WAGNER - Softcover

Tanner

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007291442 ISBN 13: 9780007291441

Publisher: Flamingo, 2008

Synopsis

'A fine, intellectually sparkling and always engaging little book - a welcome addition to any Wagner library' Hans Vaget, Opera Quarterly. Whilst no one would dispute Wagner's ranking among the most significant composers in the history of Western music, his works have been more fiercely attacked than those of any other composer. His supposed personal defects have provoked intense hostility which has translated into a mistrust and abhorrence of his music. Tanner's fascination for the relationship between music, text and plot generates and illuminating discussion of the operas, in which he persuades us to see many of Wagner's best-know works afresh. His passionate and unconventional analyses are accessible to all lovers of music, be they listeners or performers.

About this title

Review:

‘Focused and concise... wonderfully open-minded’
Rupert Christiansen, Sunday Telegraph

‘Almost as good as a ticket to Bayreuth’
Stephen Moss, Guardian Books of the Year

‘Though volumes ahve been written about the composer, Michael Tanner’s Wagner breaks new ground’
Anthony O’Hear, Daily Express

From the Back Cover:

Whilst no one would dispute Wagner's ranking amongst the most significant composers in the history of Western music, his works have been more fiercely attacked than those of any other composer. A racist, womaniser, megalomaniac and anti-Semite, Wagner’s personal 'defects' have provoked, and continue to provoke, intense hostility which has translated into a mistrust and abhorrence of his music.

In this emphatic, lucid book Michael Tanner discusses why people feel so passionately for or against Wagner, in a way that don't about other artists with equally lamentable personal traits. He lays out the various arguments made by Wagner's detractors and admires, and challenges most of them.
Tanner's fascination for the relationship between music, text and plot generates an illuminating discussion of the operas, in which he persuades us to see many of Wagner's best-known works afresh – 'The Ring, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal'. He refrains from lengthy and detailed musical examination, giving instead passionate and unconventional analyses which are accessible to all lovers of music, be they listeners or performers.

In this fiery reassessment of one of the greatest composers in the history of opera Tanner presents the most intelligent and controversial portrait of Wagner to emerge for many years.

About this edition

• Publisher: Flamingo
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0007291442
• ISBN 13: 9780007291441
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256