The Sorcerer of Bayreuth: Richard Wagner, his Work and his World - Hardcover

Millington, Barry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199933766 ISBN 13: 9780199933761

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is one of the most influential - and also one of the most controversial - composers in the history of music. Over the course of his long career, he produced a stream of spellbinding works that challenged musical convention through their richness and tonal experimentation, ultimately paving the way for modernism. This book presents an in-depth but easy-to-read overview of Wagner's life, work and times. It considers a wide range of themes, including the composer's original sources of inspiration; his fetish for exotic silks; his relationship with his wife, Cosima, and with his mistress, Mathilde Wesendonck; the anti-semitism that is undeniably present in the operas; their proto-cinematic nature; and the turbulent legacy both of the Bayreuth Festival and of Wagnerism itself.

Making use of the very latest scholarship - much of it undertaken by the author himself in connection with his editorship of The Wagner Journal - Millington reassesses received notions about Wagner and his work, demolishing ill-informed opinion in favour of proper critical understanding. It is a radical - and occasionally controversial - reappraisal of this most perplexing of composers. The volume's arrangement - unique among books on the composer -combines an accessible text, intriguing images and original documents, thus ensuring a consistently fresh approach. Bringing new insights to an endlessly fascinating subject, The Sorcerer of Bayreuth will charm anyone interested in music and in the wider cultural life of the 19th century and beyond.

About this title

About the Author

Barry Millington is chief music critic for the London Evening Standard and the editor of The Wagner Journal. He has written and edited, or co-edited, seven books on Wagner, including The Wagner Compendium (1992), The Ring of the Nibelung: A Companion (1993), and the New Grove Guide to Wagner and his Operas (2006). In addition to his writing, he has also acted as dramaturgical adviser to several international music festivals.

Review

"Few, if any, Wagner scholars could cull such a cornucopia of vital anecdotes, observations, and pictures as has Barry Millington in this compact treatment of Wagner and Wagnerism." --Joseph Horowitz, author of Wagner Nights: An American History and Moral Fire: Musical Portraits from America's Fin-de-Siecle

"Barry Millington has now written the book that many opera lovers have sought: a discussion of Wagner the man and his works in clear English, not too involved, not lost in musicological terms but covering all that an intelligent operagoer needs. All in all, this is a book that enlightens generally, contains much of Millington's own personal reactions to Wagner, and is marvelously readable." --Speight Jenkins, General Director, Seattle Opera

"An admirably succinct and thoughtful treatment of Wagner." --Wagner Notes

"Outstanding...The entire musicological and theatrical communities will profit greatly from Millington's careful and revealing research. This book will stand in perpetuity as one of the great biographical works on the composer and will be of immense benefit to present and future researchers on this 'sorcerer of Bayreuth.'" --The Wagnerian

"In the venerable tradition of Ernest Newman, Millington here adroitly manages to restore balance and sanity and sharp focus to the endless debate about the most controversial artist of the last two centuries...An admirably succinct and thoughtful treatment of Wagner "and
all that."" --Wagneriana

"Readers at every level will appreciate this excellent book...Highly recommended." --Choice

"Millington succeeds brilliantly..." --Revista de Libros

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0199933766
• ISBN 13: 9780199933761
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320