The Trouble with Wagner
Michael P. Steinberg
Abstract
Written from the dual perspective of a cultural/music historian and a dramaturg who worked on the bicentennial production of The Ring of the Nibelung at La Scala Milan and the Berlin State Opera, The Trouble with Wagner engages the deep politics and aesthetics of Wagner's music dramas as well as the responsibility of the stage to bring them both to the visible surface. An introductory chapter seeks an original understanding of the historical, philosophical, ideological, and formal foundations of Wagner's works. The four central chapters focus on the four works of the Ring cycle. An afterword p ... More
Written from the dual perspective of a cultural/music historian and a dramaturg who worked on the bicentennial production of The Ring of the Nibelung at La Scala Milan and the Berlin State Opera, The Trouble with Wagner engages the deep politics and aesthetics of Wagner's music dramas as well as the responsibility of the stage to bring them both to the visible surface. An introductory chapter seeks an original understanding of the historical, philosophical, ideological, and formal foundations of Wagner's works. The four central chapters focus on the four works of the Ring cycle. An afterword places Wagner at the start of what has become known as the post-secular, with a concluding discussion of post-secular claims as they inform the debate about the Wagner taboo in Israel.
Keywords:
Richard Wagner,
Ring of the Nibelung,
music and politics,
post-secular
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226594194 |
Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: May 2019 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226594224.001.0001 |