Wagner and the French Muse

Wagner and the French Muse

Author: Paul Du Quenoy

Publisher: Academica Press,LLC

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781930901803

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This research monograph studies and reinterprets the works and ideas of Richard Wagner that have had such a profound influence on the artistic and intellectual life of France. His Romanticism influenced the French symbolists so greatly that they named their major journal La Revue Wagnerians. His musical themes, dramatic structures and philosophical tropes recurred in the works of almost every major French composer before World war One. Massenet was so devoted that he earned the sobriquet "Madamoiselle Wagner". Proust employed Wagnerian concepts and allusions in his modernist fiction and publicly defended Wagner's artistic achievements against the general assault on German kultur during the 1914-1918 war. Wagner remained important during the interwar years as well as the occupation 1940-1944 and after the Liberation. Du Quenoy interprets the phenomenon of France's infatuation with Wagner and discusses why Wagner's influence has been misunderstood and understudied. The author points to the effects of competition, war and political recrimination on the French psyche. In the face of such bitter struggle who would expect a German cultural icon to have played such an important and consistent role in French life? The author points to the strength and uniqueness of Wagner's creativity and his spiritual universalism as the answer. The author also discusses Wagnerism and Wagnerites in France's literary, musical and political culture.


Book Synopsis Wagner and the French Muse by : Paul Du Quenoy

Download or read book Wagner and the French Muse written by Paul Du Quenoy and published by Academica Press,LLC. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research monograph studies and reinterprets the works and ideas of Richard Wagner that have had such a profound influence on the artistic and intellectual life of France. His Romanticism influenced the French symbolists so greatly that they named their major journal La Revue Wagnerians. His musical themes, dramatic structures and philosophical tropes recurred in the works of almost every major French composer before World war One. Massenet was so devoted that he earned the sobriquet "Madamoiselle Wagner". Proust employed Wagnerian concepts and allusions in his modernist fiction and publicly defended Wagner's artistic achievements against the general assault on German kultur during the 1914-1918 war. Wagner remained important during the interwar years as well as the occupation 1940-1944 and after the Liberation. Du Quenoy interprets the phenomenon of France's infatuation with Wagner and discusses why Wagner's influence has been misunderstood and understudied. The author points to the effects of competition, war and political recrimination on the French psyche. In the face of such bitter struggle who would expect a German cultural icon to have played such an important and consistent role in French life? The author points to the strength and uniqueness of Wagner's creativity and his spiritual universalism as the answer. The author also discusses Wagnerism and Wagnerites in France's literary, musical and political culture.

Wagner Writes from Paris

Wagner Writes from Paris

Author: Richard Wagner

Publisher:

Published: 1973

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13:

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"At the age of twenty-six Richard Wagner gave up his as yet undistinguished musical career in Germany and traveled to Paris, then the musical center of Europe, in order to make his fortune with a grand opera, Rienzi. It was a mad undertaking. The operatic Paris of the early 1840's was a rat race in which an impecunious, unknown German stood no chance. Wagner barely managed to survive by means of journalism and musical hackwork. But he did composer his first masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman. And from the mercenary, sensation-loving French capital, Wagner looked back to his homeland, the country of Mozart and Beethoven, as the inspiration of the ideals of artistic depth and purity which were to dominate his later life. The writings presented in this book present Wagner in a new and unexpected light. They strikingly convey what he thought, felt, and suffered as a young man, before bitterness and frustration took their toll. In later years Wagner's pen was employed mainly to project himself upon a recalcitrant world as the creator of a new and greater art. Here, his style is unpretentious, his mind still open, his voice still gay. These early writings convey the fascination of Wagner's personality--an impassioned idealist, a penetrating thinker, a shrewd observer, warmhearted, courageous, and brimming over with high spirits, poetry, and humor. They also vividly re-create the life of Paris in the pleasure-loving age that followed Napoleon and gave a dramatic insight into the revolutionary ideas which Wagner was triumphantly to vindicate in his later music. This selection of the best pieces which Wagner wrote for French and German periodicals, newly translated and edited by two of the leading Wagner specialists in England today, rescues some superb writing from undeserved neglect. And it provides a self-revealing and witty portrait of a great composer before he became famous." --Jacket.


