awarding it a single star. The reasons for this are as follows.

I have read the first ten pages or so available through Amazon's preview system, and the errors they contain are so egregious that it is difficult to see how they cannot but discredit the entire book, whatever its subsequent chapters may contain.

On p. 14, the author refers to Wagner's opera cycle the 'Ring of the Nibelungs'. The correct title is 'The Ring of the Nibelung,' in the singular. This may seem like a matter of detail, but if Nicholson cannot even get the titles of Wagner's works right, what trust can we put in his capabilities to deal adequately with more intricate issues? That this elementary mistake has been made before by other writers in fact makes it even worse, as one could have expected Nicholson to have learned from the many times it has been corrected in the past. In addition, this is an error which strongly suggests that the author has a very limited knowledge of German, as anyone who does have command of that language would know full well the elementary difference between 'Der Ring *des* Nibelungen' (the original German title) and 'Der Ring *der* Nibelungen' (Nicholson's invented German title). The same error is repeated in the index, moreover - where, additionally, 'Die Walküre' is translated as 'The Valkyries.'

On p. 16, Nicholson writes about "Wagner's opera Parsifal where the Knights of the Grail refreshed themselves spiritually before rescuing damsels in distress, treating the poor and fighting holy wars against the infidels and the Jews." I know there are some people who will not accept that this is incorrect, but will go on insisting that Parsifal is in fact packed with mysteriously hidden references to Jews. But there is of course no mention whatsoever in Parsifal (neither in the finished opera, nor in the prose draft) that the knights are ever sent out on 'holy wars' against 'the Jews.' If we are meant to understand that this is somehow 'implied' in the opera, that it is a hidden 'subtext,' then Nicholson could perhaps have been so kind as to provide us with some reasons for why this is so. He does not, he merely smuggles it in as a premise. Again, those who want to accept this because they like to think of Wagner as some sort of forerunner of Nazism can of course do so; but they should be aware that they are accepting it solely on faith, as no arguments for this preposterous silliness has been put forward.

On the same page, we then find the one sentence that - for me at least - discredits this book beyond rescue. Writing about the holy spear of Longinus, in an argument that relies heavily on Ravenscroft's science fiction version of history, Nicholson states: "Wagner had told Chamberlain of the significance of the Holy Spear." Nicholson adduces no source for this claim, but that is of little importance here. What matters is this: Wagner and H. S. Chamberlain never met. They never exchanged a single word. Wagner never even knew Chamberlain existed. A young Chamberlain once *saw* Wagner across a room during a dinner party. But they *never* ever met, they *never* ever spoke with one another. Chamberlain is one of the most important intellectual forerunners of the Third Reich, and his writings had a huge impact on a number of other figures. His books ran through many, many editions, were translated into numerous languages, and were debated all over in Europe and the US. And Nicholson doesn't even know the most basic fact about his relationship with Wagner - that the two never met. How can we possibly resist the conclusion that Nicholson's grasp of German intellectual history is so incredibly flimsy, that his sense of chronology is so spectacularly inaccurate, that we just cannot take the man seriously, however much we would want to. Apparently, Nicholson is a judge by profession; and though that would indeed suggest that he is not entirely devoid of intelligence, it is perhaps also well to remember that he clearly is not a historian.

This concludes my review of what Amazon lets me read of the first chapter. Browsing the internet, I also came across the following alleged quote from Nicholson's book: "Wagner wrote that one day the German people would not shrink from their sacred duty to find a 'great solution to the Jewish problem.' " If the quote is accurate - and from what I've read, I have little reason to think it isn't - this is yet another egregious error. The Wagner citation Nicholson adduces is from the late essay 'Erkenne dich selbst' ('Know yourself'), and it is neither accurate (Wagner never spoke of a 'Jewish problem'), nor does it say what Nicholson tries to insinuate that it says. It is a very alarming instance of intellectual dishonesty.

Finally, I would suggest that most of the other reviews offered here (the one by Stephan Peters perhaps excepted) are so uninformed that they hardly inspire much confidence in the writer either. I am sure that amateur bigots consumed by their hatred for 'the ugliness of Richard Wagner' will find much that appeals to them in Nicholson's work. The scholarly community, however, has passed its judgment on this book by disregarding it. For the reasons I have given above, I feel confident that this was the right decision.

Richard and Adolf
I really wanted to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. As a student of history and music, it seemed to promise to dovetail nicely into my pursuits. However, it just seemed to make more "conclusion jumps" that I had a hard time reconciling what I knew of both figures. While there does seem to be some connection of the two, the support for many hypotheses offered is just not there. In a slim (and yes, 449 pages here is slim!) volume, I just expected there to be more pie instead of all the whipped cream that I was offered. The extraneous details got a bit tired, and all the good, hard evidence there was too little of. It almost seemed as if it were two separate books at times - one about Wagner and one about Hitler, with only the thinest of threads tying them together.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Richard and Adolf
By
Christopher Nicholson

A Review
By
Colin J. Edwards

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". (Samuel Johnson 1775)

Patriotism seems a rather pedestrian word to use when considering the activities of Richard Wagner and Adolf Hitler in Germany during the first half of the 20th century. It was extreme patriotism, amplified by mental instability that created these monsters. They were not alone of course; Japan demonstrated similar traits in the same period.

Christopher Nicholson's book, `Richard and Adolf', records in the minutest detail the manifestations of Wagner's and Hitler's obsessions, and the impact they had on European Jewry. He postulates that Wagners anti-Semitism as demonstrated in his major musical works provided the launch pad for Hitler's excesses.

The book is beautifully produced. It is well bound and the pages are fine quality paper that will accommodate many readings.

The work is catalogued as a Holocaust book, but it is more than that. It is a detailed expose of how two disturbed people are hypnotized by an 800 year old poem, and use that as a justification for the calculated murder of 5 million innocent people.That is not to mention the millions that died as a result of their dementia.

Nicholson's book is a scholarly tome. All facts are annotated, and his bibliography runs to 7 pages.

However, Mr. Nicholson is a lawyer - a High Court Judge in fact, and his book reads rather like a brief. That does not in any way detract from the value of this work, but I did have the feeling that `Richard and Adolf' read like 2 briefs presented to condemn these individuals. That is not to suggest that these indefensible lunatics shouldn't be condemned, but I didn't think the numerous abusive after-thoughts at the end of paragraphs was appropriate. Facts alone are sufficient to condemn Wagner and Hitler, and personal evaluations serve little purpose.


I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants a greater understanding of why someone would want to legislate to harass, hound and murder innocent families. But be prepared for the realization that Hitler didn't do it alone - indeed, he didn't do it at all. Nicholson doesn't site one incident of any resistance movement in Germany or anywhere else against Germany's attempt to exterminate European Jews.

This is an important work particularly for a generation to whom World War II was something someone mentioned during a history lesson. `Richard and Adolf', describes how a population with exaggerated patriotic zeal, can be manipulated by one individual to destroy their own people, the people in the continent around them and ultimately themselves.

Everyone should read this book to remind themselves of the cataclysmic dangers of Nationalism.

Appreciation depends on your reason for reading.
This book will leave you with a different impression depending on your purpose in reading it.

If you want to begin a serious scholarly inquiry on the subject, you will be disappointed.

There are plenty of footnotes and citations, but I don't think I found any that cited primary sources.
Most were references to various biographies of Wagner--many of which undoubtedly begin with the phrase "Richard Wagner was born..." This author reserves this phrase for the beginning of the third chapter.

Even easy to find primary sources were not researched or cited.
Nicholson quotes an English translation from "Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland" by Heinrich Heine, however he cites "Newman, Life of Richard Wagner, vol.2, 261" for the quote.

The book almost reads like something Novosti Press might have published in English during the Cold War. Here is an example:
"Did Heine know that his own works would be...thrown on the great fires...when the nation threw its soul at the devil?"
This is typical of the writing style of the entire work.

