From the Diaries of Count Harry Kessler (Laird M. Easton, ed., Knopf 2011), pp. 504-05: Berlin, February 7, 1911. Tuesday. Lunch at Frau von Rath’s with Siegfried Wagner, the Hills (the American ambassador and his wife), the painter Zorn, and Fraülein von Olfers. Siegfried brought up The Rosenkavalier, the poverty of its thematic inventiveness. He […]
I was interested in Terry Quinn’s book, Richard Wagner: The Lighter Side because of its title. It was intriguing to think that a biography or study might be assembled using Wagner’s humane, even funny, personality – his quirkiness, his climbing trees or standing on his head, his affection for his dogs and his devotion to […]
The Wagner Society of Washington, DC, not content to offer first-class symposia, block tickets to performances, and convivial social gatherings, also contributes to scholarship by publishing books on various topics of interest to Wagnerians. Several years ago I bought and enjoyed J.K. Holman’s Wagner Moments: A Celebration of Favorite Wagner Experiences not knowing that the […]
A special issue of The Wagner Journal comprises, in its entirety, Emma Warner’s new translation of Wagner’s essay “The Artwork of the Future.” It is eye-opening, even riveting, and as important a piece of writing on topics Wagnerian as I have read since Magee’s Tristan Chord. My own past efforts at reading Wagner’s prose have […]
The production of Tristan at the Washington National Opera (Philippe Auguin conducting, Neil Armfield staging) featured an interesting interpretation of the scene in Act II in which the lovers are betrayed by Melot and discovered by King Marke. I am accustomed to Tristan and Isolde being surprised, humiliated, embarrassed, and eventually ashamed in the course […]
The Wagner Blog is a forum for discussion of contemporary themes arising from the works of Richard Wagner. Discussions relating to Wagner’s musical, literary, theatrical, philosophical, political and theoretic work are all appropriate for this forum.
Recent Comments