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NOTE: Richard Wagner is abbreviated to RW.
Achilles, Homer’s portrayal of 65
Adorno, Theodor 11, 12, 67, 225
Alberich (character in Ring)
curse on Ring 116, 117
in Götterdämmerung 135–6, 182
heroic status 66, 109
as Jew 27–8, 29, 30
plans for world domination 112, 113–14
renunciation of love 108, 109
and Rhinemaidens 109, 111, 118
and Wotan 28, 114–15, 116, 124, 205
Amfortas (character in Parsifal) 68, 185–6, 191
anti-Semitism 4, 15–16, 21, 26–30, 196–7
absence from RW’s works 27–30
art
and doctrine 7–8
and life 99, 160, 162, 196, 197;
and artist’s life 28, 49–50, 131
multiplicity of types 160–1
and philosophy 208
power of 160
and psychological health 6–7
‘Art and Religion’ (essay) 184, 198
Art and Revolution 215
‘artist, absolute’ 90–3, 123, 128, 147, 165
Auden, W.H. 22
Bach, Johann Sebastian; St Matthew Passion 140, 141, 153, 154
Bayreuth Circle 98
Bayreuth Festspielhaus
construction and early festivals 185, 219, 220, 224
contemporary productions 54–60, 61–2
Bayreuther Blätter 219
Beckmesser (character in Die Meistersinger) 158, 161–2, 165, 216, 218
as Jew 15–16, 28
Beethoven, Ludwig von
Fidelio 44, 71
Ninth Symphony 37, 49; RW’s piano arrangement 37, 213
personality 4, 17
RW influenced by 13, 31, 37, 49, 213
Bellini, Vincenzo 33–4
Berlioz, Hector 20, 216
Boulez, Pierre 2, 54–60
Brechtian view of RW 8
Browning, Robert 181
Brünnhilde (character in Ring) heroic status 66
in Die Walküre 122, 124, 128–9, 130
in Siegfried 171–2, 173–4
in Götterdämmerung 175, 177–8, 186
Bülow, Hans von 20, 23, 26, 216, 218
Chéreau, Patrice 54–60
Christianity 151, 180, 183
and Parsifal 194, 197–9
chronology 213–20
Coates, Albert 56
cognition and emotion 8–11, 96, 104, 126
A Communication to my Friends 23, 89–91, 216, 222
compassion 105, 106, 129, 174, 198, 199
composition, RW’s training in 31, 213
On Conducting 218, 222
contemplation, art as will-less 100
Cooke, Deryck 10–11, 223
Cornelius, Peter 20
counterpoint 31, 158, 162, 191
Cultural Materialism 106, 211
Dahlhaus, Carl 95, 222–3
Damrosch, Leopold 20
David (character in Die Meistersinger) 156, 161
day and night, worlds of 142, 144–5, 147, 148, 156, 163–4
death 84, 102
fear of, and lovelessness 172
longing for 102, 143–4, 145, 193
Debussy, Claude 189
decadence 6–7
deconstruction 55
degeneration, racial 21, 196
Derrida, Jacques 43
desire
RW’s basic category 206
see also libido; love
doctrine and art 7–8
drama
music as means to end of 12–13, 101, 110
music emerges as primary 89, 90–3, 101–4, 169
as RW’s primary impulse 31
Dresden
RW in 21–2, 215–16
uprising (1849) 169, 216
Dutchman (character in Der fliegende Holländer) 39–40, 42–7, 66–71, 83, 186
early works, RW’s 31–6
Elisabeth (character in Tannhäuser) 74–9, 81
Ellis, William Ashton 221
Elsa (character in Lohengrin) 85–7, 88–9
emotion
and cognition 8–11, 96, 104, 126
contemporary productions mishandle 57, 61
intensity 10, 18, 45–6, 69, 178–9, 191; Tristan 143, 143, 145, 147, 148, 153
progression 119–20, 121–2
transformation 128
equivalences (acceptable returns for losses in life) 201–2, 205, 207, 209
eroticism 42–3, 45, 72, 73, 75, 92
essentialist humanism 58, 106
Eva (character in Die Meistersinger) 159, 166
