Wagner the Irascible Old Bigot

As a boundless admirer of Wagner’s art and of much of his artistic thought, I vacillate between horror and laughter when I encounter fragments of his writing on social and philosophical matters.  A recent reading of Leon Stein’s The Racial Thinking of Richard Wagner (1950) prompted the latter response.  Outside of the world of music […]

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March 8, 2018 – 6:45 pm | By peterp | Posted in The Wagner Blog | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

More Analysis of the Final Ring Motif

Roger Scruton’s most recent book, The Ring of Truth, is densely packed with insight.  His discussion, very early into the book, of the influences of J.G. Fichte in the moral and philosophical world in which Siegfried struggles for “freedom and individuality” were entirely new to me and very much valued. Among the many helpful analyses […]

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March 2, 2018 – 6:21 pm | By peterp | Posted in The Wagner Blog | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Chicago’s Ring Cycle Keeps Building

The second installment of the new Lyric Opera Ring was, if anything, even more gratifying than the excellent Rheingold that I attended a year before.  Sir Andrew Davis, celebrating his 30th season at Chicago, led a charged, nuanced and richly romantic reading of the score, and the instrumentalists of the orchestra responded with impeccable musicianship.  […]

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December 18, 2017 – 10:27 am | By peterp | Posted in The Wagner Blog | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Splendid Book on the New Wahnfried

While in Bayreuth this past August I paid my first visit in five years to Wahnfried, and was delighted to find that it had not been eviscerated, which the construction site a few years ago seemed to presage.  I miss the chairs, the piped-music and the tranquility of the great room that I first entered […]

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November 24, 2017 – 10:25 pm | By peterp | Posted in The Wagner Blog | Tagged , , | Comments (0)