Search Results for: wagner
Richard Wagner, animal lover
In 1879 Richard Wagner joined the growing movement in Germany opposing the cruel medical practices of animal experimentation with an open letter published in the Bayreuther Blätter. His arguments for the pointlessness of these experiments were original; they followed from … Continue reading
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Filed under Animals, Curiosities, Opera
Wagner and Eros
Wagner’s obsession with sexuality prefigured the composition of operas such as Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal. Daring to represent erotic stimulation, passionate ecstasy, and the torment of sexual desire, Wagner sparked intense reactions from figures like Baudelaire, … Continue reading
Filed under Opera, Romantic era
Wagner and Darwin
Darwin’s On the origin of species and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, both completed in 1859, share an articulation of the shift from one worldview to another: from change as a repetitive circular movement to development as a cyclic process. Darwin’s … Continue reading
Wagner and Buddhism
Scholars have long known that Wagner had a deep and lasting interest in Buddhism; less known are the specific insights garnered from Buddhism that are manifested in Parsifal. The key to understanding this connection is the enigmatic figure of Kundry. Contrary … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Opera
Esoteric orchestration
Aligned with the Symbolists, Camille Mauclair considered the orchestra a transposed symbol of the emotions in nature and cited Wagner’s music as an outstanding realization of this concept. Although he was a staunch Positivist who attacked the Symbolists, Ange-Marie Auzende … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Romantic era
Szymanowski and Eros
The desire to voice the artistic revelation of the truth of a precarious, multifaceted, yet integrated self lies behind much of Karol Szymanowski’s work. This self is projected through the voices of deities who speak languages of love. The unifying figure … Continue reading
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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Opera
Delius’s taste
Today, on Delius’s 160th birthday, let’s eavesdrop on the reminiscences of his friend Percy Grainger. “Composer never had truer colleague than I had in Frederick Delius, and when he died I felt that my music had lost its best friend.” … Continue reading
Filed under Impressionism, Reception, Romantic era
Pauline Viardot’s legacy
Pauline Viardot was one of the most influential women in nineteenth century European classical music. As a singer, her prodigious talent and charisma on the stage inspired dedications, premieres, and roles written specifically for her. Her music salon hosted many … Continue reading
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Filed under Performers, Romantic era
