Signs of the times: "Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music" by Alex Ross – Santa Fe New Mexican
Posted: November 24, 2020 at 7:55 am
Farrar Straus Giroux, 769 pages, $40
Alex Ross capacious and enthralling new study, Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music, is perfectly timed. Richard Wagners music, particularly that for his epic, doom-suffused opera, The Ring of the Nibelung, could easily supply our brutalist era with its big-screen soundtrack, starting with the exhilarating Ride of the Valkyries and closing with the orchestral Sturm und Drang of its over-the-top finale, in which celestial Valhalla goes up in flames, the Rhine River overflows its banks, and the age of gods and heroes reaches its apocalyptic end.
Without serious competition, Wagner (1813-1883) is easily the most divisive of all the great composers. To some listeners, his music sounds bombastic, long-winded, and boring 90 percent of the time and yet redeemed by the sheer wonder and transcendent beauty of that remaining 10 percent. Other listeners worship, if only metaphorically, at Bayreuth, Germany long the home of an annual Wagner festival like so many Parsifals genuflecting before the Holy Grail. Yet still other opera devotees, aware of Wagners anti-Semitism, refuse to listen to his music at all. It doesnt help either that the so-called Sorcerer of Bayreuth was the favorite composer of the Third Reichs unspeakable Fhrer.
While I am hardly The Perfect Wagnerite as Bernard Shaw titled his monograph interpreting the Ring as a parable of class struggle I have seen two different stagings of The Flying Dutchman, own CDs of the major operas, can never quite remember whether Here Comes the Bride rings forth in Lohengrin or Tannhauser (its Lohengrin), and find that even now my pulse races and my palms break out in a sweat whenever I hear the Love Duet or the Liebestod that ecstatic vision of love after death from Tristan und Isolde.
I first discovered Wagner, indeed discovered opera, through Tristan. I still remember feeling slack-jawed with amazement as Ludwig Suthaus and the electrifying Kirsten Flagstad, in a celebrated performance directed by Wilhelm Furtwangler, finally surrender to their aching love for each other and almost literally sing their hearts out, their voices intertwining, sobbing, soaring as the two are carried away by wave upon wave of overpowering desire, their rapturous transports finally climaxing in soul-shattering cries of release, while the full orchestra blankets the ill-fated lovers with crescendos of voluptuous sound. In that little record-listening booth at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, I quickly understood why Victorian mothers refused to allow their daughters to hear such music. This wasnt just a 40-minute duet, it was aural sex.
Alex Ross first book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (2007) garnered widespread praise. His second, Listen to This (2010), assembled columns from The New Yorker magazine, where he is music critic. Ross tells us that he began work on Wagnerism in 2008, adding that the extensive research for this cultural history of art and politics in the shadow of music became the major educational experience of his life.
In Wagnerism, the reader will duly find a potted biography of the composer and, scattered throughout, synopses of his operas, but mainly this is a far-ranging survey of how various people and institutions responded to Wagners music and used it for purposes of their own. In these 700-plus pages you will learn what Wagner meant to Nietzsche and Baudelaire, to the modernists James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, and Thomas Mann, to 19th-century occultists, symbolist painters, pioneering feminists, and gay poets, to revolutionary Russians and Nazi apologists, and even to the visionaries behind Apocalypse Now and Star Wars.
Wagners exceptionally lively afterlife derives not only from, in Willa Cathers phrase, his ever-
darkening, ever-brightening music, but also from his use of multivalent symbolism, especially in the Ring cycles Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung. In 2020, for instance, these music dramas seem to anticipate the political turmoil of recent times, as they track the thefts and shady deals that lie behind excessive wealth, the ethical impairment resulting from the hunger for power, the heartless exploitation of an underclass, the flouting of sexual prohibitions, and, more than anything else, repeated betrayals of trust.
Ross points out that the composer himself appears to have invented that key object of modern fantasy, the accursed ring of unimaginable power. Whats more, Wagners libretto is a work of literature, as witnessed in a majestic bilingual edition available this fall from the Folio Society.
Throughout his book, Ross draws on the research of numerous scholars and specialists (always acknowledged) and quotes well from his older sources. John Ruskin described the comic opera Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg as sapless, soulless, beginningless, endless, topless, bottomless. To knit together the elements of In Search of Lost Time, Proust employed Wagner-style leitmotifs, such as a haunting musical phrase by his imaginary composer Vinteuil. Speaking of Siegfried, Ross himself wittily concludes, that stupidity is his tragic flaw. He calls Parsifal a sacred opera with a spooky heart, links its eerie Mass-like ritualism to the esoteric ceremonies of Theosophists and Rosicrucians and notes that Philip K. Dick responded profoundly to its religious syncretism. A chapter on early Black Wagnerians includes that ardent Germanophile, W.E.B. Du Bois.
