Description
In his well-organized and eminently readable new book, Dieter Borchmeyer investigates in detail the intrinsic forces, as well as the various intertextual references, influences, and connections, of Wagner's libretti, in the course of which he succeeds impressively in developing the literary, historical, and cultural context of the time in which Wagner the librettist and composer worked. Borchmeyer writes without jargon in a comprehensible, clear, and lively style. -- Walter Hinderer, Princeton University This book presents a good deal of entirely new material on Wagner's earliest operas and unrealized opera projects (some of these surprisingly little represented in the vast Wagner literature). Written in a straightforward, nontechnical style free of professional jargon, it provides individual chapters covering the entire Wagner canon, as well as the noncanonic early works, all related here in interesting ways to the composer's literary and intellectual environment. -- Thomas S. Grey, Stanford University A literary scholar of considerable accomplishment, Borchmeyer ... offers English readers the chance to share in his erudition on Wagner and his place in German culture of the past century and a half. -- "Choice"
About the Author
Dieter Borchmeyer is Professor of German Literature and Theater at the University of Heidelberg. Since 1980 he has been program annotator for the Bayreuth Festival. His books include "Richard Wagner: Theory and Theatre" (1991) and "Goethe: Der Zeitburger" (1999).
Reviews
"Borchmeyer ... Program annotator for the Bayreuth Festival where Wagner's music dramas are famously showcased each year, considers the whole range of those works--characters, themes, literary sources, political and ideological contexts--in a straightforward yet exhaustively researched and well documented manner."--Symphony "Dieter Borchmeyer provides unique insights into the Wagnerian outlook and purpose, insights not likely encountered elsewhere."--Clifford D. Alper, Opera Journal
Book Information
ISBN 9780691114972
Author Dieter Borchmeyer
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 765g