Book Synopsis Wagner Writes from Paris by : Richard Wagner

Download or read book Wagner Writes from Paris written by Richard Wagner and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "At the age of twenty-six Richard Wagner gave up his as yet undistinguished musical career in Germany and traveled to Paris, then the musical center of Europe, in order to make his fortune with a grand opera, Rienzi. It was a mad undertaking. The operatic Paris of the early 1840's was a rat race in which an impecunious, unknown German stood no chance. Wagner barely managed to survive by means of journalism and musical hackwork. But he did composer his first masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman. And from the mercenary, sensation-loving French capital, Wagner looked back to his homeland, the country of Mozart and Beethoven, as the inspiration of the ideals of artistic depth and purity which were to dominate his later life. The writings presented in this book present Wagner in a new and unexpected light. They strikingly convey what he thought, felt, and suffered as a young man, before bitterness and frustration took their toll. In later years Wagner's pen was employed mainly to project himself upon a recalcitrant world as the creator of a new and greater art. Here, his style is unpretentious, his mind still open, his voice still gay. These early writings convey the fascination of Wagner's personality--an impassioned idealist, a penetrating thinker, a shrewd observer, warmhearted, courageous, and brimming over with high spirits, poetry, and humor. They also vividly re-create the life of Paris in the pleasure-loving age that followed Napoleon and gave a dramatic insight into the revolutionary ideas which Wagner was triumphantly to vindicate in his later music. This selection of the best pieces which Wagner wrote for French and German periodicals, newly translated and edited by two of the leading Wagner specialists in England today, rescues some superb writing from undeserved neglect. And it provides a self-revealing and witty portrait of a great composer before he became famous." --Jacket.

Claiming Wagner for France

Claiming Wagner for France

Author: Rachel Orzech

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1580469701

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"This book examines the shifting attitudes toward Wagner reflected in the Parisian press during the period of the Third Reich. Paradoxically, during one of the darkest periods of French history, as the German threat grew more tangible and then manifested in the Nazi occupation of France, Parisians chose to see in Wagner a universality that transcended his Germanness. As Franco-German diplomatic relations gradually worsened in the 1930s, Wagner became an increasingly integral part of French musical culture. Parisians were unwilling to surrender Wagner to German exclusivist claims. In previous decades the French had used Wagner to symbolize a diverse array of political arguments and positions, from right-wing nationalism to left-wing humanism and egalitarianism, In the 1930s, however, the Parisian press depicted him as a universalist. Although Wagner had stood in for German nationalism and chauvinism in recent periods of Franco-German conflict, in the 1930s Parisians refused this notion and attempted to reclaim his role in their own national history and imagination. Even once war was declared in 1939 and a ban on the performance of Wagner's music was implemented, commentators insisted that it was simply a temporary measure designed to avoid public disturbance. Simultaneously, they maintained that 'music has no borders,' and that 'it is childish to mix art and politics.' The Wagner discourses that emerged from the 1930s Parisian press paved the way for the dominant Wagner discourse in the German-controlled Occupation press: Collaboration through Wagner. By a great irony of history, the concept of Wagner the universalist that had been used to resist the Nazis in the 1930s was transformed into the infamous collaborationist rhetoric promoted by the Vichy government between 1940 and 1944"--