exegesis 10–11, 28, 96, 97, 111, 169, 172–3
expression, limits to RW’s powers of 95
Fafner (character in Das Rheingold 109, 117, 134, 181
Fasolt (character in Das Rheingold) 109–10, 111, 117
Faust Overture 216
Die Feen 31–2, 214
Feuerbach, Ludwig Andreas 183, 216
Der fliegende Holländer 36–47, 66–71, 88, 214, 215
Duet 39–40, 42–7
Dutchman 39–40, 42–7, 66–71, 83, 186
metaphysics 48
Overture 36–7, 48, 85
Forster, E.M. 91
Freudianism 4–5
Fricka (character in Die Walküre) 122–3, 124
gangster-hero, cult of 67
Gauthier, Judith 26
genius, reception of 3–4, 17
Gesamtkunstwerk 12
Gluck, Christoph Wilibald 21–2, 215
Gobineau, Joseph Arthur, Count 196, 219
Götterdämmerung 174–83
composition 216, 219
ending 10, 35, 40, 62, 103, 107, 179–81, 217
love 175, 177
RW’s musical development 111
seduction of Siegfried by Gutrune 42–3, 176
see also individual characters
Greek tragedy 63
Gutman, Robert 196
Gutrune (character in Götterdämmerung) 42–3, 176
Hagen (character in Götterdämmerung) 175–6, 179, 182
Hanslick, Eduard 215, 217
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich 97
Heine, Ferdinand, letter to 98–9
Heine, Heinrich 37
heroes 63–82, 203–4
Alberich as 66, 109
Dutchman as 66–71
isolation 187
reduction to everyday status 51–62, 64–5
suffering 186–7
in Tannhäuser 66, 72–82
Herrenchiemsee palace 24
Herwegh, Georg 216
Historicism, New 211
Hitler, Adolf 29–30, 35
Hoffmann, E.T.A. 31, 222
Homer 63, 64, 65
Hunding (character in Die Walküre) 121, 128, 129
hypnotism, Wagnerian 45–7, 90–3
illusion (Wahn) 149
Die Meistersinger on 106, 107, 156, 162–3, 167
love as most beautiful 149, 151, 152, 153
impersonality 69
individual and society 204–5
individuation, Schopenhauer on 105
intellect, synthesising (Verstand) 9, 96, 104, 178
intensity see under emotion
Intentional Fallacy 16
interpretations of dramas, specific 51–62
interrelationships between RW’s works 37, 42
see also under individual dramas
intoxication, Tristan-Rausch 152
irony 37, 112, 114, 136
isolation 71, 90, 105, 187
Jews see anti-Semitism
Judaism in Music 216, 219
Der junge Siegfried 132–3, 216
Kant, Immanuel 27, 100
Keller, Gottfried 216
Keller, Hans 3–4, 4–5, 16
Kietz, Ernst, letter to 99–100
Klingsor (character in Parsifal) 28, 189, 191–2, 194, 196
knowing and feeling 8–11, 96, 104, 126
Kundry (character in Parsifal) 42, 190, 192, 193–4, 196, 197
Kupfer, Harry 61
language; RW’s adaptation to new ideas 40
law and love in Ring 129, 130, 133, 205
letters, RW’s 28, 95, 221
to Ferdinand Heine 98–9
to Kietz 99–100
to Liszt 49, 87, 102, 153
to Richter 133
to Röckel 169, 172–3, 177, 179
to Uhlig 99, 132
to Mathilde Wesendonck 145, 185–6
libido 109, 112–13, 114, 118
libretti 41
Das Liebesmahl der Apostel 215
Das Liebesverbot 32–4, 214
life
and art 99, 160, 162, 196, 197; artist’s, and works 28, 49–50, 131
RW’s, judgements on 4, 14–30
Lindenhof palace 24
Liszt, Cosima see Wagner, Cosima
Liszt, Franz 20, 214, 216, 218, 220
RW’s letters to 49, 87, 102, 153
Loge (character in Das Rheingold) 112, 113, 117–18, 136
Lohengrin 66, 83–94
composition and productions 215, 217
on individual and society 104
musical quality 84, 86, 88–9, 90–4, 122
predestined love 43
Preludes 84, 86, 89, 93, 141
redemption 83, 188
losses, equivalences for 201–2, 205, 207, 209
