Wagner's Meistersinger
Wagner's Meistersinger

Author: Nicholas Vazsonyi

Publisher: University Rochester Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9781580461313

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Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg has been one of the most performed operas ever since its premiere in 1868. It was adopted as Germany's national opera ["Nationaloper"], not least because of its historical coincidence with the unification of Germany under Bismarck in 1871. The first section of this volume, "Performing Meistersinger," contains three commissioned articles from internationally respected artists - a conductor [Peter Schneider], a stage director [Harry Kupfer] and a singer [Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau], all experienced in the performance of this unusually demanding 5-hour work. The second section, "Meistersinger and History," examines both the representation of German history in the opera and the way the opera has functioned in history through political appropriation and staging practice. The third section, "Representations," is the most eclectic, exploring in the first place the problematic question of genre from the perspective of a theatrical historian. The chronic issue of Wagner's chief opponent, Eduard Hanslick, and his musical and dramatic representation in the opera as Beckmesser, is then addressed, as are gender issues, and Wagner's own utterances concerning the opera. Contributors: Nicholas Vazsonyi, Peter Schneider, Harry Kupfer, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Rudolf Vaget, Lutz Koepnick, David B. Dennis, Klaus Van Den Berg, Thomas S. Grey, Lydia Goehr, Eva Rieger, Peter Höyng. Nicholas Vazsonyi is Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature, University of South Carolina.

Wagner's Meistersinger
Wagner's Meistersinger

Author: Nicholas Vazsonyi

Publisher: University Rochester Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9781580461689

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Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" has been one of the most performed operas ever since its premier in 1868, as it epitomizes themes of Germanness. This volume examines the representation of German history in the opera and the way it has functioned in history through political appropriation and staging practice. in performance.

Wagner and the Wonder of Art
Wagner and the Wonder of Art

Author: M. Owen Lee

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2007-12-15

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1442692952

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Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger has always called forth superlatives from those who have fallen under its spell. Toscanini wanted to lay his baton down for the last time only after he had conducted a performance of it. Paderewski called it 'the greatest work of genius ever achieved by any artist in any field of human endeavour.' H.L. Mencken declared, 'It took more skill to plan and write it than it took to plan and write the whole canon of Shakespeare.' And yet Wagner's many-splendoured comedy has come under severe criticism in recent years for what has been called its 'dark underside,' its 'fascist brutality,' and its 'ugly anti-Semitism.' In Wagner and the Wonder of Art, renowned opera expert M. Owen Lee addresses that criticism. He also provides an introduction to the opera and an analysis that will surprise even those veteran operagoers who may not have explored the work's intricate structure and the emotional drama at its centre. The book includes the on-air commentary that Father Lee gave during the first radio broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera after the events of 9/11. He thought it necessary, after attempting to refute the charges leveled against Wagner's opera, to say something about its truthfulness, its life-affirming music, its insight into the madness that can destroy human lives, and its witness to the importance of art for the survival of our civilizations.

Wagner and the Wonder of Art
Wagner and the Wonder of Art

Author: M. Owen Lee

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 0802095739

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In Wagner and the Wonder of Art, renowned opera expert M. Owen Lee provides an introduction to the opera and an analysis that will surprise even those veteran operagoers who may not have explored the work's intricate structure and the emotional drama at its centre.

Tradition, Community, and Nationhood in Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Tradition, Community, and Nationhood in Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Author: Christopher Kimbell

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-07-02

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1040040616

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Since its premiere in 1868, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg has defied repeated upheavals in the cultural-political landscape of German statehood to retain its unofficial status as the German national opera. The work’s significance as a touchstone of national culture survived even such troubling episodes as its public endorsement in 1933 as ‘the most German of all German operas’ by Joseph Goebbels or the rendition in previous years by audiences at Bayreuth of both national and Nazi-party anthems at the work’s culmination. This chequered reception history and apparent propensity for reinterpretation or reclamation has long fuelled debates over the socio-political meanings of Wagner’s musical narrative. On the question of Beckmesser, for instance, heated arguments have surrounded the existence of antisemitic stereotypes in the work as well as their possible indication of a racial-political dimension to Sachs’s restoration of Nuremberg society. Through a combination of musical-textual analysis with critical theory, this book interrogates the ideological underpinnings of Die Meistersinger’s narrative. In four interconnected studies of the characters of Walther, Sachs, Beckmesser, and Eva, the book traces a critical potential within the opera’s construction of provincial and national identities and problematizes existing discourse around its depiction of race and gender.

