Richard Wagner As Poet And Thinker

Richard Wagner as poet? Yes! This hitherto unpublished study invites the reader to see Wagner's texts not just as opera librettos but as dramatic poems in their own right. An authority on German literature, Robertson offers an engaging account of the poems in the light of nineteenth-century drama and the changing currents of social and religious thought. John George Robertson was foundation professor of German Language and Literature in London University, 1903-33. He was the husband of Australian novelist Henry Handel Richardson. Their lifelong love of Wagner's operas, which began when they met in Leipzig as students in the 1880s, is evident in this book.

This book examines the poetic and philosophical themes in the works of Richard Wagner, a German composer and philosopher. Through a close analysis of his music dramas and writings, the author reveals the complex and nuanced ideas that underpin Wagner's artistic vision, as well as the enduring influence of his ideas on Western culture. 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.

Richard Wagner: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as a composer and performer.

SELDOM has the proverb "The child is father to the man" been more completely verified in the life of any prominent brain-worker than in that of Richard Wagner. The serious thinker of threescore, with his soul deep in his work, is the developed school-boy of thirteen lauded by his masters for unusual application and earnestness. All his defects and virtues, his affections and antipathies, can be traced to their original sources in his childhood. No great individuality was ever less influenced by misfortune or success in after-life than Wagner. The mission he felt within him and which he resolutely set himself to accomplish, he unswervingly pursued throughout the varied phases of his eventful career. Beyond contention, Richard Wagner is, I think, the greatest art personality of this century,-unequalled as a musician, great as a poet as regards the matter, moral, and mode of expression, whilst in dramatic construction a very Shakespeare.

"[...] SELDOM has the proverb "The child is father to the man" been more completely verified in the life of any prominent brain-worker than in that of Richard Wagner. The serious thinker of threescore, with his soul deep in his work, is the developed school-boy of thirteen lauded by his masters for unusual application and earnestness. All his defects and virtues, his affections and antipathies, can be traced to their original sources in his childhood. No great individuality was ever less influenced by misfortune or success in after-life than Wagner. The mission he felt within him and which he resolutely set himself to accomplish, he unswervingly pursued throughout the varied phases of his eventful career. Beyond contention, Richard Wagner is, I think, the greatest art personality of this century, -unequalled as a musician, great as a poet as regards[...]."

Most who write about Wagner’s operas claim that the works of Arthur Schopenhauer had a huge effect on them. The influence has, Brener believes, been vastly overstated. The most detailed exposition of that alleged influence is by Bryan Magee. In his Tristan Chord, Magee details the bases for what are often, by others, unsupported conclusions. Familiar with both the important writings of Schopenhauer and the works of Wagner, Brener is among the few capable of a thorough analysis and factual response to Magee’s claims. His conclusions, backed with primary sources, stands almost alone in opposition to accepted dogma.