Wagner's Musical Prose Texts and Contexts [Hardcover]

This book provides critical perspectives on Wagner's prose on musical subjects set in historical and intellectual context.This book is a study of the prose writings of Richard Wagner and their relevance to an understanding of his music and drama, as well as their relation to music criticism and aesthetics in the nineteenth century in general. It looks at central themes in his writings, such as philosophies of musical form and meaning, Wagner's metaphors and terminology, and connects them with analysis of music from his own operas and works by other composers such as Beethoven and Berlioz about whom Wagner wrote.This book is a study of the prose writings of Richard Wagner and their relevance to an understanding of his music and drama, as well as their relation to music criticism and aesthetics in the nineteenth century in general. It looks at central themes in his writings, such as philosophies of musical form and meaning, Wagner's metaphors and terminology, and connects them with analysis of music from his own operas and works by other composers such as Beethoven and Berlioz about whom Wagner wrote.This book is a study of the prose writings of Richard Wagner and their relevance to an understanding of his music and drama, as well as their relation to music criticism and aesthetics in the nineteenth century in general. It looks at central themes in his writings, such as philosophies of musical form and meaning, Wagner's metaphors and terminology, and connects them with analysis of music from his own operas and works by other composers such as Beethoven and Berlioz about whom Wagner wrote.Preface; 1. Wagner and the problematics of 'absolute music' in the nineteenth century; 2. Beethoven reception and the hermeneutic impulse: 'poetic ideas' and new forms; 3. Engendering music drama: Opera and Drama and its metaphors; 4. The 'poetic-musical period' and the 'evolution' of Wagnerian form; 5. Endless melodies; 6. Motive and motivations: leitmotif and 'sympholóS