Richard Wagner, the creative genius who transformed opera forever,
was also a prolific author. And he was disreputable, conceited,
boorish, a serial adulterer, constantly in debt and a sponger - all
in all, ideal biographical material. Artistically his reputation
suffers because he was revered and subsequently adopted for
propaganda purposes by Hitler, but he was actually a left-wing
radical who wrote the Ring's libretto while in exile for his
poiltical beliefs. Magee attempts to disentangle the myth from the
man, settle a few misunderstandings and appraise the art above the
flawed artist. What this book is really concerned with though, is,
as the title suggests, examines the philosophical ideas that
thrived in Wagner's lifetime, and with which he actively engaged.
Magee examines the influence of Hegel, Feuerbach - both of whom
directly influenced Marx - and the quasi-Buddhism of Arthur
Schopenhaur whose ideas proved revelatory and which, Magee claims,
permeate Wagner's work and provide a philosopher/artist merge that
is quite unique. Magee has made some of the most convoluted ideas
digestable through his previous books and TV work, and this
lucidly-written read should interest even those unimpressed by
opera. Of Wagner's genius there's no doubt, but many people's
perception of him not so much by his associations but rather by his
unforgivable anti-semitism, which even his long-suffering wife,
Cosima - who was also Liszt's daughter - found odious. Magee
devotes a chapter to this prickly subject, and his attempts to
explain it by context or as an aspect of a rare artistic
temperament are, ultimately, not convincing. The current debate
about separating art from the artist is, in light of other recent
revelations, bound to continue, but Wagner's turbulent life and
this insight into a brilliant creative mind is engrossing. (Kirkus
UK)
Wagner was one of the few major composers who studied philosophy seriously. Bryan Magee places the composer's artistic development in the context of the philosophy of his age, and gives us the first detailed and comprehensive study of the close links between Wagner and the philosophers - from the pre-Marxist socialists to Feuerbach and Schopenhauer. Magee explores the relationship between words and music, between the conscious and the unconscious mind, between art and philosophy. It tackles soberly and judiciously the Wagner whose paranoia, egocentricity and anti-semitism are repugnant, as well as the Wagner of artistic genius. The resulting text illuminates Wagner and the music-dramas in altogether new ways.
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