Wagner and the Erotic Impulse

by Laurence Dreyfus

Though his image is tarnished today by unrepentant anti-Semitism, Richard Wagner (1813–1883) was better known in the nineteenth century for his provocative musical eroticism. In this illuminating study of the composer and his works, Laurence Dreyfus shows how Wagner’s obsession with sexuality prefigured the composition of operas such as Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal.

Genres: Music

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2010

Reviews

[Bill FromPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

That Wagner's music evokes his characters' sexual desires and activities, as well as those of his audience, is a fact which might be said to have been hidden in plain sight. From this, one might make the assumption that the sexuality expressed is something necessarily first experienced by the composer himself. My primary problem with this book is that it largely ignores Wagner as dramatist and often does not consider that Wagner's "musical erotics" are present as a subset of a range of emotions and states of mind experienced by his characters and musically expressed by the orchestra.

In his preface and epilogue, Laurence Dreyfus is irritatingly apologetic about the fact that he did not write a book about Wagner’s anti-Semitism. In excusing himself for his choice of subject matter, he seems to be conceding that anti-Semitism is the salient fact about Wagner, the gravitational sun around which all other topics, including the music, must arrange themselves. Oy vey. This is no doubt a reflection on what might be called “Wagner Studies Reception” in current academic musicology.

Authors of academic books often lay their cards on the table in their preface, summarizing the book section by section. Wagner and the Erotic Impulse follows that model. The author notes that the chapters started life as five lectures, but "In their final form, the five chapters tell a story that requires a brief preamble." I found the chapters more disconnected than that statement implies, though the book no doubt benefits from being read in order.

Chapter 1, Echoes, introduces Wagner’s musical erotics by surveying important nineteenth century reactions to Wagner that have often been marginalized in contemporary scholarship.

Dreyfus takes examples of opinion pro and contra Wagner that emphasize his musical and dramatic depiction of erotic sensations and actions; Baudelaire's reactions are perhaps the most famous of those cited. Dreyfus concentrates on criticism or accounts of actual performances and does not look further afield into fictional depictions beyond the over-used examples of Thomas Mann's Tristan and Wälsungenblut. I was hoping to encounter an example of Wagner considered as an aphrodisiac which I've never seen mentioned in Wagner studies: In H. G. Wells' Ann Veronica a friend of Ann's father takes her to the opera to hear Tristan und Isolde, which he seems to consider a kind of Gebrauchmusik to facilitate his seduction of her.

Chapter 2, Intentions, investigates whether Wagner knew what he was doing in composing music representing “sensuality.” It seems he knew exactly what he was doing, even if – given the mores of his time – he must be classed as a reluctant if obsessive eroticist.

The core of this chapter examines how the music of Tristan closely relates to Schopenhauer's ideas about sexual desire; this is also addressed, in even greater detail, in Bryan Magee's The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy. The section on Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient might have fallen more under the heading of "inspirations" than "intentions"; a discussion of the spurious erotic memoirs of the singer was rather irrelevant but nevertheless interesting.

Chapter 3, Harmonies, surveys the key musical techniques Wagner developed for his erotics and focuses especially on Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, and Tristan und Isolde. With Tristan, Wagner revealed the fundamental outlines of his erotico-musical world, and though I could have gone further in discussing Die Meistersinger, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, and Parsifal, I believe the subtle variants of erotic experience found in these later operas are better treated in specialized studies.

This is a good account of how Wagner expresses eroticism in music, but it also shows the limits of Dreyfus' study. He is really interested in a kind of erotic longing rendered in tonal but highly chromatic music. Of course, Tristan is the epicenter of this expression, and his study seems most valid when discussing that work, which he treats pretty much in its entirety. Otherwise, he examines only sections of the operas: the Venusberg scenes of Tannhäuser, Act I of Die Walküre, and the Parsifal / Kundry duet in Parsifal. He isn't at all interested in examining means of erotic expression in music before Wagner - earlier he dismisses Kierkegaard's ideas about Don Giovanni's Fin ch'han dal vino saying

the musical tropes have lost their erotic appeal: Since the works of Wagner, their effect is raucous and amusing, if also tuneful and puerile, rather than sensuous and libertine.

Even when older techniques of erotic expression are employed by Wagner, such as the final duet in Siegfried, Dreyfus gives them small attention. His motto might be: Nothing erotic can happen in a major key.

Chapter 4, Pathologies, considers late nineteenth-century receptions of Wagner’s “diseased” erotics to show how critics like Nietzsche unwittingly identify positive values in Wagner’s erotics at the same time that they expose the composer’s unconventional masculinity. The link between the composer’s silk and perfume fetishes and their representations in his operas seems remarkable in this light, as is the absence of his interest in “sexualizing” anti-Semitism.

