Richard Wagner And The Music Of The Future

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

This is a comprehensive study of Wagner's music and its influence on the future of music and arts. It explores the philosophical, political, and cultural background of Wagner's music and emphasizes its significance as a transformative and avant-garde force in the history of the arts. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Poor, frustrated, and angered by the ?fashion-mongers and mode-purveyors? of art, Richard Wagner published The Art-Work of the Future in 1849. It marked a turning point in his life: an appraisal of the revolutionary passions of mid-century Europe, his farewell to symphonic music, and his vision of the music to come. ø Beethoven?s Ninth Symphony was unsurpassable, he wrote. Henceforth "The Folk must of necessity be the Artist of the Future," and only artists who were in harmony with the Folk could know what harmony was for. The essay became a touchstone for Wagner, his family, friends, and followers, as he sought to produce works that thoroughly combined music, dance, drama, and national saga. ø In addition to Wagner?s epoch-defining essay, this volume includes his "Autobiographical Sketch," "Art and Climate"; his libretto for an opera, "Wieland the Smith"; and his notorious "Art and Revolution." The concluding piece, "A Communication to My Friends (1851), explains his views on his first successes?The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin, and TannhÜuser?and defines his agenda for later works. ø As spokesman for the future, Wagner spoke most of himself. In these works he set forth his ambitions, identified his enemies, and began a campaign for public attention that made him a legend in his own time and in ours.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ... finger was by unnatural extension weakened to such a degree, that it became all but disabled, and of course entirely unavailable for artistic purposes. This implied practically the loss of the whole right hand, and every thought of a career as an executive artist had forthwith to be relinquished. The pianoforte had lost one of its ablest representatives, but the gain of music as a whole was incommensurably greater. 2. The first favourable result of Schumann's changed prospects, was the serious commencement of theoretical studies, against which he had felt till then a strong aversion. The influence which the late attainment of this fundamental part of music had on his compositions we shall have to consider before long. But first we must now turn to an event which for the following years was to lead the whole power of his mind into a different channel. This is the starting of a new musical journal, which, under the title Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, was soon to become the intellectual centre and mouthpiece of a new jhase in the art of sound. The circumstances under -which this remarkable birth took place are described by the father, or to speak more accurately, one of the fathers, that is our composer, in the following manner: --"At the end of 1833 there met at Leipsic every evening a number of for the greater part young musicians, principally with a view to friendly intercourse, but also in order to exchange their thoughts about the art which had become the bread and wine of their life, i.e. music. It cannot be said that the musical conditions of Germany were at that time of a very satisfactory nature. On the stage Eossini wielded the sceptre, while the piano was almost exclusively dominated by Herz and Hiinten. And nevertheless only a few...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.