Wagner and Venice Fictionalized: Variations on a Theme

ISBN-13: 9781580464109 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 370 str.

John W Barker

Opis

The vast literature about Richard Wagner and his works includes a surprising number of fictional works, including novels, plays, satires, and an opera. Many of these deal with his last years and his death in Venice in 1883 -- and even a fabricated eleventh-hour romance. These fictional treatments -- many presented here in English for the first time -- reveal a striking evolution in the way that Wagner's character and reputation have been viewed over more than a century. They offer insights into changing contexts in Western intellectual and cultural history. And they make clear how much Wagner's associations with Venice have become part of the accumulated mythology of -the floating city.- John Barker's Wagner and Venice Fictionalized: Variations on a Theme will be of interest to all lovers of opera, Venice, and European culture generally. John W. Barker is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in medieval (including Venetian) history. He is also a passionate music lover and record collector, and an active music critic and journalist.