The Complete Operas Of Richard Wagner (The Complete Opera Series) by Charles Osborne

by Charles Osborne

In The Complete Operas of Richard Wagner, as in the first four volumes of his famous series on the great opera composers, Charles Osborne first describes the composer's life at the time he wrote each opera, thus providing a biographical thread which runs through the book; follows it with a thorough examination of the libretto and its sources; and lastly tells the story of the opera, which he links to the major musical features.

Genres: Music

Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Charles Thomas Osborne was a journalist, theatre and opera critic, poet and novelist. He was assistant editor of The London Magazine from 1958 until 1966, literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1971 until 1986, and chief theatre critic of Daily Telegraph (London) from 1986 to 1991. He is the only author the Agatha Christie Estate has ever allowed to produce adapted works in her name. (wikipedia)

Reviews

[Noah Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flying Dutchman was good but short

[reoccurrence]

This book helped me get a better understanding of Wagner’s operas

[Jacob Hurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly good summary but seems uninterested in engaging the work on the mystical terms most Wagnerians (and Wagner himself) wanted to, which means more or less it's just a discussion of the perverted plots and occasionally good, occasionally bad music. The author seems to like to take every shot at Wagner he can, which is fair I guess

[Fred Kohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished reading this book this morning but didn't feel comfortable reviewing it until tonight, after watching at least one Wagner opera. I must admit I enjoyed the book much more than my rating would indicate. I was expecting only a description of the operas, but there was a lot of biographical material included, as well as a lot of quotes from Wagner's writings and music critics contemporary with him. That really gives a sense of what these operas are about. And I certainly came away from this book with a great desire to absorb some Wagner, which, after all, is the main purpose. But there were numerous things about the book I didn't like. First, one gets the distinct impression that Osborne doesn't really care much for Wagner, and I didn't feel he gave the composer his due. Second, there were only 39 musical examples for thirteen operas, and nine of them were for Parsifal! Third, I felt that there were important things about the music that were left out. My first clue as to this came from the chapter on Götterdämmerung. I found this chapter hard to follow, and reread it to find out whether this was due to the author or to me. One thing I discovered on this reread was that there was frequent mention of the Gibichung, and I didn't know who these people were. Another clue was that when watching Parsifal I was practically struck in the face with the legend of the Wandering Jew in the person of Kundry. It seems like it should rate at least a mention in the relevant chapter, especially given Wagner's anti-Jewish polemical intentions in this opera.

[Torsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

გარდა ვაგნერის ოპერების სრული ჩამონათვალისა ( სად და როდის დაიდგა პირველად, ვინ მონაწილეობდა მასში... ) ავტორი მოგვითხრობს კომპოზიტორის ბიოგრაფისასაც. როგორ ხდებოდა ოპერაზე მუშაობა, რა შთააგონებდა ვაგნერს და ა.შ. მოკლედ რომ ვთქვათ, ესაა წიგნი, რომელიც ყველა ჭეშმარიტად ჭეშმარიტი ვაგნერიანელის წიგნის თაროს დაამშვენებს.

[Mills College Library]

782.2 O81c 1991