The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt: Dramaturgical Leaves: Richard Wagner

(Hardback)

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The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt: Dramaturgical Leaves: Richard Wagner completes the second half of Liszts writings about stage works, its composers, and music drama. In this volume, Liszt focuses on the works of his most controversial devotee and son-in-law, Richard Wagner, whose music dramas Liszt championed as conductor during his tenure in Weimar. Here, we see Liszt prove his skill and expertise as a music critic, as well. He offers a critical analysis of the aesthetic and musical principles that underlie Wagners operas, Tannhuser, Lohengrin, and The Flying Dutchman, including a thorough discussion of Wagners Leitmotif system of composition. Additionally, his findings are substantiated with a plethora of music examples, which will satisfy those who wanted greater musical substance from his writings. He also foretells the magnitude of Wagners influence on prosperity in his pamphlet-length essay, The Rhines Gold. Finally, the editor and translator of this volume, Janita Hall-Swadley, provides a unique perspective on these same principles, which is based on Wagners own mysterious diagram of The Philosophers Stone, which was supposed to be included in the original 1863 edition of the composers important writing, Opera and Drama, but never made it to publication.

Author Bio

Janita R. Hall-Swadley is a music researcher and German translator. She received her formal music training in musicology, piano performance, 19th-century philosophy, and German studies at Florida State University, The Boston Conservatory, and the University of North Texas. Her music focus is concentrated in the 19th century, especially in the independent study of the music and ideologies of Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann.