Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Being Wagner
Being Wagner: The Story of the Most Provocative Composer Who Ever Lived | Simon Callow
1 post | 2 read
Simon Callow, the celebrated author of Orson Welles, delivers a dazzling, swift, and accessible biography of the musical titan Richard Wagner and his profoundly problematic legacy--a fresh take for seasoned acolytes and the perfect introduction for new fans. Richard Wagner's music dramas have never been more popular or more divisive. His ten masterpieces, created against the backdrop of a continent in severe political and cultural upheaval, constitute an unmatched body of work. A man who spent most of his life in abject poverty, inspiring both critical derision and hysterical hero-worship, Wagner was a walking contradiction: belligerent, flirtatious, disciplined, capricious, demanding, visionary, and poisonously anti-Semitic. Acclaimed biographer Simon Callow evokes the intellectual and artistic climate in which Wagner lived and takes us through his most iconic works, from his pivotal successes in The Flying Dutchman and Lohengrin, to the musical paradigm shift contained in Tristan and Isolde, to the apogee of his achievements in The Ring of the Nibelung and Parsifal, which debuted at Bayreuth shortly before his death. Being Wagner brings to life this towering figure, creator of the most sublime and most controversial body of work ever known.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
CarolynM
post image

I assume the reference is to Wagner's Kaisermarsch 😂
#ImperialMarch #SoaringScores

Cinfhen I bet this book is really a fascinating story!! 5y
Cinfhen Interesting guy 5y
CarolynM @Cinfhen I'm not a fan of Wagner but I am a fan of Simon Callow, both as a writer and an actor. 5y
See All 9 Comments
Libby1 Simon Callow is spectacular. We saw him in a one man show in London. 5y
CrowCAH Can‘t say I‘ve read any of his work. 5y
CarolynM @Libby1 What did you see? We were lucky enough to see his Dickens show when he toured Australia with it quite a few years ago now. It was wonderful! There was an extraordinary silence and stillness in the audience you only get with a really exceptional performance. 5y
CarolynM @CrowCAH I think all his books are excellent, but my favourite is his first memoir 5y
Libby1 We saw his Shakespeare show. We were in the second row and it was magnificent! 5y
CarolynM @Libby1 I'm green with envy🙂 5y
54 likes9 comments