In Wagners operas, sums up Ross, we see the highest and the lowest impulses of humanity entangled. In Wagnerism, however, those impulses aesthetic, sexual, philosophical, and political are deftly teased out, then enticingly presented for the general reader. The result is a superb example of cultural history and, given its themes, a work surprisingly relevant to this plague-ridden, watershed year.
Continued here:
Signs of the times: "Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music" by Alex Ross - Santa Fe New Mexican
- Nice walks in Welwyn Garden City and Wheathampstead - Welwyn Hatfield Times - February 17th, 2021
- Irish unity will take place within a generation historian Max Hastings - The Irish Times - February 17th, 2021
- Viola Davis says she had to make her Blackness disappear as a student at Julliard - The News International - February 17th, 2021
- Press Review: Climate Change by Bill Gates and the Anti-Q Lobby - News - haveeruonline - February 17th, 2021
- Viola Davis: Dark-Skinned Black Women Do Not Have The Same Freedom As White Actresses - SheThePeople - February 17th, 2021
- Ireland Reads campaign leads up to national day to celebrate reading on 25 February - TheMayor.EU - February 17th, 2021
- Princestan is many pages of revelations: Jairam Ramesh - The Siasat Daily - February 17th, 2021
- Love is in the air and on the screen for Valentine's Day - Monadnock Ledger Transcript - February 17th, 2021
- George Bernard Shaw Was so Enamored with Socialism He Advocated Genocide to Advance It | Tyler Curtis - Foundation for Economic - February 17th, 2021
- Dublin pubs: Lego artist recreates the citys iconic boozers with tiny bricks - Dublin Live - February 10th, 2021
- On this day: February 9 - Metro Newspaper UK - February 10th, 2021
- Allyson Pollock: Testing, testing...for SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic people - The BMJ - The BMJ - February 10th, 2021
- Artist Spotlight: Bored at My Grandmas House - Our Culture - Our Culture Mag - February 10th, 2021
- The life and greatest quotes of George Bernard Shaw, Nobel Prize and Oscar winner - IrishCentral - February 10th, 2021
- Saint Joan: Speaking Truth to Power | Music | yesweekly.com - Yes! Weekly - February 9th, 2021
- Dover Doins: Heroes all around in our community - Foster's Daily Democrat - February 9th, 2021
- To er is human Frank McNally on the scourge of rhotic imperialism - The Irish Times - February 9th, 2021
- Fabulous Online And IRL Events This Week: Feb. 8 - 11 - LAist - February 9th, 2021
- Thinking Anew A universal and timeless significance - The Irish Times - February 9th, 2021
- AMERICAN THEATRE | The Sardonic, Curious, Unyielding John Heilpern - American Theatre - February 9th, 2021
- Dennis Marek: I wish I had thought of that - Kankakee Daily Journal - February 9th, 2021
- Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better - The Dubrovnik Times - February 9th, 2021
- Theater groups present plays virtually to stay connected to audiences - Uniontown Herald Standard - December 28th, 2020
- Politicians and statesmen . . . and their reading habits - The Financial Express - December 28th, 2020
- My Bond girl should have turned down sex with 007, says Gemma Arterton - The Sun - December 28th, 2020
- Patty Hearst's Daughters Now: Where Are Lydia and Gillian Hearst Today? Update - The Cinemaholic - December 28th, 2020
- 6 new hotels to seek out in the UK and Ireland in 2021 - NewsChain - December 28th, 2020
- Muhammad (pbuh), the Best of Mankind - Kashmir Reader - December 28th, 2020
- Patty Hearst Now: Where is She Today? Is She in Jail? Update - The Cinemaholic - December 28th, 2020
- The cosmic explorations of Elon Musk, David Bowie and Blind Willie Johnson - Colorado Springs Independent - December 3rd, 2020
- The French law protecting those who speak funny is a real crime - Telegraph.co.uk - December 3rd, 2020
- Theater groups present plays virtually to stay connected to audiences - Observer-Reporter - December 3rd, 2020
- Mural inspired by Toy Show's Adam is a gesture of hope - RTE.ie - December 3rd, 2020
- Christopher Plummer Films and Interviews Coming To Stratfest@Home - Broadway World - December 3rd, 2020
- Marion Davies was as big as Valentino. Then she had a scandalous affair - The Irish Times - December 3rd, 2020
- J.C. Bose Father of Radio Science who was forgotten by West due to his aversion to patents - ThePrint - December 3rd, 2020
- Op-Ed: Rules For Revolutionaries: Understanding The Transformative Events That Are Reshaping America - The Published Reporter - December 3rd, 2020