Wagner
Wagner

Author: Barry Millington

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 1992-11-19

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0691027226

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Wagner is one of the most controversial of composers, and much that has been written about him--including his autobiography--is misleading. Barry Millington draws on the best previous scholarship and his own original research to set the record straight. The first part of this book is devoted to biography; the second, to a detailed study of the operas. Millington offers a historical review of the critical interpretation of each opera, including a discussion of recent methods of formal analysis. In this revised edition, two chapters, those on Tannhauser and Die Meistersinger, include significant new material. The bibliography has also been updated.

Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg

Author: Richard Wagner

Publisher: Calder Publications Limited

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13:

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The English National Opera Guides were originally conceived in partnership with the English National Opera and edited by Nicholas John, the ENO's dramaturg, who died tragically in an accident in the Alps. Most of the guides are devoted to a single opera, which is described in detail--with many articles that cover its history and information about the composer and his times. The complete libretto is included in both the original language and in a modern singing translation--except where the opera was written in English. Each has a thematic guide to the most important musical themes in musical notation and each guide is lavishly illustrated. They also contain a bibliography and a discography which is updated at each reprint. The ENO guides are widely regarded as the best series of their kind and excellent value. Die Meistersinger was enthusiastically received at its premiere in 1868, and was judged to be Wagner's most immediately appealing work. Eduard Hanslick wrote after the premiere: "Dazzling scenes of colour and splendour, ensembles full of life and character unfold before the spectator's eyes, hardly allowing him the leisure to weigh how much and how little of these effects is of musical origin."

The Sources and Text of Richard Wagner's Opera Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg
The Sources and Text of Richard Wagner's Opera Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg

Author: Anna Maude Bowen

Publisher: Rarebooksclub.com

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 9781230185712

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1897 edition. Excerpt: ... alle jar auf sanct thomas tag oder die nechst schuel darfor sol man die Festlider verhoren und die fest singer verornern (verordnen) wie solen singen." This was evidently to prepare for a festival on St. John Evangelist's Day (December 27). According to Schnorr von Carolsf eld 4) there was a festal gathering of the Mastersingers at Wohrd, a suburb of Nuremberg, on the Feast of Trinity. Now Wagner has either mistaken the festival of St. John Evangelist for that of St. John Baptist (June 24) or has arbitrarily changed the festival of Trinity to that of St. John. His reasons for choosing this spring-day, so beautifully celebrated in southern Germany, are obvious. 1) Wagenseil, 546. 2) Uhland: Schriften," II, 297.; 3) Genee, 4i2. 4) Mey, 44, Ranisch, 28, says that the Nuremberg Mastersingers had a festival a week after Pentecostal Sunday at Wohrd--but this was because the expenses of meeting in the church were too great. Wagner has also arbitrarily assumed that there were two Critic's Seats (Gemerke), a smaller and a larger, the first to be used at the Open Singing, the second in the Singing-school (VII, 164). This is a gratuitous invention of his, as is also the marking of the song by Beckmesser as the only critic, instead of the customary three or four. This latter device was however necessary, since only Walther's rival would have criticized his song so severely. Poor Walther is marked, too, according to rules that he has never heard, for from the Leges Tabulaturas have been read to him only the introductory part, and David's glib enumeration of errors contains no real information. There is a curious slip in Hans Sachs' speech immediately after his reception by the apprentices and people in the third act. Sachs informs...