There are also statements I wish had a footnote; e.g. "Hitler's fear arose from specters of those he had killed, visiting him--principally his erstwhile comrade-at-arms and lover Ernst Rölm..." This statement had no source or footnote, not even something like: "Patton, George C, On Hitler and his relationship with Rölm, Speech given to the US Third Army, Oppenheim, March 22, 1945."--except Nicholson would have cited "Wallace, The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People". Wallace in turn might have gotten the information from Patton's speech. In all fairness, Nicholson cites Machtan, "Hidden Hitler" for most of his innuendo that Hitler was a closet homosexual.

In fact, huge portions of the book are devoted to Nietzsche, Ludwig II Siegfried Wagner, Hitler, and Richard Wagner's trysts, perversions, or sexual liaisons. While these would be necessary in a biography, I didn't see how they help answer the question asked in the title.

HOWEVER

If you are looking for an overview of Wagner's life and anti-Semitism written in easy to understand language without having to read seventeen different biographies of Wagner written in Universitese with long quotes in French or German this will probably fit the bill nicely.

It does a good job of describing the roots of Wagner's anti-Semitism in his own personal life, his anti-Semitic essays and innuendo in his operas, his relationship with Nietzsche, Chamberlain, etc.

It reads like a History Channel special- and does have a lot of good information. I never knew about the Spear of Longinus before reading this book, and found it fascinating!

I found the last chapter, "Wagner in Israel," very interesting and definitely worth reading.

The binding, paper type, printing and typeset are excellent.

I hope this review has been helpful to both types of readers

A Master Work
This great master workdeserves to be greatly admired and applauded. Rarely had I read a book which was so thoroughly researched as this was.Rarely have I read such wonderful English.And rarely has an author produced such a powerful, incontrovertible case.
How I hope those who have insisted on playing Wagner's music will read your book from start to finish.

... Read more

Product Description
This highly original book draws on narrative and film theory, psychoanalysis, and musicology to explore the relationship between aesthetics and anti-Semitism in two controversial landmarks in German culture. David Levin argues that Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Fritz Lang's 1920s film Die Nibelungen creatively exploit contrasts between good and bad aesthetics to address the question of what is German and what is not. He shows that each work associates a villainous character, portrayed as non-Germanic and Jewish, with the sometimes dramatically awkward act of narration. For both Wagner and Lang, narration--or, in cinematic terms, visual presentation--possesses a typically Jewish potential for manipulation and control. Consistent with this view, Levin shows, the Germanic hero Siegfried is killed in each work by virtue of his unwitting adoption of a narrative role.

Levin begins with an explanation of the book's theoretical foundations and then applies these theories to close readings of, in turn, Wagner's cycle and Lang's film. He concludes by tracing how Germans have dealt with the Nibelungen myths in the wake of the Second World War, paying special attention to Michael Verhoeven's 1989 film The Nasty Girl. His fresh and interdisciplinary approach sheds new light not only on Wagner's Ring and Lang's Die Nibelungen, but also on the ways in which aesthetics can be put to the service of aggression and hatred. The book is an important contribution to scholarship in film and music and also to the broader study of German culture and national identity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen
What verbiage! Get to the point!
I'm sorry; I read and re-read and still have no clear idea what the author is trying to say.
The author could have saved much paper by writing one clearly stated sentence--and been done with it.
If I see the word inflected one more time--well I already screamed.
It does have some neat pictures from the Fritz Lang movie.
And while I have seen the Verhoeven Nasty Girl movie (and liked it and found it quite interesting), it seems out of place to put its commentary in a book along side Wagner's Ring, Lang's movie and the book Das Nibelungenlied.

Save your money
I heard the author speak at a conference on Wagnerism and Music
overseas, and it contained the gist of this book.Basically the
author is a professional hand-wringer victim, who travels around
the world cadging free meals and lodging by trotting out a very
shop-worn personal rant against Wagner, Lang, and the Nibelung
legend.It reminded me of nothing so much as a very whiny baby
who's grown up to be an equally whiny guy who's found a comfy
living whining at music conferences, and is ultimately a boring,
tiring person who needs to get a real life-and stop whining!

His rant really ticked me off, it is very puerile and boring.

If ya gotta buy the book, buy it used.