- The Return of Nature and Marx's Ecology - Monthly Review - December 3rd, 2020
- Letter to the Editor: What used to be the party of Lincoln - Daily Bulldog - November 24th, 2020
- Letter to the Editor: First socialism, then communism - North Platte Telegraph - November 24th, 2020
- Is Joe Biden the new RFK? - The Philadelphia Citizen - November 24th, 2020
- The vaccines are on their way. Our next task? Persuade people to take them - Evening Standard - November 24th, 2020
- Village Playhouse Has Run Planned Through June, 2021 - Shepherd Express - November 24th, 2020
- On this day: November 18 - Metro Newspaper UK - November 24th, 2020
- It happened today - this day in history - November 18 - Yellow Advertiser - November 24th, 2020
- GO NZ: New Zealand's best hot springs, geysers and geothermal attractions - New Zealand Herald - November 24th, 2020
- We dont have it right: Bay Area sports teams struggle to diversify leadership - San Francisco Chronicle - November 24th, 2020
- Renewable Energy Technologies Are Impacting the Oil and Gas Future - Energy Voice - November 11th, 2020
- Inside One Madmans Wild Plan to Conquer Everest - InsideHook - November 11th, 2020
- Are Hotels Only to Stay or Does it Have a Story to Reveal? - Love Belfast - November 11th, 2020
- Chelsea: The criticism of Kai Havertz is premature and unwarranted - The Pride of London - November 11th, 2020
- The kidnapping and brainwashing of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst - 9Honey - November 11th, 2020
- Life Without Art In A Pandemic - New Haven Independent - October 9th, 2020
- The Skelligs: the Islands of wonder, legend and lore - Irish Examiner - October 9th, 2020
- Students resurrect old uniforms to mark schools 175th anniversary - The Irish Times - October 9th, 2020
- Northern Light Theatre has something special to celebrate - St. Albert TODAY - October 9th, 2020
- Kirby: What they say, what they mean and what can you do? - The Augusta Chronicle - October 9th, 2020
- Britains mixed-race population blurs the lines of identity politics - The Economist - October 9th, 2020
- In the Mendelssohn Octet, the pure sound of youth - Los Angeles Times - October 9th, 2020
- Naval Service Will be Required to Deal with Tensions if Brexit Talks fail to Broker Deal On Fishing Rights - Afloat - October 9th, 2020
- 'What Are You Saying? And why you're not saying it' - a new book by Conor Kenny - Limerick Post - October 9th, 2020
- England is still a nation divided by language says VIRGINIA BLACKBURN - Daily Express - October 9th, 2020
- Shes All That: Tanner Buchanan joins the cast of gender-flipped Shes All That remake - Gamer Rewind - October 9th, 2020
- Navy to Carry Out Investigation Over Fire On Board LE Niamh - Afloat - October 9th, 2020
- Pod of the Planet Ep. 9: Not Everyone is Greta, and That's OK - Pod of the Planet - State of the Planet - September 2nd, 2020
- Opinion | Why writing is harder than you think - Livemint - September 2nd, 2020
- Stellar Lumens (XLM) Community Fund 2.0 to be a New and Improved Version - The Cryptocurrency Analytics - September 2nd, 2020
- Television: C-SPAN offered some of the best convention coverage - The Delaware County Daily Times - September 2nd, 2020
- My Heart's in the Highlands: Today is William Saroyan's 112th birth anniversary - Public Radio of Armenia - September 2nd, 2020
- Noted educator and architect William Bill McMinn passes away at 89 - The Architect's Newspaper - September 2nd, 2020
- Kilkennys Butler Gallery breaks from castle basement home - The Irish Times - August 22nd, 2020
- Why Mwalimu Bukenyas students have kept the faith - Daily Nation - August 22nd, 2020
- A List of Books, Plays and Films to Illuminate Your Understanding of the Suffragist Movement - Sarasota - August 22nd, 2020
- Did you know about our sister magazine Ireland of the Welcomes? - IrishCentral - August 22nd, 2020
- The Ethical Argument For Wearing a Face Mask - The National Interest - August 22nd, 2020
- A Timeline of Notable Events Leading to the Passage of the 19th Amendment - Sarasota - August 22nd, 2020
- Candid Confession: The fault lies with our parents - National Herald - August 22nd, 2020
- The Abolition of Man and the Advent of the Posthuman - Discovery Institute - August 22nd, 2020
- Garry Linnell: Angry old men rule, and are ruining, the world - The New Daily - August 22nd, 2020
- The 55 Best Things To Do in Seattle This Weekend: August 21-23, 2020 - TheStranger.com - August 22nd, 2020