Download or read book A Knight at the Opera written by Leah Garrett and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Knight at the Opera examines the remarkable and unknown role that the medieval legend (and Wagner opera) Tannhäuser played in Jewish cultural life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book analyzes how three of the greatest Jewish thinkers of that era, Heinrich Heine, Theodor Herzl, and I. L. Peretz, used this central myth of Germany to strengthen Jewish culture and to attack anti-Semitism. In the original medieval myth, a Christian knight lives in sin with the seductive pagan goddess Venus in the Venusberg. He escapes her clutches and makes his way to Rome to seek absolution from the Pope. The Pope does not pardon Tannhäuser and he returns to the Venusberg. During the course of A Knight at the Opera, readers will see how Tannhäuser evolves from a medieval knight, to Heine's German scoundrel in early modern Europe, to Wagner's idealized German male, and finally to Peretz's pious Jewish scholar in the Land of Israel. Venus herself also undergoes major changes from a pagan goddess, to a lusty housewife, to an overbearing Jewish mother. The book also discusses how the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, was so inspired by Wagner's opera that he wrote The Jewish State while attending performances of it, and he even had the Second Zionist Congress open to the music of Tannhäuser's overture. A Knight at the Opera uses Tannhäuser as a way to examine the changing relationship between Jews and the broader world during the advent of the modern era, and to question if any art, even that of a prominent anti-Semite, should be considered taboo.

Download or read book Richard Wagner written by and published by PediaPress. This book was released on with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg written by Richard Wagner and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg is the only comedy among Richard Wagner's mature works. Unusually for Wagner, it is set in a historically specific time and place, sixteenth-century Nuremberg, and tells of a song contest among the town's guildsmen. It nevertheless explores the same themes of renewal, renunciation and human love as Wagner's other great music dramas. The finely drawn humanity of its principal characters and the brilliance of its musical invention make it one of the most rewarding operas in the repertory.The guide contains articles on the complex historical and political background to the opera, a detailed examination of its musical structure and a survey of its sometimes contentious performance history. Further articles explore some of the work's roots in the poetry of Schiller and the vexed question of the extent to which Wagner's virulent anti-Semitism may be said to be present in the opera. The guide also includes the full libretto with English translation, sixteen pages of illustrations, a musical thematic guide, a discography, a bibliography and DVD and website guides.Contains:Snapshots of Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg, John DeathridgeThe Music: A Commentary, Arnold WhittallHans Sachs and Friedrich Schiller, Tim BlanningThe Beckmesser Problem, Hans Rudolf VagetThe Performance Legacy of Die Meistersinger, Aine SheilDie Meistersinger von Nuernberg: Poem by Richard WagnerThe Mastersingers of Nurenberg: Libretto by Peter Branscombe

Download or read book Networking Operatic Italy written by Francesca Vella and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-01-26 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stagecrafting the City -- Florence, Opera, and Technological Modernity -- Funeral Entrainments -- Errico Petrella's Jone and the Band -- Global Voices -- Adelina Patti, Multilingualism, and Bel Canto (as) Listening -- "Ito per Ferrovia" -- Opera Productions on the Tracks -- Aida, Media, and Temporal Politics circa 1871-72.

Download or read book Visconti and the German Dream written by David Huckvale and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Luchino Visconti's trilogy of films Ludwig, Death in Venice and The Damned explore the complex relationship between the themes and ideals of German Romanticism and their impact on the catastrophe of the Third Reich. The personality and works of Richard Wagner to a large extent epitomize German Romanticism as a whole, while the writings of Thomas Mann and Friedrich Nietzsche provide the greatest critique of this dark and troubled but sublime and emotionally overwhelming culture. Along with contrasting approaches to this subject by other filmmakers such as Hans-Jurgen Syberberg, Ken Russell and Tony Palmer, this book explores how the preoccupations of the German Romantic movement led to Nazism, and contrasts the ways in which filmmakers have presented this continuum. The book also discusses the impact of Wagner's musical dramas on the art form of the cinema itself.