This chapter largely consists of the "higher gossip", or maybe not all that high. Wagner's diagnosis of Nietzsche as a dangerously chronic masturbator, Nietzsche's hinting at Wagner's inadequate masculinity, and making much too much out of Wagner's indulgence in silks, satins, and perfumes, of very particular shades and scents. Though this indulgence was definitely a matter of sensuality, Dreyfus doesn't provide enough justification for his terming it a "fetish"; the only biographical link mentioned is Wagner's childhood love of the textures and colors of his older sister's theatrical costumes. Apparently Wagner used these materials to create a womb-like enclosure in which he could work for long periods. Surprisingly, Dreyfus makes nothing of this womb imagery; nor does he take any notice of the way mention of the hero's mother enters into the Siegfried / Brünnhilde and Parsifal / Kundry duets. Perhaps Freud and his Oedipus complex are too far out of fashion in present day academia.
Dreyfus does get his chance here to write a bit about Wagner and the Jews, or more accurately some Jews reacting to Wagner. He cites interesting reactions to Parsifal from Paul Lindau and Max Kalbeck which make mention of Wagner's anti-Semitism, as well as a more direct attack on Wagner's personal behavior and beliefs by Paul Heyse in a letter to Hermann Levy. The reactions of Wagner's contemporaries to his anti-Semitism is much more informative as to its nature than all the countless post-Holocaust condemnations and apologia. There is a brief discussion of Theodore Herzl's attachment to Tannhäuser (which I've always found a fascinating detail) and Dreyfus quotes Herzl's polemics against anti-Zionist Jews, or "Yids", scurrilous descriptions evidently included to make Wagner's own descriptions of Jewish appearance and behavior seem mild by comparison.

Finally, Chapter 5, Homoerotics, treats Wagner’s surprising regard for same sexual love (Männerliebe or Freundesliebe) as a complementary aspect to his personality. Wagner encouraged a spate of younger, sometime “homophile,” men to become passionately attached to him and this sensibility, too, surfaces in his operas.

As authors like Ethan Mordden and Wayne Koestenbaum among others have documented, there is a significant section of the gay male population that take a passionate interest in opera, which in many cases goes beyond appreciation of the art and touches upon a sense of personal identity and expression of self. It therefore would not seem to make any statement about Wagner's works in particular, as opposed to operas in general, that a number of his enthusiasts were proven or likely homosexuals. Dreyfus notes a number of homosexuals and gay couples with whom Wagner was familiar and on good terms; many of these are described in My Life with as much candor as was possible at the time. Dreyfus does not mention one homosexual, Karl von Holtei director of the theater at Riga where the young Wagner was a conductor, with whom he had an adversarial relationship; this had much to do with theatrical and employment matters and nothing to do with sexual orientation, though Wagner does not refrain from ad hominem insinuations about the latter when describing their conflicts. Dreyfus' willingness to follow tangents makes this one of the few books on Wagner to mention Henry James, who enters the narrative as an acquaintance of Parsifal stage designer Paul von Joukowsky. James, who "famously loathed music" (as Dreyfus rather forcefully phrases it), declined a meeting with Wagner on the excuse of his lack of German and Wagner's (incorrectly) assumed lack of French or English.

Dreyfus looks at Hanns Fuchs' attempts to enlist Wagner among the "homosexual in spirit," citing his sympathetic portrayal of Spartan homosexuality in his writings and his effusive emotional relationship with King Ludwig II. Dreyfus considers the 19th century idea of "romantic friendship" as an alternate and less problematic way of understanding this relationship and a number of others Wagner shared with male intimates.

[Jonathan Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreyfus discovers what is actually patently obvious. After a long history of obfuscation and downright censorship by musical scholars and the Bayreuth cult, it takes this book to strip away all the overladen philosophical prose about the higher meanings of Wagner.
What Dreyfus reveals is, what was known by Wagner's contemporaries about Wagner's erotic and sensual impulses in his music. The music is thereby brought down to a more digestible level. Wagner also comes off the better for with his own sexual vulnerabilities revealed, he becomes a three dimensional human as opposed to the Devil or Saint that others make him out to be.
The book assumes already a knowledge of Wagner and his operas, so it isn't a first book on Wagner. But it should definitely be an immediate second given the deplorable state of Wagner biographies.
The book also makes on revisit Wagner's operas and see and hear them with a new appreciation for just how human they are. These operas are not platitudes of philosophical dogma, rather the writings of a man struggling to make sense of his own sensuality/sexuality. He goes so particular that he reaches the universal, that is a more sounder way to enjoy Wagner than steeping one's self into an overdose of Schopenhauer in order to cloak Wagner;s operas into sexless meta-philosophical complexity. Dreyfus gives paints for us a picture of a flawed man struggled at artistic expression.

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book of Wagnerian scholarship and a must read for all lovers of Wagner. There are some very interesting chapters on Wagner's legendary love of silk robes and soft silky underthings. Really enjoyed and made lots of notes!!!

[Bill Arning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating from start to finish and intellectually rigorous. Operas I thought I knew well will be forever changed and made richer due to his robust scholarship