This book is both a telling of operatic histories 'after' Richard Wagner, and a philosophical reflection upon the writing of those histories. Historical musicology reckons with intellectual and cultural history, and vice versa. The 'after' of the title denotes chronology, but also harmony and antagonism within a Wagnerian tradition. Parsifal, in which Wagner attempted to go beyond his achievement in the Ring, to write 'after' himself, is followed by two apparent antipodes: the strenuously modernist Arnold Schoenberg and the aestheticist Richard Strauss. Discussion of Strauss's Capriccio,...

An essential Companion for those both familiar and unfamiliar with Der Ring des Nibelungen. It provides a concise introduction to both the composer and the work. Subsequent chapters focus on musical topics such as 'leitmotif' and 'structure', as well as popular culture, Nazism, notable stage productions and critical analysis of the work.