The misrepresentation is mainly by omission
David Levin's book _Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang and the Nibelungen_ centers around the allegation that Mime in Wagner's opera _Siegfried_, and Alberich in Fritz Lang's 1920 film _Die Nibelungen_ (both dwarfs), are antisemitic representations.

Levin's arguments for these twin accusations will cause jaw-dropping disbelief in anyone familiar with Wagner's or Lang's work. He writes: "Thus Mime is repeatedly shown to be narrating (a terrible thing in Wagner's eyes and works) while Alberich embodies a version of 'Hollywood' cinema (a terrible thing in Lang's eyes and works)."

Anyone who's seen or heard a Wagner opera knows that far from narration being "a terrible thing in Wagner's eyes", it's a Wagner specialty. All Wagner's important characters are incorrigible narrators, to an extent that's notoriously off-putting for newcomers. (Levin later claims that Mime is unique because he narrates events that haven't previously been represented in dramatic form. Nice try, but so do most of Wagner's other characters, from Senta and the Dutchman to Wotan and Gurnemantz.)

This isn't just a minor error. It's actually Levin's whole argument concerning Wagner: that Wagner's character Mime was a narrator, Wagner hated narrators and thought narration was somehow Jewish, therefore Mime is an antisemitic representation and the _Ring_ is an antisemitic parable.

But if we took Levin's test seriously, all the major Wagnerian characters would be Jewish representations, and Wagner would emerge as the most obsessively philosemitic dramatist in history. (Except that according to Levin's test, everyone in Greek tragedy and Japanese Noh drama is Jewish too.)

Levin's accusation against Fritz Lang is that his _Nibelungen_ film, made in Germany in 1920, was antisemitic in its depiction of the dwarf Alberich. Levin gave two grounds for his claim that Lang's Alberich is an antisemitic representation.

First, Levin said that Lang's biographer Lotte Eisner had claimed that critic Siegfried Kracauer had thought that Lang's depiction of Alberich was antisemitic. Unfortunately for Levin, Kracauer's discussion of Lang's film is in print, and Kracauer made no such allegation. More importantly, Kracauer's opinion would only have weight if Kracauer had actually provided arguments or evidence in support of this reading of Lang's film. So Levin's first piece of supporting evidence is unsubstantiated hearsay; that one critic, Kracauer, may or may not have thought Lang's Alberich was a Jewish caricature, but provided no arguments in support of that interpretation, which he probably did not support.

Well, you can't get much more convincing than that!

And Levin doesn't. His other argument is that Alberich took Siegfried into an underground cave and shone an image on the wall: the Nibelungs mining for gold. Levin argued, essentially, that projecting images on a wall (a symbol of filmmaking) is somehow a Jewish thing to do. Therefore Lang's Alberich is an antisemitic Jewish caricature.

Obviously that's not much of an argument, expressed so baldly. So Levin expressed it hairily. Delving into the works of Freud, Klein, Lacan, etc, he engaged in a great deal of oracular pronouncing and general arm-waving. It's probably fair to describe Freudianism as a dead religion now the Freud Wars are over, and Levin did his case little good by tying so much of it to the Freudian tradition.

But against Levin's psychoanalytic flights of fancy there's just one awkward fact. It's that Fritz Lang was of Jewish descent, and he fled Nazi Germany to America (to Hollywood) partly because of politics and partly because of his Jewish ancestry.

How did Levin deal with that awkward fact? The same way he dealt with the awkward fact that _everybody_ in Wagner is a narrator, not just Mime. Levin simply didn't mention it. But at one point he cited a biography of Fritz Lang, so he can't credibly claim ignorance of the awkward fact.

An intellectually honest academic has to mention facts that hurt their thesis, and argue around them. A book that simply buries awkward facts, presumably in the hope that the readers won't know better, is not an intellectually honest book.

Levin does a lot of omitting awkward facts. For example Levin tells us that when Wagner's Siegfried (_Siegfried_ Act II) killed Mime it was because Mime was sort of Jewish; Siegfried heard Mime narrating, and realised that narrators are aliens who should be killed. Next stop, Levin suggests, is the Holocaust.

