Richard Wagner's Beethoven (1870): A New Translation

by Richard Wagner, Roger Allen

Despite the enormous and accelerating worldwide interest in Wagner leading to the bicentenary of his birth in 2013, his prose writings have received scant scholarly attention. Wagner's book-length essay on Beethoven, written to celebrate the centenary of Beethoven's birth in 1870, is really about Wagner himself rather than Beethoven. It is generally regarded as the principal aesthetic statement of the composer's later years, representing a reassessment of the ideas of the earlier Zurich writings, especially Oper und Drama, in the light of the experience gained through the composition of Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and the greater part of Der Ring des Nibelungen. It contains Wagner's most complete exegesis of his understanding of Schopenhauer's philosophy and its perceived influence on the compositional practice of his later works. The essay also influenced the young Nietzsche. It is an essential text in the teaching of not only Wagnerian thought but also late nineteenth-century musical aesthetics in general. Until now the English reader with no access to the German original has been obliged to work from two Victorian translations. This brand new edition gives the German original and the newly translated English text on facing pages. It comes along with a substantial introduction placing the essay not only within the wider historical and intellectual context of Wagner's later thought but also in the political context of the establishment of the German Empire in the 1870s. The translation is annotated throughout with a full bibliography. Richard Wagner's Beethoven will be indispensable reading for historians and musicologists as well as those interested in Wagner's philosophy and the aesthetics of music. ROGER ALLEN is Fellow and Tutor in Music at St Peter's College, Oxford.

Genres: Music

230 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1870

About the author

Germanic legends often based romantic operas of especially known composer Richard Wagner, who worked Tannhäuser (1845) and the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (1853-1876).

From 1872, Richard Wagner lived at Bayreuth to 1883 and designed the opera house, used chiefly for performances of his works.

Works of Jacques Martin Barzun include Darwin, Marx, Wagner (1941).

Wilhelm Richard Wagner conducted, directed theater, and authored essays, primarily for his later called "music dramas." Unlike most other greats, Wagner wrote the scenario and libretto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

Reviews

[Andrei Tamaş · Rating 1 out of 5]

O incercare esuata de a face o filosofie muzicala pe tema geniului lui Beethoven. Se proiecteaza un nationalism extrem -"spiritul german"- si o imagine mult disproportionata (pozitiv) a lui Beetoven. Wagner nu e scriitor!

[Víctor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un compositor genial (Wagner) escribiendo sobre otro compositor genial y fundamental (Beethoven). Este es el principal aliciente de este breve ensayo. La lectura se hace incómoda por momentos debido al estilo ampuloso y la intención abarcadora del texto, que analiza la obra de Beethoven desde un punto de vista filosófico y estético. Destacaría la poética descricipón del cuarteto nº 14, un pasaje espléndido.