Decoding Wagner: An Invitation to His World of Music Drama (includes 2 CDs)
by Thomas May
(Click here)
Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas MayEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-12-22
ISBN: 1574670972
Number of pages: 220
Publisher: Amadeus Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781574670974
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of Decoding Wagner: An Invitation to His World of Music Drama (includes 2 CDs)
Book Review: Good Selection of Music, Superficial Insubstantial Text
Summary: 2 Stars
What an audacious title! Decoding Wagner, all done in 204 pages, without all those pesky footnotes. You will not get a sense of what the librettos actually mean though. He does not decode Wagner, not by a long shot. Wagner's works defy simplification, so writing a generalized book that claims to decode all of Wagner at a grade 9 reading level in 200 pages is bound to fail. And this one does. I think I would have given this 5 stars if the title had been "An Invitation to Wagner's World" or "Elementary Wagner", but then again that wouldn't have sold as well.
I don't think the author has a good enough grasp of 19th century thought, Wagner's writings, or the primary sources Wagner used in writing his Librettos; nor do I think he understands German. The text and analysis appear to have been cobbled together from secondary sources, but because there are no footnotes I don't know for sure. There is a fair amount of description of the types of music and how they relate generally to the drama (and no you won't have to know how to read music to understand his descriptions), a decent amount of plot recapitulation, and a fair amount of biographical information. There is very little in the way of decoding Wagner.
I suppose that is not too surprising. Wagner was a very prolix headache inducing writer, and often times he was also self contradictory. Further, he loved to obscure things and make people have to work to understand what he was trying to get across, especially when it came to his librettos. Getting a handle on what his operas mean is a demanding task. Demanding books don't sell very well though, and plowing through Wagner's philosophy is difficult. Yet that is what is required to decode the man and his works. And the resultant decoding is bound to be difficult and confusing. It is much simpler to gloss over things and write in general terms things that make sense to a modern mind. If you want an example of an actual decoding of Wagner, read Barry Millington (Cambridge Opera Journal Vol. 3 No 3 1991). You will see how difficult it is.
Why is it hard? Because Wagner intentionally obfuscated his intentions. Wagner wrote "Such a career as mine must ever cheat the onlooker: he sees in me acts and undertakings he deems to be my own, whereas at bottom they are quite alien to me: who marks the repugnance that often is filling my soul?" Cosmia (wagner's wife) wrote in her diary "He [Wagner] enjoys writing, but feels it will be some time before he writes another text: " I have posed enough riddles," he adds." So Wagner hides his true intent. Who could understand his operas? Here is a couple of more quotes: "After a year's preparation, I shall present my complete work in a series of 4 days: with this I shall make the men of the revolution recognize the meaning of the revolution according to its most noble contents. That Audience will understand me the present cannot." "..the multitude leaves me indifferent...it can't grasp what I am driving at...my only holdfast is the individual in whom I can see that through my art I have preached to his conscience...and made him a fellow-combatant against the good-for-nothing reign of worldly wisdom." So Wagner himself says that his works are not meant to be understood by the masses, but only by a select few, i.e. 'fellow combatants'. He did think he would be able to communicate with the masses though. He thought that there would be an unconscious, uncritical communication with them. Basically, they would not understand but their subconscious would get the message.
Most modern Wagner writers tend to downplay or eliminate nationalism, anti-Semitism, and anti-French in his works. And that's what May does here. He does touch on the most obvious examples, such as Beckmeister in Die Meistersinger, but in a wholly inadequate way. Taking the Beckmeister example, May minimizes the malevolence of Wagner's intent by stating that Beckmiester should be seen in the same light as some of Dickens more racist characters. The problem is Dickens was not a violent anti-Semite, nor did he try to start a movement. I don't know why people have such a resistance to see the intentionally obscure encoded nationalism and racism in the librettos, but they do.
So making sense of Wagner is a complicated riddle solving and painful experience. This book is none of those things and therefore its conclusions and generalizations do not illuminate the works of Wagner. But it makes for easy reading and will fool the reader into thinking he has Wagner figured out.
On the positive side, the two cds provide a nice overview of Wagner's music, and are worth the price of the book, especially if you have no Wagner in your collection.
Summary of Decoding Wagner: An Invitation to His World of Music Drama (includes 2 CDs)
The cultural controversies he helped to create have long since died down, but Richard Wagner still remains a polarizing icon. Just as he dreamed of combining the arts, his influence extends well beyond the field of classical music to theater, literature, painting, and more. Wagner represents a phenomenon which is hard to ignore. His compulsive need to document his thoughts-apart from his art-finds an echo in the enormous body of explanation Wagner has inspired. Yet even with so much written about him, Wagner continues to be a deeply misunderstood figure.This guide aims to unlock the world of Richard Wagner and his works, his monumental achievements, and, ultimately, the great emotional power inherent in his art. This emotional power is double-edged, often serving as a kind of mirror for what each listener brings to it. The book challenges the assumptions and stereotypes of the "Wagnerian" idea of art.
Decoding Wagner presents a straightforward, fresh overview of what Wagner attempted to achieve with his "artwork of the future." Lively discussions of his major works place them in the context of his life and consider the interplay of dramatic and musical elements with philosophical ideas which are so unique to Wagner.
Two accompanying full-length CDs illustrate and trace his growth as a composer. Decoding Wagner appraises the enormously expressive richness that continues to make his art compelling and relevant for contemporary audiences.
In the voluminous Wagner bibliography, Thomas May's book occupies a special place. Concise but remarkably information-packed and accompanied by two CDs of excerpts, it is addressed to those who seek a deeper understanding of Wagner's operas. The controversies--artistic, human and moral--generated by Wagner's innovative ideas and reprehensible behavior frequently obscure the greatness of his achievements. May performs an extraordinary feat: although unflinchingly aware of Wagner's arrogance, self-aggrandizement, duplicity, faithlessness, hedonism, greed, political opportunism, chauvinism, and anti-Semitism, he communicates boundless admiration for the composer and passionate love for his works. Suggesting that the very schism between Wagner's flawed character and idealistic aspirations inspired "monumentally stirring meditations on the contradictory range of human experience," he correlates and reconciles his "monstrous ego" with his sublime genius. The evolution of Wagner's operas, from his early and incomplete attempts to the late, often extensively revised masterpieces, culminated in a lofty artistic vision: the "total artwork" which, combining all the arts, would result in heightened experience and spiritual elevation. Wagner wrote his own texts, considering poetry and music inseparable and himself equally master of both, an assessment not universally shared. May takes the librettos very seriously, following them from their historical or mythological origin to their final form with formidable but unobtrusive erudition. Among his references are the Buddha, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Thomas Mann, and T.S. Eliot, and he must have read everything about Wagner as well as Wagner's own often repellent autobiographical, theoretical, and political writings (which make one wish he had written nothing but music). May's musical analyses are equally riveting and absorbing. He traces the operas' ever-increasing depth, breadth, and grandeur, the growing importance and masterful use of the unifying leitmotif and the "Wagnerian" orchestra, and the often hidden strands that connect them despite their individual uniqueness. Opera lovers spurred by May's book to hear these works performed could not wish for a more knowledgeable, illuminating, and inspiring guide. --Edith Eisler
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