The Life of Richard Wagner

Inhaltsverzeichnis Foreword; 1. Wagner and politics in 1848; 2. The literary works of 1848; 3. Leading up to revolution; 4. Wagner and the revolution I: the legal case against him; 5. Wagner and the revolution II: his share in the revolt; 6. Between Zürich and Paris; 7. Jessie Laussot; 8. Friends and public work in Zürich; 9. Liszt, Wagner and 'Lohengrin'; 10. Liszt and Weimar; 11. The rising tide; 12. Uhlig's visit: expansion of the Nibelungen plan; 13. Weakening of the link with Weimar; 14. Distractions and diet: the 'Cellini' episode; 15. The 'hailstorm'; 16. Growing estrangement from the world; 17. Difficulties in the rounding of the 'Ring'; 18. Marking time in Zürich; 19. Liszt and Wagner meet again: the 'Ring' music begun; 20. Wagner's finances in Zürich; 21. The year 1854; 22. The London inferno; 23. Nearing the end in Zürich; 24. Between Zürich and Paris; 25. The Asyl catastrophe; 26. Calm in Venice; 27. From Venice to Lucerne; 28. Preparing for the siege of Paris; Appendixes; Index.

Klappentext

Ernest Newman's four-volume Life of Wagner, originally published between 1933 and 1947, remains a classic work of biography. The culmination of forty years' research on the composer and his works (Newman's first Study of Wagner was first published in 1899), these books present a detailed portrait of perhaps the most influential, the most controversial and the most frequently reviled composer in the whole history of western music. Newman was aware that no biography can ever claim to be complete or completely accurate: 'The biographer can at no stage hope to have reached the final truth. All he can do is to make sure that whatever statement he may make, whatever conclusion he may come to, shall be based on the whole of the evidence available at the time of writing.' In this aim he triumphantly succeeds. Volume 2 covers the years 1848 to 1860.