Overview
William Kinderman's detailed study of Parsifal, described by the composer as his ""last card,"" explores the evolution of the text and music of this inexhaustible yet highly controversial music drama across Wagner's entire career, and offers a reassessment of the ideological and political history of Parsifal, shedding new light on the connection of Wagner's legacy to the rise of National Socialism in Germany. The compositional genesis is traced through many unfamiliar manuscript sources, revealing unsuspected models and veiled connections to Wagner's earlier works. Fresh analytic perspectives are revealed, casting the dramatic meaning of Parsifal in a new light. Much debated aspects of the work, such as Kundry's death at the conclusion, are discussed in the context of its stage history.Path-breaking as well is Kinderman's analysis of the religious and ideological context of Parsifal. During the half-century after the composer's death, the Wagner family and the so-called Bayreuth circle sought to exploit Wagner's work for political purposes, thereby promoting racial nationalism and anti-Semitism. Hitherto unnoticed connections between Hitler and Wagner's legacy at Bayreuth are explored here, while differences between the composer's politics as an 1849 revolutionary and the later response of his family to National Socialism are weighed in a nuanced account. Kinderman combines new historical research, sensitive aesthetic criticism, and probing philosophical reflection in this most intensive examination of Wagner's culminating music drama.
Full Product Details
Author: William Kinderman (Professor of Musicology, Professor of Musicology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 23.60cm
, Height: 3.10cm
, Length: 16.30cm
Weight: 0.587kg
ISBN: 9780195366921
ISBN 10: 0195366921
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 15 August 2013
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
I am eager with anticipation of this new book and will carry it with me for years to come! --Eric Halfvarson, bass
<br> I am eager with anticipation of this new book and will carry it with me for years to come! <br>--Eric Halfvarson, bass <br><p><br>
Professor William Kinderman has given us a most comprehensive analysis of this complicated work ... Kinderman makes a reevaluation of the genesis of this important work and demolishes many traditional views about Parsifal. German A. Bravo-Casas, wagneropera.net
Author Information
William Kinderman is professor of music at the University of Illinois, has taught extensively in Berlin and Munich, Germany, and held many seminars at the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth. He has written or edited many books, including Beethoven and Mozart's Piano Music. He is an accomplished concert pianist, and has recorded Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and last sonatas.
