Wagner Books

Here is the first place to go if your paper happens to be on one of Wagner's music dramas (read: operas). This is the only publication I have found which lists every single leitmotif used in each music drama, with musical examples. There is even a chart at the beginning of each section (each music drama) which lists all leitmotifs one should look for in each scene. Definately a must for every musicologist's library, and recommended reading for all those who want to join the struggle to understand Wagner.

Music may make the nation, but this book makes a lot of sense. It is the clearest and most insightful exploration of music as an artistic, cultural, and political endeavor. It delves deep into the rich interplay between a nation's music and a nation's sense of self. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in music, notions of nationhood, or indeed anyone who can read.

Clear concise overview of the Wagner Ring Cycle story and associated Leitmotives. Equally useful to the beginner as well as the more advanced student of music. The progressive changes of the motives over the duration of the cycle are well explained. I have read several books about the ring, but find myself returning to this book the most

A SUPERB book. Would take forever to list all the positives, but briefly...

The author does a lot of very technical analysis of Wagner's mature works (mostly Ring, Tristan, Parsifal) and shows that so much of Wagner's harmony can be interpreted in terms of standard harmonic analysis. He thus rejects the universal claim that so much of Wagner's music is atonal or at least cannot be analyzed in terms of standard Western Harmony. So Wagner's harmony is indeed incredibly complex and profound, but it CAN be analyzed properly!

Many examples are analyzed, and so many insights are given into the interpretation of the works too.

Again: simply superb. If you love Wagner's music (like I) and want more technical analysis without the copious amounts of drivel on interpretation ignoring the music, then this is possibly the best and deepest book ever written on this, I think.

Monumental both in creativity and egotism, Richard Wagner drafted an autobiography that is amazingly accurate with not too many exaggerations by the author. If one wants the composer's insights on the various encounters he has when bringing his music to life, this is one book you must read. At times it is tediously detailed but the "devil is in the details." It is impossible to understand the man and his world without reading this personal insight. He was, above all other things, one of the foremost musical geniuses that changed the face of opera forever. The consummate Wagner student must, at some time in his study read this book, cover to cover.

Today, with all the hyper PC attitudes running rampant and making otherwise sensible folk rewrite history and demonize great men of the past, it might be difficult to see Wagner as what he really was: a multi-talented man, a Renaissance man, a great man and a good family man, a man admired equally by Yeats and Mahler, a vegetarian, a democrat, a man of rare integrity, a creative man, an entertaining host and a well-liked guest. Yeats wrote that Wagner represented the acme of German symbolism in poetry and drama; Mahler, that there was only Beethoven and Wagner. Indeed, while Wagner's musical genius has never been in doubt, his dramatic and poetic genius has sometimes been underestimated, mainly by those with, at best, the German of a ten-year-old native speaker and no understanding of 19th century poetry or drama. Let's be clear here: Wagner's influence on subsequent writers and poets was quite considerable. Everybody from Thomas Mann to T.S. Eliot gave their nods to him.

In this brilliantly narrated book, Wagner gives a complex and accurate picture of the 19th century, and one that the PC crowd doesn't want you to know about. (Ask yourself, why do only a couple of obscure small presses publish Wagner's autobiography, while every university press has its own politically correct Wagner book out, each of which sells quite nicely and is little more than a comfortable exercise in character assassination?)

Don't forget the second volume: My Life, Volume 2 (Large Print Edition)

This is a good edition by BiblioBazaar.

Today, with all the hyper PC attitudes running rampant and making otherwise sensible folk rewrite history and demonize great men of the past, it might be difficult to see Wagner as what he really was: a multi-talented man, a Renaissance man, a great man and a good family man, a man admired equally by Yeats and Mahler, a vegetarian, a democrat, a man of rare integrity, a creative man, an entertaining host and a well-liked guest. Yeats wrote that Wagner represented the acme of German symbolism in poetry and drama; Mahler, that there was only Beethoven and Wagner. Indeed, while Wagner's musical genius has never been in doubt, his dramatic and poetic genius has sometimes been underestimated, mainly by those with, at best, the German of a ten-year-old native speaker and no understanding of 19th century poetry or drama. Let's be clear here: Wagner's influence on subsequent writers and poets was quite considerable. Everybody from Thomas Mann to T.S. Eliot gave their nods to him.

In this brilliantly narrated book, Wagner gives a complex and accurate picture of the 19th century, and one that the PC crowd doesn't want you to know about. (Ask yourself, why do only a couple of obscure small presses publish Wagner's autobiography, while every university press has its own politically correct Wagner book out, each of which sells quite nicely and is little more than a comfortable exercise in character assassination?)

This is the second of two volumes published by BiblioBazaar, and is a good edition.

THis book was very great. I red it but couldnt understand a ting. I highly recumend this book!

Just when you thought you couldn't figure out why you weren't "happy" all the time, along comes this book...get it, read it, and buy two more copies to give to others...make sure they read it, too.

With a growing interest in the life and literary works of the English writer G.K. Chesterton, I was in the market for a modern, one-volume biography of the man. A friend suggested this book, and I am SO glad he did! As literary biographies go, this one is excellent. Coren not only covers the great Chesterton's life with sympathy and humour, but also manages a solid critique and evaluation of the writer's output...and Chesterton's output was very substantial (rather like the man himself)! What is a real joy though, is to read a biography of a fine writer, written by another fine writer. And Michael Coren is all of that. This well-educated, erudite, and witty man is a wonderful author in his own right, and I look forward to further works by him. I suspect that a century from now, people may be reading a biography of Michael Coren, just as we can now read Coren on Chesterton. We can only hope that such a future author creates as pleasant and stimulating a work as the Canadian Michael Coren has here! I'll go so far as to say that this biography is a worthwhile read, even if you don't care about Chesterton. Biography doesn't get any better than this! -A wonderful book.