Wagner in thought and practice / Geoffrey Skelton.

Author/creator Skelton, Geoffrey
Format Book
Publication InfoPortland, OR : Amadeus Press, 1992.
Description212 pages ; 22 cm
Subjects

Contents Ends and means: Opera and drama in thought -- Pursuing the goal: Opera and drama in practice -- The one and indivisible art: the reason for Bayreuth -- A certain something: the vision and reality of stagecraft -- The art of noble deception: the role of the actor-singer -- I still owe the world Tannhäuser: the Dresden and Paris versions -- My final victory over life: the evolution of Parsifal.
Abstract In this series of related essays, the author, a distinguished Wagner scholar, attempts not only to identify Wagner's ideas on drama at all levels from spiritual and moral aspects down to techniques of acting and breath control, but also to show how vital and essential a part these ideas played in the actual creation of his dramatic works. Since Wagner was in equal measure a practical man and a visionary, the essays explore both theory and dramatic realization: the implications of his important treatise Opera and Drama, his concept of the setting for his operas that resulted in the building of the Festspielhaus at Bayreuth, the desired visual presentation with its demands upon the artifices of stagecraft, and the role of the singer-actor in presenting these unprecedented music dramas. The final essays trace the development of Tannhauser and Parsifal from the moment of their conception to their final realization on stage, the one an early work written before his theories were fully formulated, the other both a final statement and a new beginning.
General noteFirst published in Great Britain 1991 by Lime Tree, an imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group.
ISBN0931340586 :

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML410.W13 S59 1992 ✔ Available Place Hold