Few composers embrace such a span of disciplines — musicological, philosophical, historical, political, philological — as Richard Wagner. To what extent does the wide-ranging, comprehensive nature of Wagner’s works militate against a true understanding of them? How close are we, in his bicentenary year, to an understanding that does them justice? The following illustrations from The Sorcerer of Bayreuth: Richard Wagner, his Work and his World demonstrate the variety of perspectives on Wagner, from outdated stereotypes to new reappraisals.
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Postcard showing the Red and White Lion
In which Wagner was born on 22 May 1813. Ironically the house was situated in the Jewish Quarter of the city. (Collection Tom Phillips)
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Christoph Marthaler’s Bayreuth production of Tristan und Isolde (2005)
Emphasised the characters’ chronic dysfunctionality, each occupying his or her own physical and emotional space. © Bayreuther Festpiele/Enrico Nawrath
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A postcard showing Tannhäuser’s face
Composed of the minstrel himself, Venus and her roseate attendants. (Collection Tom Phillips)
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Alberich’s theft of the gold (a scene from the Ring)
By Franz Heigel, 1865 – 66. © Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds, Munich
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Brünnhilde on her rock refuses to give up the ring
In spite of the pleading of her sister Valkyrie Waltraute. Drawing by Franz Stassen, c. 1910, © Private Collection, Munich
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The Ride of the Valkyries
By William T. Maud (1890). The trumpet is not authentic, but Wotan’s two ravens, seen in the foreground, are.© Gavin Graham Gallery, London
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Wagner holds court at Wahnfried.
W. Beckmann’s oil painting of 1882 imagines Cosima, Liszt and Wagner’s disciple Hans von Wolzogen all appropriately enraptured by the Master’s reading. © Richard Wagner Museum, Triebschen
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Portrait of Wagner
By Friedrich Pecht, a friend of the Paris years. The picture was painted c. 1864-65 for Ludwig II, whose bust is visible in the background, though a misunderstanding over the fee caused a political scandal. © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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Viennese caricature
By Karl Klic (1873), turning the tables on Wagner and his anti-Semitism. © Ernst Kreowski and Eduard Fuchs, Richard Wagner in der Karikatur, Berlin, 1907
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One of a series of eight photographs of Wagner
Taken by the photographers Elliot & Fry on 24 May 1877, during his English visit that year. © Photo Elliot and Fry
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The sensual extravagance of the Magic Garden in Parsifal
As conceived by Paul von Joukowsky and executed by the Brückner brothers (1882), © Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung Schloss Wahn, Cologne
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‘Frou-Frou Wagner’
From Der Floh, 24 June 1877. Caricature depicting Wagner acquiring pink satin by the yard and being shafted by the journalist Daniel Spitzer, who published the letters to his milliner. © Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna
[…] silks and soft furnishings was scandalously revealed when letters to his designer were published, leading to caricatures spoofing ‘Frou-Frou-Wagner’. Such was his renown that he was the subject of numerous cartoons in his lifetime, and almost […]