Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind and His Music

by Robert W. Gutman

Ranging far beyond the bounds of conventional biography and music history, this book examines the cultural background of Wagnerâ s art, including the nether regions of nationalism and racism. New Introduction by the Author. Index; photographs.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Kyr · Rating 1 out of 5]

A well-written biography, but so deeply prejudiced that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Gutman reinterprets Wagner's operas without scholarly foundation; Parsifal, Wagner's tale of the maturing of a soul through the experience of compassion, is portrayed by Gutman as a homoerotic, antisemitic parable of racial eugenics, and Wagner, whose antisemitism is sufficiently well-known, is all but blamed for the holocaust. It's just too tempting to attribute Gutman's obsessions to his own established homosexuality and Jewishness. I read this book as a teenager when it first came out in 1968, and even then I could tell that it was a deeply biased and dishonest work. Gutman died this year, and I can only hope that he has to face Wagner in the afterlife.

[Isidore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gutman's sardonic, sometimes gossipy account of Wagner's life (forget the subtitle, since coverage of "the mind" and "the music" is slapdash and erratic) will either delight you with its biting sarcasm or irritate you with its indifference to the ideal of scholarly detachment and objectivity. I've owned it for decades, and formerly belonged to the camp of the delighted; these days, I wish that Gutman offered a variety of viewpoints and interpretations, rather than unfailingly opting for those which cast Wagner in the worst possible light.

If you want a good introductory Wagner biography with less attitude, try Barry Millington's Wagner, which also provides a lucid overview of the music. Milington's sumptuous new biography, The Sorcerer of Bayreuth, looks better still, but I've only glanced at it.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A CONTOVERSIAL, YET ILLUMINATING PORTRAYAL OF WAGNER AS MAN AND MUSICIAN,

At the time this book was first published in 1968, Robert W. Gutman was a member of the State University of New York, and had been a lecturer on Wagner and his works at the Bayreuth Festival. He has also written 'Mozart: A Cultural Biography.' He explained in the Preface, "I hope to fulfill the need for a comprehensive, one-volume biography of the composer combined with critical discussions of his works. Essentially, the purpose of the book is to see Wagner in terms of ideas---of cultural history." (Pg. xix)

He states frankly, "Unhappily, a proto-Nazism, expressed mainly through an unextinguishable loathing of the [Jewish people], was one of Wagner's principal leitmotifs, the venomous tendrils of anti-Semitism twining through his life and work." (Pg. xiv) Of Wagner's own autobiography, he wrote, "Much of Mein Leben was propagandist and twisted facts for its own ends." (Pg. 5) He chronicles Wagner's "chaotic money affairs," as Wagner "had fled Dresden owing funds in excess of twelve times the total of his comfortable Kapellmeister's salary, and every week ... brought to light more local debts." (Pg. 162)

He suggests, "who among women was not distant from the workings of his colossal brain? He never sought intellectuality in those he desired to sleep with." (Pg. 110) Of Wagner's breakup with his first wife Wilhelmine "Minna" Planer, he wrote, "Minna, who desired him home, doubtlessly, to show Dresden that despite all storms she was still Frau Wagner, was soon appalled to learn that he wanted a divorce. Hans Sachs had found his Eva Pogner," who was his second wife, Cosima---who was the daughter of Franz Liszt. (Pg. 207) Gutman notes about Cosima, "She was pregnant. One wonders whether she knew whose child she was carrying." (Pg. 235; it was Wagner's, although she was married to virtuoso Hans von Bulow at the time.)

Of Wagner's relation with Liszt, Gutman wrote, "The goals and personalities of the composers were worlds apart. An association endured between the aristocratic, generous Liszt and the raucous, self-seeking Wagner solely through the former's appreciation of an overwhelming musical talent and the exercise of a diplomacy for which he was famous." (Pg. 143) He records Wagner's stormy relationship with the philosopher Nietzsche (who said, "I would never have survived my youth without Wagnerian music"; pg. 314). He states, "(Wagner's) resentment of Nietzsche seems to rest upon the fact that this man of naive and often dilettante musical tastes dared challenge a master in his own area. But Nietzsche's challenge was essentially ethical, not musical." (Pg. 357)

He notes, "The depth and sincerity of religious belief could really have made little difference to Wagner, who, despite the hocus-pocus of Parsifal, thoroughly detested Christianity as Judaic error perpetuated." (Pg. 335)

While frank and opinionated, this book serves, in my opinion, Gutman's goal. (There are other Wagner biographies to consult for a contrasting view, such as 'Richard Wagner: His Life, Art, and Thought.')

[Derek Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually this is a five-star book in terms of the writing, the discussion and insights into Wagner and his music. But I had to dock a star for the inherent unpleasantness of the material, i.e. the personage of Wagner. It's hard going when one is constantly reminded of his callousness and general depravity. Skipping got me to the end...

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deathridge and Dahlhaus list this as one of the very few "principal biographies" of this controversial genius.

[tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book, really exposes Wagner's personality and his relationships to other great composers, philosophers, conductors, and politicians of his day.