海角大神

Richard Wagner鈥檚 four-opera 鈥淒er Ring des Nibelungen鈥� (鈥淭he Ring of Nibelungen鈥�) is an undisputed masterpiece of classical music. Since its premiere in 1876, 鈥淭he Ring,鈥� as it is collectively known, has become a cultural touchstone and has captivated global audiences.

Still, Wagner (1813鈥�1883) and his music have faced a public-relations challenge. Biographers have assailed Wagner鈥檚 lack of moral character, and 鈥淭he Ring鈥� became associated with Nazi rallies in Germany.

While not ignoring the controversies, Michael Downes, a conductor and the director of music at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, focuses on the composition of the four operas. In 鈥淲agner and the Creation of The Ring,鈥� he writes, 鈥淲hether by supervising the invention of new instruments or by combining familiar instruments in new ways, Wagner determines to make every moment of his new drama sound like nothing that has ever been heard before.鈥�

Downes鈥� grand story is about how, over nearly three decades, Wagner envisioned, wrote, composed, and created an all-encompassing artistic experience. He put himself in charge of everything from writing the libretti (published as poems before he imagined the music) to the casting, directing, and staging. He recruited sponsors to fund the building of the festival theater in Bayreuth, Germany, where 鈥淭he Ring鈥� was first presented. Downes observes that 鈥渢hese events required not just musicianship but also impressive organisational, political, diplomatic, literary and rhetorical skills.鈥�

Though the supreme synopses of 鈥淭he Ring鈥� belong to the pen of playwright George Bernard Shaw (in 鈥淭he Perfect Wagnerite鈥�), Downes is an efficient summarizer of the complicated plots. He also recounts, in the spirit of an opera buffa, the composer鈥檚 own tangled love life. After extramarital affairs and the death of his wife, Minna, he took up with a daughter of Franz Liszt, Cosima, who was married to Hans von B眉low, a conductor who helped Wagner鈥檚 early career. After Cosima鈥檚 divorce, she and Wagner married in 1870.

Downes points out the composer鈥檚 problematic behaviors, such as lying to benefactors and creditors, holding 鈥渙ften repellent political views,鈥� and writing antisemitic diatribes that trade in offensive Jewish stereotypes.

Against the backdrop of mid-19th-century upheavals in Europe, Wagner was an enthusiastic revolutionary and applauded violence to achieve political ends. After he participated in an uprising, there were even calls for his arrest. Yet in his ambition to have his operas staged, he suppressed or disowned his political ideals and made bargains with royal and governmental financiers.

After the premiere of 鈥淭he Ring,鈥� although it had been critically admired and its performances fully attended, Wagner, characteristically in debt, did not have enough money to stage it again for several years. By that time, he had lost something of his confidence in it. Downes reminds us that 鈥淲ithin a few years 鈥楾he Ring鈥� will sell out theatres across Europe 鈥� and that within a few more, half of the world鈥檚 writers, artists and musicians will come under its spell.鈥� It seems no composer has more influenced Hollywood music than Wagner. We have all heard his work (or derivations of it) in the sweeping, lush orchestrations in cinematic romances, adventures, and war stories.

After Wagner鈥檚 death, his heirs carried on the legacy of 鈥淭he Ring,鈥� most infamously in the 1930s when Wagner鈥檚 son鈥檚 wife and grandson cozied up to Adolf Hitler, who promoted the music as Nazi theme songs. 鈥淭he prominent support given to the [Bayreuth] festival before and during the war by the Nazi Party and by Hitler himself has caused immense, perhaps irrevocable damage to its reputation 鈥� and by extension to that of Wagner鈥檚 work,鈥� Downes writes.

As an acknowledged admirer of Wagner鈥檚 accomplishments, Downes begins and ends the book by recounting his own experiences of attending performances of 鈥淭he Ring鈥� before, during, and after the pandemic years: 鈥淚 now navigate my way through the experience with a better sense of the cycle鈥檚 peculiar geography, of where the hidden peaks as well as the obvious ones lie; I notice more and more links between themes each time I attend a performance, so that by the end of 鈥楪otterdammerung鈥� [鈥楾he Twilight of the Gods,鈥� the last of the four operas] almost everything seems connected to everything else, which is probably the effect Wagner intends.鈥�

Every vast artistic work has its own story, because each one demands or commands so much of its creator鈥檚 life.