Wagner: His Life & Music

by Stephen Johnson

Sourcebooks MediaFusion and Naxos proudly present this fascinating biography of composer Richard Wagner. Acclaimed music writer Stephen Johnson follows Wagner's development as man and composer, and sets out the experiences-the personal joys and sorrows as well as the broader cultural forces-that formed him and made him one of the most widely loved composers in classical music.
Wagner was an innovator both in harmony and in the structure of his operas, frequently applying themes or melodies to a particular character or event. He created his own version of the ?Gesamtkunstwerk, ? compositions in which the arts were brought together into a single unity.
Included are two CDs of carefully chosen Wagner pieces.
Readers also gain access to an exclusive website that offers new essays, the musical works in full and more. This revolutionary biography utilizes traditional and new media to provide a uniquely rounded portrait of the composer and his music.

243 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't one of those big, epic, all encompassing biographies. It's not the sort of book to tell you what condiments Wagner put on every knockwurst he ate in 1863. This is more of a biographical sketch, giving you the broad strokes and leaving out a lot of detail. I noticed that the ratings for this book are pretty low, and I wonder if its shortness is to blame (although, I don't wonder it hard enough to go read any of the negative reviews). Since I had no desire to know every little detail of Wagner's life, this worked for me.

These days Wagner is known to many people as a sort of proto-Nazi drama queen, and in this book Stephen Johnson tries to spin a more positive view of the man and his music by putting the raging antisemitism in context and arguing that the music is more than bombast with a melody. He's about as successful as possible, given his subject.

The book also includes a couple hours of music, which was helpful and brought a few beautiful pieces to my attention.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Not very detailed but thorough enough to get to know Wagner and his life.

[Gazmend Ceno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - it is a smooth read. It's a good start for beginners... Besides, the music is superb! :)

[M Pereira · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short piece but informative biography. One that goes through his less successful aspects of his career, which is often forgotten.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only reason I didn't give it two stars was because it came with a CD to go along with book, which was kind of nifty