The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy
by Bryan Magee

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Book Reviews of The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy

Book Review: Lucid, clear summary of Wagner's philosophical views
Summary: 5 Stars

As Magee shows, Wagner's thinking should not be too readily dismissed. Wagner was no philosophical dilletante. He was awesomely well-read in the philosophy, philology and linguistics of his day, in addition to his vast reading in literature ancient and "modern", in history, myth, and the history of myth, and much more. And he was an intelligent and sometimes extraordinarily perceptive man, whose erudition was not just for showing off with but of vital importance to his thought and work.

However Wagner believed, wrongly, that his intuition was as sure a guide in the world of ideas as it was in music and drama. So his philosophical writings follow his intuitions, not his reasoning - indeed he seems to avoid reasoning, except in small bursts, out of principle. His writing is therefore irrational and self-contradictory, obscure in the worst German manner: neither original (except accidentally, where he achieves originality by misunderstanding a source, particularly Schopenhauer), nor lucid, nor "true". "True", that is, in the sense of being based on "matters of fact or reason".

So his philosophy is not, despite what Wagner probably thought, of much importance in its own right. It is mainly important because it permeates and influences his major works, which are among the few most endlessly fascinating human creations of any kind. The increasingly Buddhist resignation, withdrawal from the world, of his later works are steeped in Schopenhauerian doctrine, just as the leftist radicalism of the earlier works are steeped in the work of the libertarian democratic-socialist Feuerbach. Magee's book is invaluable in tracing the effect of these and other philosophers on Wagner's work. _Tristan und Isolde_, for example, was indeed written in the white heat of a love affair, but that love was Wagner's love of Schopenhauer, not of Matthilde Wesendonck.

Wagner's philosophical ideas are important to his work in a way that seems true of no other composer. Mozart's use of Masonic symbols in _Zauberflöte_ and elsewhere (eg his "three" chords, three maidens, three boys, etc) has never seemed more than skindeep, almost flippant, references, while in Wagner the philosophical ideas cut deep both with the drama and the characters. Magee shows how the many complex layers and depths of works like the _Ring_, Tristan_, _Parsifal_, and even the earlier Romantic operas like _Lohengrin_ and _Tannhäuser_, can never be fully explored without an understanding of Wagner's key ideas: the futility and evil of power-seeking and conquest, the struggle of the artist to escape from, and yet redeem, the constricting culture in which they operate, the desirability of losing the world by annihilating one's one ego-consciousness, the value of the irrational and of dream, and much else.

There is another, hopefully temporary, reason why it is worth knowing what Wagner's philosophical ideas actually were. Recently there has been a small avalanche of books presenting Wagner as a proto-Nazi, even a serious influence on Hitler, and one who put proto-Nazi ideas into his dramas. Books by Rose, Weiner, Köhler, Zelinsky, Millington and others creak and twang with the sound of long bows stretched past the breaking point, as they try to fit Wagner's operas and his prose works into a Nazi frame.

And "frame" is the word. As Magee shows, Wagner was a radical democrat when young (democracy being a radical idea at that time, in Europe), who drifted as far right as supporting constitutional monarchy, particularly when constitutional monarchs were writing his cheques. And who, after his disillusionment with Bismarckian Germany, lost interest in politics altogether. There were slim pickings for the Nazis, except for the antisemitism that Wagner shared with Hitler's other favourites, particularly Bruckner, also Beethoven, Bach and Brahms and many others, whose antisemitism is as ignored as Wagner's is stressed.

Magee adds an appendix on Wagner's antisemitism, putting it back in context as a disgraceful form of bigotry, just like the ignorant bigotry of today's taxi-driver who sounds off about Vietnamese, or Afghan, or African immigrants. Wagner, like many a talk radio jock, populist politician and barroom loudmouth of our own day, called for Jews to lose their separate culture and identity and assimilate into German culture. This is contemptibly racist, but the diametric opposite of the Nazi program of racial segregation followed by genocide. I might add, as Magee does not, that Wagner was an ardent abolitionist, passionately opposing slavery in the US. On some racial issues Wagner was more progressive and less racist than many Europeans and Americans of his day. But we seldom hear about this from those who prefer a simple caricature to a complicated human being.

And of course the Nazis banned _Parsifal_ for its pacifist content, as well as banning complete cycles of the _Ring_, which charts Wotan's moral degradation and downfall in pointing out its message of the futility of power and conquest. Magee notes that Wagner performances actually became much less frequent under the Nazis than before the takeover. The soundtrack of the Third Reich was not Wagner, as today's filmmakers think; in reality the opera houses played Auber, Lortzing and Lehar (Hitler never attended a Wagner opera after 1942). When classical music was played at the rallies, it was Bruckner and Liszt as much as, or more than, Wagner, but mainly the music played was "cholly Cherman" brass band music. Magee makes these points clearly and elegantly.

My main criticism of the book is that Magee clearly loves Schopenhauer almost as much as does Wagner. As a result I think he grossly underestimates the influence of the left-wing Feuerbach not only on the early works but on the later works: even _Parsifal_ ends with a political revolution, the peaceful overthrow of a hereditary monarchy. And the _Ring_ ends with us, the vassals and working women, alive after the fire and flood, facing the future with all heroes and gods swept away. I believe there is at least as much Feuerbach and Schopenhauer in the mature operas, and Magee tends to skimp on the continued radicalism of Wagner's Feuerbachian leanings and borrowings.

But this is a minor criticism of a splendid book. It is an invaluable guide to Wagner's philosophy, as well as being a remarkably clear exposition of Schopenhauer's philosophy. Highly recommended.

Cheers!

Laon

Summary of The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy

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