Richard Wagner: A Biography

by Derek Watson

. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, clean copy, no markings, chipped dustjacket, Professional booksellers since 1981

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1980

Reviews

[James Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Derek Watson's biography of Wagner is concise while providing cultural context for this amazing musical genius's life. Wagner did not lead the life of a closeted composer. Rather he led a protean existence that saw him on the battlements in 1848; traveling throughout Europe, in Paris and elsewhere promoting his new music; making love to multiple women; and more. The life is one that deserves the many biographers that have been attracted to it. This short volume is a great introduction to one who defined Romanticism with his actions: a towering artist, writer, thinker, and musician. Simply a genius of the nineteenth century.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best things that Wagner ever did was to die. He was a bastard, even when he was younger and when he got worse, he was a manipulative, bossy, whiny, arrogant bastard. He's been dead for 100-odd years and some of the things he did still makes me want to create a time travelling machine and go back to punch him in the face.
That being said, he was also a genius in the world of opera and music in general. Some of the things he did, and still does, can move you like no other. Despite of the way he lived his life, he did manage to create the Der Ring des Nibelungen, a four-part Opera and spanning about 22-hours, all by himself. No one have ever managed to do that again.
Watson's biography of Wagner does not pull any punches, as it shouldn't. Anyone who tries to condone or do the apologist thing is an idiot and is completely in denial. The last 50 pages is a particularly hard read, when Wagner is completely off his rocker, his anti-semitism almost turning into a farce.
I can't really recommend this to everyone, because I do know opera isn't everyone's thing, but his story is an interesting one. At the end of the day, all we can do is learn from Wagner's mistakes and show him as the a flawed genius he was.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good biography of Wagner. A great balance of his life, his music, his thoughts and the time that he lived in. All important in understanding a super complex individual. Billed as the best short biography and I can see why that accolade is awarded.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

This biography gets lost in detail, and until the very end seems to lose the forest for the trees. Names, names, names, are recounted and repetitive circumstances are drawn out in agonizing detail.

Part of my difficulty with the text is that I have never actually watched a Wagner opera. The author seems to presume that the reader has already seen all of the operas and will be fascinated by any detail (and I mean ANY detail) that provides any background to the piece.

Where I am willing to give two stars rather than an angry one-star revenge-review is that Watson eventually brings Wagner's life and politics and music into perspective, and having dragged myself through the denser portions of the text I do feel enriched in knowing more about 19th Century Germany and the legacy of Wagner's epic, mythic, and fantastic operas.

To me, the most interesting part of Wagner is that the "Here Comes the Bride" drama of every wedding is the bridal chorus from Lohengrin. Perhaps that illustrates how far removed I am from the Wagnerian cognoscenti, as it does not warrant so much as a sentence to Watson. But oh he is willing to describe in grim detail the hundred million times that Wagner borrows money, and to tell us every color of his clothes, and how he decorates his bedroom, and the name of every actor/singer who performed every part . . . .

So reading this book will not be a total waste of time. Just painful.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at a man everyone has heard of but know little if his life. The book is well written, a little long on unimportant details but other wise enjoyable. Wagner's life was a journey we can not even imagine. It is almost a miracle that he survive his own genius and ambition. He was an uncontrollable child, "The Cossack", a revolutionary with a death warrant over his head, bankrupted and a fugitive, all while revolutionizing music in Europe and writing operas unlike anything ever heard. A truly amazing story of a monster genius who survived in spite of himself. Those who understood him supported him in many ways but without King Ludwig's love for him he may have never accomplished the Ring series of operas. Those who did not understand him went out of their way to destroy him, particularly the press.