It is little known that Richard Wagner was among the very first Westerners to appreciate Buddhism and that he was the first major European artist to be inspired by this religion. In 1856, in the prime of his creativity, the 33-year-old artist read his first book about Buddhism. Madly in love with Mathilde Wesendonck, a beautiful but happily married woman, he conceived two deeply connected opera projects: Tristan und Isolde which he went on to compose and stage, and Die Sieger (The Victors), an opera scenario based on an Indian Buddha legend translated from Sanskrit. These two projects...
It is little known that Richard Wagner was among the very first Westerners to appreciate Buddhism and that he was the first major European artist to b...
Whereas the discovery by Europeans of the continents of our earth has been the subject of countless studies and its protagonists (such as Columbus) are universally known, research on the European discovery of our globes "spiritual continents" - its religions and philosophies - is still in its infancy.
The Christian Wests discovery of Asias largest religion and fount of philosophies, Buddhism, is a case in point: though it triggered one of the most significant and influential spiritual and cultural encounters in world history, even the most basic questions remain unanswered. What did...
Whereas the discovery by Europeans of the continents of our earth has been the subject of countless studies and its protagonists (such as Columbus) ar...
Richard Wagner war einer der ersten Europaer, der den Buddhismus schatzte und darf als der erste grosse Kunstler des Westens gelten, der sich von dieser Religion inspirieren liess. Im Jahre 1856, auf dem Gipfel seiner kunstlerischen Kreativitat, las der 33-jahrige Kunstler in Zurich sein erstes Buch uber den Buddhismus. Er war damals vollig verliebt in die glucklich verheiratete Mathilde Wesendonck und ersann zwei zutiefst verbundene Opernprojekte, die den Zwiespalt in seinem Herzen widerspiegelten: Tristan und Isolde, wo zur Befriedigung des Begehrens alle Konventionen gebrochen werden, und...
Richard Wagner war einer der ersten Europaer, der den Buddhismus schatzte und darf als der erste grosse Kunstler des Westens gelten, der sich von dies...
Whereas the discovery by Europeans of the continents of our earth has been the subject of countless studies and its protagonists (such as Columbus) are universally known, research on the European discovery of our globes "spiritual continents" - its religions and philosophies - is still in its infancy.
The Christian Wests discovery of Asias largest religion and fount of philosophies, Buddhism, is a case in point: though it triggered one of the most significant and influential spiritual and cultural encounters in world history, even the most basic questions remain unanswered. What did...
Whereas the discovery by Europeans of the continents of our earth has been the subject of countless studies and its protagonists (such as Columbus) ar...
Modern Orientalism is not a brainchild of nineteenth-century European imperialists and colonialists, but, as Urs App demonstrates, was born in the eighteenth century after a very long gestation period defined less by economic or political motives than by religious ideology. Based on sources from a dozen languages, many unavailable in English, The Birth of Orientalism presents a completely new picture of this protracted genesis, its underlying dynamics, and the Western discovery of Asian religions from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. App documents the immense influence of Japan...
Modern Orientalism is not a brainchild of nineteenth-century European imperialists and colonialists, but, as Urs App demonstrates, was born in the eig...