But Levin can only argue this by omitting the actual content of Mime's speech. Mime was telling Siegfried, inadvertently but truthfully, that he intended to drug Siegfried unconscious and then decapitate him. Thus Siegfried could not risk sleeping, if he wanted to wake up again. In a forest, unattended by a police service with the resources to apprehend murderous stalkers, Siegfried killed Mime in self-defence: not because Mime was a narrator, but because Mime would kill him the next time he fell asleep. (By the way Mime's threat to Siegfried was not even narration. It was exposition. Since "narration" is such a central concept in Levin's book, he should at least know what "narration" means.)

Here, as with his claims about narration in Wagner, and whether Fritz Lang is likely to have made antisemitic movies, Levin used the technique known as "misrepresentation by omission". He also applied this technique in his discussion of Wagner's prose. But although I'd meant to discuss such things as Levin's claim that Siegfried burnt down the world ash tree in order to forge Nothung (a false claim that suggests that Levin may not have actually read the _Ring_ libretto), and many other things, I'm close to the word limit.

Basically this book is nonsense. Wagner students are used to this sort of thing; Wagner brings out this sort of tin-foil-hatted lunacy in some academics. But admirers of Fritz Lang, in the real world a victim rather than a perpetrator of Nazi bigotry, have the right to be a little annoyed by this mildly misleading piece of work.

Cheers!

Laon ... Read more

Product Description
The third opera in Wagner’s monumental tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is reproduced here, complete and unabridged, from the first edition (1876). Wagner enthusiasts, opera lovers and musicians will appreciate this affordable edition of an influential Romantic-era masterpiece.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent, high-quality yet cheap reproduction of 1st-Edition score of great opera!
Keith Dillon has already said much of what needs be said about this score.Ideally I'd have given it a 4.5 or even only 4 stars due to 2 faults with those initial Schott editions - except Mr. Dillon has already beaten me to it (yet his review is warmer...)!Consequently, I'll raise my mark to counter-balance given the low price.[Getting the current Schott Complete-Wagner Works Edition, which does follow proper conventions, surely would cost a king's ransom...]

The faults are:1) Inconsistency about ordering of instruments and/or voices per system; 2) Slightly less than ideal clarity in printing due to the styles/fonts of engraving then used.

Regarding the first point:it was a period of transition from an initial time where other instruments and voices would be inserted between the upper strings (violins, violas) and the low ones (which still were notated à la "Continuo" function long after that style of composition had died) versus today's systematisation where everything is grouped by order of class of instruments and/or voices (woodwinds, brass, percussion, harps, keyboards, solo-voices, choral-voices, strings - going from top to bottom in a system).That full-transition hadn't quite finished yet (it so did around 1910 with Peters' editions of the Wagner operas - "Tristan und Isolde" used the old order Wagner used, whereas "Die Walküre" and "Parsifal" were in the new order - other composers like Richard Strauss were already established however with the new order...).

Also, as an extra challenge, tenor voices (in this case: Siegfried, Mime) are notated using the tenor clef - not that I mind;however, others might.

Anyway, those are minor quibbles - in compensation one knows that he's dealing with very reliable scores proofed (if I recall correctly) by Wagner himself, with few mistakes if any - all of which can be corrected by listening to appropriate recordings.Definitely recommended!

The Return of the Walkure
Siegfried is the third opera in Wagner's tetrology, the Ring of the Nibeling. It tells the story of Siegfried, the young hero who bursts through a ring of fire to saves Brunnhilde, his aunt and eventual lover,from a fate of eternal sleep. This opera contains remarkable music, such asBrunnhilde and Siegfrieds' love duets, and the prophetic twittering of theforest bird. As with Das Rheingold, Dover republished the B. Schott's Sohneedition, which means that what we see on the page was approved by Wagnerhimself. Again, Dover editions are reasonably priced, easy to read, andcapable of enduring all reasonable, and some unreasonable wear and tear.Dover's Siegfried is large enough to conduct from, which isn't always truewith Dover's Wagner scores. In any case, a copy of this score belongs inthe home of all self respecting Opera lovers. ... Read more