Introduction or the Uses of Love
Sensuality and spirituality in the early music dramas
Music and the eternal feminine (a) Music, philosophy and religion
(b) Art and the woman
The Ring of the Nibelung (a) Contradiction, disorder and musical
language (i) Plot (ii) Meaning (iii) Theory (b) The Pagan Ring (i)
Pantheism (ii) Incest
Love and Death: Tristan und Isolde (a) Schopenhauer betrayed and/or
corrected (b) Identity (c) Words and Music
The Mastersingers of Nuremberg (a) Words and Music Again (b)
Language and Volk (c) Love, hate and anti-semitism
Parsifal (a) Kundry (b) The Grail
Contradictions and Speculations
Emslie makes some important points with clarity and precision. ...
[He] rightly emphasises the importance of Wagner's prose works, not
just the well-known theoretical tracts but lesser-known essays such
as 'Die Wibelungen' and 'Jesus von Nazareth' as central to the
Wagnerian project.
*MUSIC AND LETTERS*
[P]rovides an impressively wide-ranging setting for discussion of
Wagner on the whole. [...] it is fitting that the book emanates
from this country's most ambitious medieval publishers who also
have an impressively expanding music list.
*TLS*
Emslie's... entertainingly opinionated examination of Wagner's
operas offers a psychological study of the composer, a guide to his
often contradictory writings and an up-to-the minute commentary on
interpretation.
*.*
One of the Financial Times' books of the year 2010
*.*
Discussing the operas in chronological order, Emslie charts the
many manifestations of love in Wagner from the fraternal to the
eternal...The result is a fascinating read offering challenging new
perspectives that take one back to the music to listen
anew...surely the essential Wagner book of the year.
*CLASSICAL MUSIC*
This new study offers a lively introduction to anyone seeking to
understand [Wagner's ideas]...his highly opinionated survey brings
fresh air to the debate.
*FINANCIAL TIMES*
This book has one thinking about Wagner as most do not...I would
recommend any serious Wagner-lover, perhaps Wagner-hater, to read
it.
*OPERA*
Emslie...writes engagingly, carrying one along with his way of
thinking, and driving one to think for oneself...I enjoyed reading
[this book]. It has given me much to ponder, much to contest.
*WAGNER JOURNAL*
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