Book Synopsis Claiming Wagner for France by : Rachel Orzech

Download or read book Claiming Wagner for France written by Rachel Orzech and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2022 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book examines the shifting attitudes toward Wagner reflected in the Parisian press during the period of the Third Reich. Paradoxically, during one of the darkest periods of French history, as the German threat grew more tangible and then manifested in the Nazi occupation of France, Parisians chose to see in Wagner a universality that transcended his Germanness. As Franco-German diplomatic relations gradually worsened in the 1930s, Wagner became an increasingly integral part of French musical culture. Parisians were unwilling to surrender Wagner to German exclusivist claims. In previous decades the French had used Wagner to symbolize a diverse array of political arguments and positions, from right-wing nationalism to left-wing humanism and egalitarianism, In the 1930s, however, the Parisian press depicted him as a universalist. Although Wagner had stood in for German nationalism and chauvinism in recent periods of Franco-German conflict, in the 1930s Parisians refused this notion and attempted to reclaim his role in their own national history and imagination. Even once war was declared in 1939 and a ban on the performance of Wagner's music was implemented, commentators insisted that it was simply a temporary measure designed to avoid public disturbance. Simultaneously, they maintained that 'music has no borders,' and that 'it is childish to mix art and politics.' The Wagner discourses that emerged from the 1930s Parisian press paved the way for the dominant Wagner discourse in the German-controlled Occupation press: Collaboration through Wagner. By a great irony of history, the concept of Wagner the universalist that had been used to resist the Nazis in the 1930s was transformed into the infamous collaborationist rhetoric promoted by the Vichy government between 1940 and 1944"--

Religious Experience in the Work of Richard Wagner

Religious Experience in the Work of Richard Wagner

Author: Marcel Hebert

Publisher: CUA Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0813227410

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Philosopher Marcel Hébert developed his Religious Experience in the Work of Richard Wagner (1895) from this background of sustained popular interest in Wagner, an interest that had intensified with the return of his operas to the Paris stage. Newspaper debates about the impact of Wagner's ideas on French society often stressed the links between Wagner and religion. These debates inspired works like Hébert's, intended to explain the complex myth and allegory in Wagner's work and to elucidate it for a new generation of French spectators.


Book Synopsis Religious Experience in the Work of Richard Wagner by : Marcel Hebert

Download or read book Religious Experience in the Work of Richard Wagner written by Marcel Hebert and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosopher Marcel Hébert developed his Religious Experience in the Work of Richard Wagner (1895) from this background of sustained popular interest in Wagner, an interest that had intensified with the return of his operas to the Paris stage. Newspaper debates about the impact of Wagner's ideas on French society often stressed the links between Wagner and religion. These debates inspired works like Hébert's, intended to explain the complex myth and allegory in Wagner's work and to elucidate it for a new generation of French spectators.

Richard Wagner in Paris

Richard Wagner in Paris

Author: Jeremy Coleman

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781783274420

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How did Wagner's experiences in Paris influence his works and social character? And how does his sometime desire for recognition by the French cultural establishment square with his German national identity and with the related idea of a universally valid art? Friedrich Nietzsche more than once claimed that Wagner's only true home was in Paris. This book is the first major study to trace Wagner's relationship with Paris from his first sojourn there (1839-1842) to the Paris Tannhäuser (1861). How did Wagner's experiences in Paris influence his works and social character? How does his sometime desire for recognition by the French cultural establishment square with his German national identity and with the related idea of a universally valid art? This book presents Wagner's perennial ambition of an international operatic success in the "capital city of the nineteenth century" and the paradoxical consequences of that ambition upon its failure. Through an examination of previously neglected source materials, the book engages with ideas in the so-called "Wagner debate" as an ongoing philosophical project that tries to come to terms with the composer's Germanness. The book is in three main parts arranged broadly in chronological sequence. The first considers Wagner's earliest years in Paris, focusing on his own French-language drafts of Das Liebesverbot and Der fliegende Holländer. The second part explores his stance towards Paris "at a distance" following his return to Saxony and subsequent political exile. Arriving at Wagner's most often discussed "Paris period" (1859-61), the third part interrogates the concert performances under the composer's direction at the Théâtre-Italien and revisionist aspects of their reception. JEREMY COLEMAN is Lecturer in Music in the School of Performing Arts, Universityof Malta.


