Product Description: A fascinating reassessment of a turning point in the First World War, revealing its role in shaping the German psyche On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania, a large British luxury liner, was sunk by a German submarine off the Irish coast...read more

That Wagner conceived of himself creatively as both man and woman is central to an understanding of his life and art. So argues Jean-Jacques Nattiez in this richly insightful work, where he draws from semiology, music criticism, and psychoanalysis to explore such topics as Wagner's theories of music drama, his anti-Semitism, and his psyche. Wagner, who wrote the libretti for the operas he composed, maintained that art is the union of the feminine principle, music, and the masculine principle, poetry. In light of this androgynous model, Nattiez reinterprets the Wagnerian canon, especially the Ring of the Nibelung, which is shown to contain a metaphorical transposition of Wagner's conception of the history of music: Siegfried appears as the poet, Brunnhilde, as music, and their union is an androgynous one in which individual identity fades and the lovers revert to a preconflictual, presexual state. Nattiez traces the androgynous symbol in Wagner's theoretical writings throughout his career. Looking to explain how this idea, so closely bound up with sexuality, took root in Wagner's mind, the author considers the possibility of Freudian and Jungian interpretations. In particular he explores the composer's relationship with his mother, a distant woman who discouraged his interest in the theater, and his stepfather, a loving man whom Wagner suspected was not only his real father but also a Jew. Along with psychoanalysis, Nattiez critically applies various structuralist and feminist theories to Wagner's creative enterprise to demonstrate how the nature of twentieth-century hermeneutics is itself androgynous. Originally published in 1993. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Product Description: Robert Schumann (1810–56) is one of the most important and representative composers of the Romantic era. Born in Zwickau, Germany, Schumann began piano instruction at age seven and immediately developed a passion for music. When a permanent injury to his hand prevented him from pursuing a career as a touring concert pianist, he turned his energies and talents to composing, writing hundreds of works for piano and voice, as well as four symphonies and an opera...read more

Product Description: Richard Wagner es uno de los compositores que despierta mayores polémicas y controversias estéticas, musicales y políticas. Ni sus contemporáneos ni la posteridad han sido indiferentes respecto de su obra y su vida: se lo ha tratado de ídolo y de demonio...read more

Product Description: By the end of the nineteenth century, Florence was a key destination for cultured travelers from Europe and America. Writers such as Wilde, Rilke, and Mann; painters such as Degas and Klee; and not least, the young art historian Aby Warburg and his wife, Mary, flocked to Florence to escape the encroachments of modern life at home and to revel in the city’s rich artistic and cultural past...read more

Product Description: Long regarded as one of the most important works ever written in the field of architectural criticism and architectural history Das Englische Haus was first published in 1904 and is now for the first time translated into English in its entirety, with all its original contemporary illustrations and plans...read more

Product Description: In this new biography of Richard Wagner, Joachim Köhler draws on social and political analysis, documentary interpretation, and psychological insights to paint a rounded picture of Wagner as both a controversial historical phenomenon and a complex human being...read more

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Product Description: Herbert von Karajan, the conductor, died in 1989 at the age of 81. His career was one of the most controversial in the history of classical music; he was dogged by his early collaboration with the Nazis (he was invited to conduct the Berlin State Opera in 1937 at the expense of the politically "obstinate" Furtwangler), and admired and vilified alike for his own autocratic style...read more

Despite the voluminous literature on Wagner's operas, little has been published that does justice to all the elements of their performance. This book, addressed to both specialists and the opera-going public, brings together a team of authorities from around the world to examine the performance history and reception of Wagner's works in Europe and America. Essays on conducting, singing, production, and stage design of Wagner's works explore the revolutionary nature of the composer's demands on his interpreters. The book raises profound aesthetic questions about the realization of opera on the stage: the authority of the composer vis-a-vis the director and the audience; the sanctity of the text, score and stage directions; and the role of art itself in society. These issues are discussed both theoretically and, referring to specific productions, in terms of their practical consequences. The volume also considers the explosion in popularity of Wagner's music dramas and their ability to assume new meanings - on stage and in recordings - for successive generations. It looks at the often vociferous debate over vocal and conducting styles, at the origins of Bayreuth, and at the impact of Wagner on the musical life of New York and Vienna. The book is certain to raise the level of discussion about opera production generally and to enhance our enjoyment of Wagner's works in the opera house. Barry Millington is author of the Vintage Master Musicans volume on Wagner. Stewart Spencer is editor of 'Wagner', the journal of the Wagner Society. Together they have edited the 'Selected Letters of Richard Wagner'.

Letters written by the German composer during each period in his life reveal his composing style, racism, political views, and opinion of critics