Richard Wagner As Poet and Thinker: Ten Lectures by JG RobertsonBruce Steele Richard Wagner as poet? Yes! This hitherto unpublished study invites the reader to see Wagner's texts not just as opera librettos but as dramatic poems in their own right. An authority on German literature, Robertson offers an engaging account of the poems in the light of nineteenth-century drama and the changing currents of social and religious thought. John George Robertson was foundation professor of German Language and Literature in London University, 1903-33. He was the husband of Australian novelist Henry Handel Richardson. Their lifelong love of Wagner's operas, which began when they met in Leipzig as students in the 1880s, is evident in this book.
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Contents
Lecture II | 14 |
Lohengrin Wagner and the Revolution | 35 |
Lecture IV | 49 |
Der Ring des Nibelungen The Drama and the Saga | 66 |
Lecture VI | 81 |
Lecture VII | 97 |
Tristan und Isolde | 112 |
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg | 129 |
Lecture X | 144 |
| 157 | |
Common terms and phrases
Alberich Amfortas artistic Bayreuth Brünnhilde century Christian comedy completed conceived conflict curse deeper divine Elsa epic eternal faith fate Feuerbach Feuerbach to Schopenhauer Fliegende Holländer Flying Dutchman Friedrich genius German gods Götterdämmerung Heinrich von Ofterdingen hero Hoffmann Holy Gral human ideal ideas interesting Isolde’s Klingsor Kundry later lectures literary literature Lohengrin lovers Mathilde mediaeval merely motive musician Nibelung’s Ring Nietzsche night Ofterdingen Oper und Drama opera Ortrud Parsifal Parzival passing passion pessimism philosophy poem Poet & Thinker poet’s poetic poetry political realisation redeem renounces renunciation Revolution revolutionary Richard Wagner Rienzi Ring des Nibelungen Romantic Romanticism Sachs saga scene Schopenhauer Schopenhauer’s Siegfried Siegfried’s Death Siegmund sketch spear spiritual story suffering symbol Tannhäuser tetralogy theatre things thought tragic Tristan und Isolde Valkyrie Venusberg verse Wagner and Schopenhauer Wagner as Poet Wagner found Wagner’s mind Walther Wartburg whole Wolfram Wotan Wotan Tragedy young