Book Synopsis Richard Wagner in Paris by : Jeremy Coleman

Download or read book Richard Wagner in Paris written by Jeremy Coleman and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did Wagner's experiences in Paris influence his works and social character? And how does his sometime desire for recognition by the French cultural establishment square with his German national identity and with the related idea of a universally valid art? Friedrich Nietzsche more than once claimed that Wagner's only true home was in Paris. This book is the first major study to trace Wagner's relationship with Paris from his first sojourn there (1839-1842) to the Paris Tannhäuser (1861). How did Wagner's experiences in Paris influence his works and social character? How does his sometime desire for recognition by the French cultural establishment square with his German national identity and with the related idea of a universally valid art? This book presents Wagner's perennial ambition of an international operatic success in the "capital city of the nineteenth century" and the paradoxical consequences of that ambition upon its failure. Through an examination of previously neglected source materials, the book engages with ideas in the so-called "Wagner debate" as an ongoing philosophical project that tries to come to terms with the composer's Germanness. The book is in three main parts arranged broadly in chronological sequence. The first considers Wagner's earliest years in Paris, focusing on his own French-language drafts of Das Liebesverbot and Der fliegende Holländer. The second part explores his stance towards Paris "at a distance" following his return to Saxony and subsequent political exile. Arriving at Wagner's most often discussed "Paris period" (1859-61), the third part interrogates the concert performances under the composer's direction at the Théâtre-Italien and revisionist aspects of their reception. JEREMY COLEMAN is Lecturer in Music in the School of Performing Arts, Universityof Malta.

Richard Wagner and the Art of the Avant-Garde, 1860-1910

Richard Wagner and the Art of the Avant-Garde, 1860-1910

Author: Donald A. Rosenthal

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023-08-14

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1538180006

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This book explores the responses of leading European avant-garde painters to the operas of Richard Wagner, the most influential composer of the late nineteenth century. The term avant-garde represents a twenty-first century evaluation of certain nineteenth-century artists working in a variety of advanced styles, rather than a phrase the artists applied to themselves. Chapters are on individual artists or groups, rather than an attempt to survey all of nineteenth-century Wagnerian visual art. They deal with paintings and drawings inspired by Wagner and his operas, not with the composer’s larger cultural influence through his writings and personal example. Thus artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who knew of Wagner’s music and writings but did not depict scenes from his operas, are not discussed in detail. The emphasis is on the diverse effects Wagner had on the works of leading avant-garde artists, varying according to their personalities and stylistic interests. The period beginning in the 1880s, often associated with post-Impressionism, was characterized by a movement away from realist subject matter to more personal or imaginary themes, a general intellectual trend of the fin-de-siècle. Wagner’s remote quasi-historical or mythological subjects fit well with this escapist tendency in the art and culture of the time, in part a return to the Romantic sensibility that was dominant in Wagner’s youth. Wagner’s influence peaked in the period between his death in 1883 and 1900, though a few long-lived artists continued their Wagnerian explorations from this era well into the early twentieth century. There is no “Wagner style” in art, yet Wagner’s pervasive influence is immediately evident in these works. Artists whose works are discussed include Eugène Delacroix, Henri Fantin-Latour, Odilon Redon, Max Klinger, James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, John Singer Sargent and Aubrey Beardsley, among others. The book features 60 art reproductions, half of them in color.


Book Synopsis Richard Wagner and the Art of the Avant-Garde, 1860-1910 by : Donald A. Rosenthal

Download or read book Richard Wagner and the Art of the Avant-Garde, 1860-1910 written by Donald A. Rosenthal and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-08-14 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the responses of leading European avant-garde painters to the operas of Richard Wagner, the most influential composer of the late nineteenth century. The term avant-garde represents a twenty-first century evaluation of certain nineteenth-century artists working in a variety of advanced styles, rather than a phrase the artists applied to themselves. Chapters are on individual artists or groups, rather than an attempt to survey all of nineteenth-century Wagnerian visual art. They deal with paintings and drawings inspired by Wagner and his operas, not with the composer’s larger cultural influence through his writings and personal example. Thus artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who knew of Wagner’s music and writings but did not depict scenes from his operas, are not discussed in detail. The emphasis is on the diverse effects Wagner had on the works of leading avant-garde artists, varying according to their personalities and stylistic interests. The period beginning in the 1880s, often associated with post-Impressionism, was characterized by a movement away from realist subject matter to more personal or imaginary themes, a general intellectual trend of the fin-de-siècle. Wagner’s remote quasi-historical or mythological subjects fit well with this escapist tendency in the art and culture of the time, in part a return to the Romantic sensibility that was dominant in Wagner’s youth. Wagner’s influence peaked in the period between his death in 1883 and 1900, though a few long-lived artists continued their Wagnerian explorations from this era well into the early twentieth century. There is no “Wagner style” in art, yet Wagner’s pervasive influence is immediately evident in these works. Artists whose works are discussed include Eugène Delacroix, Henri Fantin-Latour, Odilon Redon, Max Klinger, James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, John Singer Sargent and Aubrey Beardsley, among others. The book features 60 art reproductions, half of them in color.