Download or read book Wagner s Meistersinger written by Nicholas Vazsonyi and published by University Rochester Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg has been one of the most performed operas ever since its premiere in 1868. It was adopted as Germany's national opera ["Nationaloper"], not least because of its historical coincidence with the unification of Germany under Bismarck in 1871. The first section of this volume, "Performing Meistersinger," contains three commissioned articles from internationally respected artists - a conductor [Peter Schneider], a stage director [Harry Kupfer] and a singer [Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau], all experienced in the performance of this unusually demanding 5-hour work. The second section, "Meistersinger and History," examines both the representation of German history in the opera and the way the opera has functioned in history through political appropriation and staging practice. The third section, "Representations," is the most eclectic, exploring in the first place the problematic question of genre from the perspective of a theatrical historian. The chronic issue of Wagner's chief opponent, Eduard Hanslick, and his musical and dramatic representation in the opera as Beckmesser, is then addressed, as are gender issues, and Wagner's own utterances concerning the opera. Contributors: Nicholas Vazsonyi, Peter Schneider, Harry Kupfer, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Rudolf Vaget, Lutz Koepnick, David B. Dennis, Klaus Van Den Berg, Thomas S. Grey, Lydia Goehr, Eva Rieger, Peter Höyng. Nicholas Vazsonyi is Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature, University of South Carolina.

Download or read book Sudden Death in Opera written by Michael Trimble and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An aspect of dying in opera, rarely observed or commented on, is Sudden Unexpected Death. There are many deaths in this melodramatic genre: most follow expected causes like murder, suicide, or old age. This book explores those deaths which occur without obvious natural causes. These are often central to the overall drama of the opera, representing denouements forming the epiphany of the story and the apotheosis for the audience. The book identifies 50 operas where such events occur, exploring the role of the dramatis personae, the circumstances of their dying, and specific themes that emerge. These include a preponderance of females, especially in the 19th century, who die mainly at the end of the operas, often in the context of tragedy. It charts the growing awareness in the medical sciences of the unconscious forces driving human behaviour, including liminal mental states and trances, which influenced these operas and continue to affect human behaviour to the present day. In addition, the changing philosophies that are intertwined with operatic narratives, in particular stemming from Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, are important in the book’s exegesis, as is the special role of Wagner’s compositions. This leads to the exploration of recurrent concepts such as the Liebestod, the ewig Weibliche and redemption itself.

Download or read book The Ring of the Nibelung written by Richard Wagner and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-07-26 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A superb new translation of one of the greatest nineteenth century poems: the libretto to Wagner's Ring cycle The scale and grandeur of Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung has no precedent and no successor. It preoccupied Wagner for much of his adult life and revolutionized the nature of opera, the orchestra, the demands on singers and on the audience itself. The four operas-The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods - are complete worlds, conjuring up extraordinary mythological landscapes through sound as much as staging. Wagner wrote the entire libretto before embarking on the music. Discarding the grand choruses and bravura duets central to most operas, he used the largest musical forces in the context often of only a handful of singers on stage. The words were essential: he was telling a story and making an argument in a way that required absolute attention to what was said. The libretto for The Ring lies at the heart of nineteenth century culture. It is in itself a work of power and grandeur and it had an incalculable effect on European and specifically German culture. John Deathridge's superb new translation, with notes and a fascinating introduction, is essential for anyone who wishes to get to grips with one of the great musical experiences.

Download or read book Transactions of the Royal Historical Society written by Andrew Pettegree and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-12 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of major articles representing some of the best historical research by some of the world's most distinguished historians.

Download or read book Animal Dreams written by David Brooks and published by Sydney University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animal Dreams collects David Brooks’ thought-provoking essays about how humans think, dream and write about other species. Brooks examines how animals have featured in Australian and international literature and culture, from ‘The Man from Snowy River’ to Rainer Maria Rilke and The Turin Horse, to live-animal exports, veganism, and the culling of native and non-native species. In his piercing, elegant, widely celebrated style, he considers how private and public conversations about animals reflect older and deeper attitudes to our own and other species, and what questions we must ask to move these conversations forward, in what he calls ‘the immense work of undoing’. For readers interested in animal welfare, conservation, and the relationship between humans and other species, Animal Dreams will be an essential, richly rewarding companion. Praise for Animal Dreams ‘one of Australia’s most skilled, unusual and versatile writers’ – Peter Pierce, The Sydney Morning Herald. ‘No one writes about animals like David Brooks.’ – Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (author of The Assault on Truth, When Elephants Weep and Lost Companions) ‘Beautifully written and emotionally and intellectually enthralling. The best book I have ever read on relations between humans and animals and the ‘redress’ we owe them. It makes you angry, it makes you weep; it makes you determined to rethink and to act.’ – Helen Tiffin, FAHA (co-author of The Empire Writes Back and Wild Man from Borneo: A Cultural History of the Orangutang)

Download or read book Willing and Nothingness written by Christopher Janaway and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprising eight essays, this collection examines Nietzsche's changing conceptions in response to the work of Schopenhauer, whom he called his great teacher. Also provided is a critical piece Nietzsche wrote about Schopenhauer in 1868.