complete absorption in 129, 138–9
egoism 176
and fear of death 172
human tenderness 173–4, 175
as illusion 149, 151, 152, 153
and law 129, 130, 133, 205
manipulation by means of 113
musical phrase indicating problem about 87
and power 108, 112–13
predestined 42–3, 86
and redemption 32, 39–40
renunciation 108, 109, 176
replacing rule of gods by 100–101
romantic 72
sensual/spiritual contrast 74, 146, 151–2
sexual 176, 205–6
transformation effected by 122
see also under individual dramas
Ludwig II of Bavaria 23–4, 92, 217–18, 219
lust 109, 112–13, 114, 118
Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer 34, 214
magic 194–5
Malory, Sir Thomas 89
Mann, Thomas 39–40, 58, 224
Marke, King (character in Tristan) 143, 144, 145, 146–7, 150
Marx, Karl 27
Marxism 51, 52, 55, 58
Mein Leben (RW’s autobiography) 133, 218
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg 156–67
anti-Semitism 15–16, 28
on art and life 160, 162
authority 165, 166–7
composition 215, 217, 218
illusion and reality 106, 107, 167
love 43, 168–9
monologues 156, 159, 162–3
and Parsifal 186, 187
Preludes 85, 156, 157–8, 162–3, 166–7, 170
‘sanity’ 181
on tradition 161–2
and Tristan 156, 157, 165–6
variety 156
worlds of Day and Night 156, 163–4
see also individual characters
metaphysics 144, 145, 166
Meyerbeer, Giacomo 34, 36, 214
Millington, Barry 15–16, 27, 28, 221
Milnes, Rodney 15
Mime (character in Ring) 27, 114, 134, 135–6
monologues 68
Dutchman’s 68–9
Sachs’s 156, 159, 162–3
Wotan’s, in Die Walküre 68, 108, 124–7, 130, 170
monomania, RW’s 19–20, 21–2
Mordden, Ethan 15
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 42, 43, 213
Don Giovanni 19, 37, 42
personality 4, 17
mythology 64, 190, 194–5, 203
nationalism, RW’s 4
Nazism 29–30, 51
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm 5–7, 8, 224
on heroes 64–5
on Parsifal 184
on ‘pity’ 189
pro-Wagnerian phase 5, 20, 142, 219, 220
questions moral attitudes 209
on RW and redemption 40
on RW as manipulator 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 45, 102
on RW’s presentation of suffering 137–8
on smallness of contemporary life 203
on Tristan 6, 142, 150–1, 152, 155
WORKS: The Birth of Tragedy 6, 142; The Case of Wagner 64–5, 224; Ecce Homo 150–1; Genealogy of Morals 207–8; Götzendämmerung 164; Nietzsche Contra Wagner 19, 224
Norns (characters in Götterdämmerung 111, 174–5
Odysseus 67
Opera and Drama 101, 110, 216, 222
Ortrud (character in Lohengrin) 87, 92
Overtures see Preludes and Overtures
Parsifal 184–200
alleged anti-Semitism 28, 196–7
attempted seduction 42, 192–4
composition 185, 217, 218
connections with other works 185–6, 187, 193
controversy over 195–200
ending 38, 186, 195, 212
love in 194
monologues 68
musical expressiveness 191, 199–200
myth 190, 194–5
on emotion and cognition 10
Parsifal’s character 66, 68, 188–9, 192–3
Prelude 85, 190, 199
productions 55, 220
psychology 186, 190, 194
redemption 38, 186–7
religious aspects 15, 194, 197–9
performance see productions
Pfistermeister (secretary to Ludwig II) 23, 217
Pfitzner, Hans 9
Planer, Minna see Wagner, Minna
Planer, Nathalie (Minna’s daughter) 25
Plato 90, 93, 180
politicians 87, 127
popular tastes, RW’s catering to 132