Historical Interplay in French Music and Culture, 1860–1960

Historical Interplay in French Music and Culture, 1860–1960

Author: Deborah Mawer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-22

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1317121805

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This edited volume of case studies presents a selective history of French music and culture, but one with a dynamic difference. Eschewing a traditional chronological account, the book explores the nature of relationships between one main period, broadly the 'long' modernist era between 1860–1960, and its own historical ‘others’, referencing topics from the Romantic, classical, baroque, renaissance and medieval periods. It probes the emergent interplay, intertextualities and scope for reinterpretation across time and place. Notions of cultural meaning are paramount, especially those pertaining to French identity, national and individual. While founded on historical musicology, the approach benefits from interdisciplinary association with philosophy, political history, literature, fine art, film studies and criticism. Attention is paid to French composers’ celebrations and remakings of their predecessors. Editions of and writings about earlier music are examined, together with the cultural reception of performances of past repertoire. Organized into two parts, each of the eleven chapters characterizes a specific cultural network or temporal interplay, which may result in synthesis, disjunction, or historical misreading. The interwar years and those surrounding the Second World War prove particularly rich sources of enquiry. This volume aims to attract a wide readership of musicologists and musicians, as well as cultural historians, other humanities scholars and concert-goers.


Book Synopsis Historical Interplay in French Music and Culture, 1860–1960 by : Deborah Mawer

Download or read book Historical Interplay in French Music and Culture, 1860–1960 written by Deborah Mawer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume of case studies presents a selective history of French music and culture, but one with a dynamic difference. Eschewing a traditional chronological account, the book explores the nature of relationships between one main period, broadly the 'long' modernist era between 1860–1960, and its own historical ‘others’, referencing topics from the Romantic, classical, baroque, renaissance and medieval periods. It probes the emergent interplay, intertextualities and scope for reinterpretation across time and place. Notions of cultural meaning are paramount, especially those pertaining to French identity, national and individual. While founded on historical musicology, the approach benefits from interdisciplinary association with philosophy, political history, literature, fine art, film studies and criticism. Attention is paid to French composers’ celebrations and remakings of their predecessors. Editions of and writings about earlier music are examined, together with the cultural reception of performances of past repertoire. Organized into two parts, each of the eleven chapters characterizes a specific cultural network or temporal interplay, which may result in synthesis, disjunction, or historical misreading. The interwar years and those surrounding the Second World War prove particularly rich sources of enquiry. This volume aims to attract a wide readership of musicologists and musicians, as well as cultural historians, other humanities scholars and concert-goers.

Wagner at Home

Wagner at Home

Author: Judith Gautier

Publisher:

Published: 2001-01-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 9780722255728

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1911. With nine illustrations. French author and writer on music, daughter of the writer Theophile Gautier. Judith was an enthusiast for Wagner's work from an early age. Gautier first met Wagner in 1869 and though she was involved with another man, Wagner began pursuing her. Their relationship may or may not have been consummated, but they continued to conduct a clandestine and intimate correspondence until 1878. Wagner claimed he needed the intoxication of at least her spiritual presence, as well as the silks, satins and exotic perfumes she obtained for him in Paris, in order to compose Parsifal. Her intellectual contribution to Wagner's work consisted of a translation of Parsifal into French, various writings on Wagnerian topics, and a three-volume memoir of the composer.


