Synopses & Reviews
In this new biography of Richard Wagner, Joachim Kand#246;hler draws on social and political analysis, documentary interpretation, and psychological insights to paint a rounded picture of Wagner as both a controversial historical phenomenon and a complex human being.
Kand#246;hlerand#8217;s reading of the letters, diaries, and other documents of the main protagonists, some of them unfamiliar even to seasoned Wagnerians, results in some breathtaking but convincing reappraisals. He examines Wagnerand#8217;s love affairs with Jessie Laussot, Mathilde Wesendonck, and Judith Gautier and assesses their lasting emotional effect. He re-evaluates Wagnerand#8217;s relationships with his mother, step-father, sister, andand#151;most revealinglyand#151;his wife, Cosima, a relationship seen as based on fear rather than love. Kand#246;hler explores the philosophical roots of Wagnerand#8217;s work, which the composer himself deliberately obfuscated. And he analyzes Wagnerand#8217;s relationship with King Ludwig, whom Wagner is revealed to have blackmailed, and with Nietzsche, whom he tried to destroy.
The traumas of his youth haunted Wagner throughout his life, as his emotional development underlay his notorious anti-semitism. Kand#246;hlerand#8217;s interpretation of Wagnerand#8217;s dreams, as recorded in Cosimaand#8217;s diaries, offers astonishing insights into the paranoia and insecurity of a man who was one of the leading composers of his age.
Review
and#8220;The book is undoubtedly a landmark in Wagner studies.and#8221;and#8212;Barry Millington, The Evening Standard
Review
and#8220;Kandouml;hler . . . will give us Wagner uncut.and#8221;and#8212;Andrew Crumey, Scotland on Sunday
About the Author
Joachim Kand#246;hler is the author of Nietzsche and Wagner: A Lesson in Subjugation, and Zarathustraand#8217;s Secret: The Interior Life of Friedrich Nietzsche, both published by Yale University Press. He is also the author of Wagnerand#8217;s Hitler. Stewart Spencer is editor of The Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, Wagnerand#8217;s Ring, and Wagner Remembered.