Download or read book Zarathustra s Last Supper written by Weaver Santaniello and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-01-06 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the historical contextualization of Nietzsche's thought, focusing on Nietzsche's controversial Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The fourth part of Nietzsche's Zarathustra consists of Zarathustra's encounter with eight 'higher men' whom Zarathustra meets in succession on his path during the day. The prophet then invites each individual to his cave for the evening festivities, culminating in a blasphemous festival in which his guests worship an ass as God. Revealing each guest's specific characteristics and very distinct roles, Santaniello also attempts to discern 'who' these guests are or represent (historically) through glimpsing the characteristics specific to each representative guest (as portrayed by Nietzsche), and through careful textual analysis, comparison with Nietzsche's other works, historical evidence, and previous scholarly research. This unique exploration of Thus Spoke Zarathustra offers students and researchers alike an invaluable new contribution to Nietzsche studies.

Download or read book Music for the Superman written by David Huckvale and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-06-09 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Friedrich Nietzsche regarded himself as the most musical philosopher--he played the piano, wrote his own compositions and espoused a philosophy encouraging all to dance for joy. Central to his life and his ideas were the music and personality of Richard Wagner, whom he both loved and loathed at different times of his life. Nietzsche had considerable influence on composers, many of whom employed Wagnerian sonorities to set his words and respond to his ideas. This book explores Nietzsche's relationship with Wagner, the influence of his writings on the music of Strauss, Mahler, Delius, Scriabin, Busoni and others, his place in Thomas Mann's critique of German Romantic music in the novel Doctor Faustus and his impact on 20th-century popular music.

Download or read book Franz Liszt written by Michael Saffle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2009. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Download or read book Nietzsche s Jewish Problem written by Robert C. Holub and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-20 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive account of Nietzsche's views of Jews and Judaism For more than a century, Nietzsche's views about Jews and Judaism have been subject to countless polemics. The Nazis infamously fashioned the philosopher as their anti-Semitic precursor, while in the past thirty years the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. The increasingly popular view today is that Nietzsche was not only completely free of racist tendencies but also was a principled adversary of anti-Jewish thought. Nietzsche’s Jewish Problem offers a definitive reappraisal of the controversy, taking the full historical, intellectual, and biographical context into account. As Robert Holub shows, a careful consideration of all the evidence from Nietzsche’s published and unpublished writings and letters reveals that he harbored anti-Jewish prejudices throughout his life. Nietzsche’s Jewish Problem demonstrates how this is so despite the apparent paradox of the philosopher’s well-documented opposition to the crude political anti-Semitism of the Germany of his day. As Holub explains, Nietzsche’s "anti-anti-Semitism" was motivated more by distaste for vulgar nationalism than by any objection to anti-Jewish prejudice. A richly detailed account of a controversy that goes to the heart of Nietzsche’s reputation and reception, Nietzsche’s Jewish Problem will fascinate anyone interested in philosophy, intellectual history, or the history of anti-Semitism.

Download or read book Story of the Century written by Michael Downes and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2024-11-05 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A colourful and concise telling of the fascinating story behind Richard Wagner's extraordinary masterpiece, Ring of the Nibelung. The Ring is one of the most epic and compelling stories of the nineteenth century, created by a composer who was, alongside Dickens, Tolstoy and Victor-Hugo, also one of the century's master storytellers. But the story of how Wagner created the work is one full of intrigue and triumphs against unlikely odds - as well as controversy, due to the composer's anti-semitic views and popularity with the Nazi party. In Story of the Century, Michael Downes combines cultural history and biography to offer this accessible and insightful introduction to The Ring and its mythology. He tells the story of how and why this extraordinary masterpiece came into being, why it takes the form it does, why it fascinates and obsesses so many and horrifies others, and why it matters.

Download or read book The Mendelssohns written by John Michael Cooper and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2002 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since about 1970 there has been a veritable renaissance in scholarship and performances concerning the works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel. The essays in this book, presenting the findings of three generations of members of the international community of Mendelssohn/Hensel scholars, constitute a compendium of cutting-edge research relating to these two important representatives of nineteenth-century musical culture.