Book Synopsis Wagner at Home by : Judith Gautier

Download or read book Wagner at Home written by Judith Gautier and published by . This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1911. With nine illustrations. French author and writer on music, daughter of the writer Theophile Gautier. Judith was an enthusiast for Wagner's work from an early age. Gautier first met Wagner in 1869 and though she was involved with another man, Wagner began pursuing her. Their relationship may or may not have been consummated, but they continued to conduct a clandestine and intimate correspondence until 1878. Wagner claimed he needed the intoxication of at least her spiritual presence, as well as the silks, satins and exotic perfumes she obtained for him in Paris, in order to compose Parsifal. Her intellectual contribution to Wagner's work consisted of a translation of Parsifal into French, various writings on Wagnerian topics, and a three-volume memoir of the composer.

Wagner as I Knew Him

Wagner as I Knew Him

Author: Ferdinand Praeger

Publisher: London ; New York : Longmans, Green

Published: 1892

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Wagner as I Knew Him by : Ferdinand Praeger

Download or read book Wagner as I Knew Him written by Ferdinand Praeger and published by London ; New York : Longmans, Green. This book was released on 1892 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Musica Ficta

Musica Ficta

Author: Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780804723855

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This is a pioneering attempt to rearticulate the relationship between music and the problem of mimesis, of presentation and re-presentation. Four "scenes" compose this book, all four of them responses to Wagner: two by French poets (Baudelaire and Mallarme), two by German philosophers (Heidegger and Adorno). It is difficult today to realize how profoundly Wagner affected the cultural and ideological sensibilities of the nineteenth century. Wagnerism rapidly spread throughout Europe, partly because of Wagner's propagandizing talent and the zeal of his adherents. But the main reason for his ascendance was the sudden appearance of what the century had desperately tried to produce since the beginnings of Romanticism - a work of art on the scale of great Greek and Christian art. Finally, here it was, the secret of what Hegel called the "religion of art" rediscovered. The first two scenes of the book, contemporary with the European triumph of Wagnerism, inscribe themselves in a historical sequence that is punctuated by the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, in which the universal unbridling of nations and classes is prefigured. The second two register certain effects of Wagnerism that are not just ideological but make themselves felt in a new political configuration that solidifies a confusion between the "national" and the "social." Art and politics are both at play here, but as neither a politics of art nor, even less, an art of politics. Instead, what is at stake, more gravely, is the aestheticization, the figuration, of the political. The four scenes frame and clarify the "true scene" that sanctioned Nietzsche's rupture with Wagner, the major philosophical event that Heidegger, in1938, said it was imperative to understand as a turning point in Western history.


Book Synopsis Musica Ficta by : Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe

Download or read book Musica Ficta written by Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a pioneering attempt to rearticulate the relationship between music and the problem of mimesis, of presentation and re-presentation. Four "scenes" compose this book, all four of them responses to Wagner: two by French poets (Baudelaire and Mallarme), two by German philosophers (Heidegger and Adorno). It is difficult today to realize how profoundly Wagner affected the cultural and ideological sensibilities of the nineteenth century. Wagnerism rapidly spread throughout Europe, partly because of Wagner's propagandizing talent and the zeal of his adherents. But the main reason for his ascendance was the sudden appearance of what the century had desperately tried to produce since the beginnings of Romanticism - a work of art on the scale of great Greek and Christian art. Finally, here it was, the secret of what Hegel called the "religion of art" rediscovered. The first two scenes of the book, contemporary with the European triumph of Wagnerism, inscribe themselves in a historical sequence that is punctuated by the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, in which the universal unbridling of nations and classes is prefigured. The second two register certain effects of Wagnerism that are not just ideological but make themselves felt in a new political configuration that solidifies a confusion between the "national" and the "social." Art and politics are both at play here, but as neither a politics of art nor, even less, an art of politics. Instead, what is at stake, more gravely, is the aestheticization, the figuration, of the political. The four scenes frame and clarify the "true scene" that sanctioned Nietzsche's rupture with Wagner, the major philosophical event that Heidegger, in1938, said it was imperative to understand as a turning point in Western history.