The first modern English edition of Richard Wagner's essays on
conducting, extensively annotated, with a critical essay on Wagner as
conductor: his aesthetic, practices, vocabulary, and impact.
Richard Wagner was one of the leading conductors of his time. Through
his disciples Hans von Bülow, Hans Richter, Anton Seidl, Felix Mottl,
Arthur Nikisch, and their many notable protégés, a Wagnerian art of
interpretation became the norm in Europe and America until well into the
twentieth century. Wagner's essays on conducting had an even longer
impact, and were upheld as central to their art by later generations of
conductors from Mahler to Strauss, Furtwängler, Böhm, Scherchen, and
beyond.
This is the first complete, modern translation of Wagner's conducting
essays to appear in English, and the first-ever edition to offer
extensive annotations explaining their reception and impact. The
accompanying critical essay offers a detailed analysis of Wagner's
conducting practices, his innovations in tempo and the art of
transition, his creation of a new vocabulary to describe his art, and
his success in establishing a school of conductors to promote his works
and his aesthetic.
A digital edition of this book is openly available thanks to generous
support from the Swiss National Science Foundation.