post-modern productions 51–2
power 114, 118, 126
and love 108, 112–13
predestination 42–3, 86, 147
Preludes and Overtures 84–5
characters portrayed in 162–3, 170
see also under individual dramas
productions of RW’s dramas
recent 51–62, 115, 127
RW’s conception for Ring 99–100
in RW’s lifetime 214–21 passim
Wieland Wagner’s 51, 55, 59–60
workshop 58
psychoanalysis 52
purpose of art 98–100
racial views 21, 196–7
see also anti-Semitism
Racine, Jean 18, 63
Raphael, Robert 223
reception of Wagner 223–4
redemption 37–8, 186–7
Lohengrin 83, 188
love and 32, 39–40
Parsifal 38, 186–7
of redeemer 38, 43–4, 186–7
of RW’s dramas in his writings 41–2
tragedy precluded by 141
reincarnation 193
religion
beliefs deployed as symbols 184, 198
and magic 194–5
modification of extreme demands 153, 209
Parsifal and 15, 194, 197–9
Tristan as religious drama 140, 151, 152, 155
renunciation 192
of love 108, 109, 176
resolution, dramatic 10, 11, 35
revolutions (1848/49) 96, 100, 106, 169, 216
Das Rheingold 108–18
alleged anti-Semitism 27–8, 29, 30
composition 216
first performance 218
function 111
on libido 109, 112–13, 114, 118
on love 108, 112–13
musical development 122
on power 108, 112, 114, 118
Prelude 48–9, 109, 205, 216
reason for writing 111
Die Walküre compared 119, 122
see also individual characters
Rhine, evocation of 48–9, 109
Rhinemaidens (characters in Das Rheingold) 109, 110, 111, 117, 118, 179, 205
Richter, Hans 218, 219
letter to 133
Rienzi 25, 34–6, 214–15
Rilke, Rainer Maria 128, 199–200
Ring cycle
depicts beginning and end of a world 49
complexity 172, 182–3
composition 104–7, 216–17, 218, 219
exegesis 10–11, 28, 96, 111, 169, 172–3
heroes 66
on individual and society 104–7
love 43, 101–101, 181, 205–6; and law 129, 130, 133, 205
meaning 172, 181–3
music conveys meaning 103–4
musical structure 182
and Parsifal 186
RW’s conception of performance 99–100
Schopenhauerianism and 102–4
Wotan as central figure 133
see also indvidual dramas and characters
Röckel, August 169
RW’s letters to 169, 172–3, 177, 179
Röhm, Ernst 196
Romanticism 31, 72, 147
Sachs, Hans (character in Die Meistersinger) 66, 107, 158, 164–5, 166–7
monologues 156, 159, 162–3
sacrifice
and equivalences 201–2, 205, 207, 209
self-, Senta’s 43
Schlegel, August Wilhelm von 211
Schoenberg, Arnold 8, 9
Schopenhauer, Artur 100–107, 216
on individual and society 104–7
on living as original sin 38
and music/drama relationship 101–4
on sexual love 74
and Siegfried 135, 138
‘Wahn’ monologue congruent with ideas 163
on Will 74, 101–4, 105, 198–9, 206
Scriabin, Alexander 141
seduction 42–3, 192–4
self-consciousness of genius 3–4, 17
selfishness and selflessness 43, 71, 106, 107, 207
Senta (character in Der fliegende Holländer) 39–40, 42–7
Shaffer, Peter 17
Shakespeare, William
‘alternative’ interpretations 52–4
anti-Semitism 27
heroes 63, 66
Measure for Measure 32, 33
openings and closings 211–12
transformation of audience 209
unassertiveness 18, 211
Shaw, George Bernard 55
Siegfried 131–9, 168–74
circumstances and timing of composition 111, 131–4, 138–9, 168, 216, 218
continuity from Die Walküre 134
death 172
love 168, 173–4
Prelude, Act III 163, 170
see also individual characters
Siegfried (character in Ring) 66, 186
in Siegfried 134–8, 171–2, 173–4
in Götterdämmerung 42–3, 175, 176, 181–2
Siegfried Idyll 218
‘Siegfrieds Tod’, plans for 131–2, 215, 216
Sieglinde (character in Die Walküre) 119–22, 128–9
Siegmund (character in Die Walküre) 66, 68, 119–22, 128–9
Silk, M.S. 22
Skelton, Geoffrey 222
society 96–7
artist and 153–4
and individual 204–5
rejection of values of 107
Schopenhauerian view 104–7
Stern, J.P. 22
Stockhausen, Karlheinz 2
Strauss, Johann 192
Strauss, Richard 141
Stravinsky, Igor 1, 161
surrealism 52
Tannbäuser 72–82
composition 215
eroticism 72, 73, 75, 92
heroes 66, 72–82
Preludes 72–3, 78, 85
performances 217
rewriting for Paris production 80–1
Rome Narration 68, 79
RW’s opinion of 41
Tannhäuser’s character 38, 68, 72, 73–4, 77, 88, 186
unsatisfactory structure 80, 88
Venusberg scene 72, 73, 80–1
Tausig, Carl 20
Telramund, Friedrich von 85, 87, 92
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson 89
Thurber, James 91
Tieck, Johann Ludwig 211
timelessness, denial of RW’s 51–62
Titian; Assumption of the Virgin 149
tradition 161–2
tragedy 93
tragic feeling distinct from 140–1, 203
transcendence 45–6, 93, 144, 145, 166
Tristan und Isolde 140–55
composition 138–9, 216–17
on death 143–4, 145, 147, 193
defeats criticism 155
first performance 23, 218
heroes 66
intensity 143, 145, 147, 148, 153
Isolde’s character 145–6, 150
love 138–9, 146, 150, 151–2, 168
and Die Meistersinger 156, 157, 165–6
metaphysics 144, 145
monologues 68
Nietzsche and 6
and Parsifal 185–6, 193
predestination 43, 147
Preludes 84–5, 141, 147, 156
reception 224
redemption 141
rejection of values of society 107
as religious drama 140, 151, 152, 155
and RW’s womanising 15, 25–6
subversiveness 154
and tradition 161
not a tragedy 140–1
Tristan’s character 68, 185–6
worlds of Day and Night 142, 144–5, 147, 148
yearning 141, 148, 193
Tristan-Rausch (intoxication) 152
Uhlig, Theodor, letters to 99, 132
Verdi, Giuseppe 8
Verstand, see intellect
Wagner, Cosima (née Liszt) 23, 26, 28, 196, 216, 218–19, 220
Diaries 26, 28, 186, 222
Wagner, Minna (née Planer) 21, 25, 214, 217, 218
Wagner, Richard see individual works and topics throughout index
Wagner, Wieland 51, 55, 59–60
Wahn, see illusion
Die Walküre 119–30
attraction 131
composition 216
first performance 218
on love 120–1, 129, 138–9
and Das Rheingold 119, 122
and Siegfried 134
see also individual characters
Walther von Stolzing (character in Die Meistersinger) 157, 158–9, 160, 161, 186
Watson, Derek 223
Weber, Carl Maria von 31, 48, 49, 213, 215
Wesendonck, Mathilde 15, 25–6, 138, 216, 217
RW’s letters to 145, 185–6
Westernhagen, Curt von 223
Will, Schopenhauer’s concept of 74, 101–4, 105, 198–9, 206
World War, Second 1, 29–30
Wotan (character in Ring) 133
heroic status 66, 127
and redemption 38, 186
as willing own destruction 169
in Das Rheingold 28, 114–15, 115–17, 123, 124, 170, 205
in Die Walküre 115, 116, 122, 123, 126, 130, 170; monologue, Act II 68, 108, 124–7, 130, 170
in Siegfried 116, 133, 134, 137, 170–1, 173, 174, 176
in Götterdämmerung 179–80
writings, RW’s 40–1, 95–107
bibliography; translations 221
obscurity and vagueness 206
on racial purity 196
on Ring 169
see also individual titles
Zelinsky, Hartmut 196
Zurich, RW in 22, 96, 216