Wagner and SuicideComposer Richard Wagner (1813-1883) likely suffered from a manic-depressive disorder but in his time very little was known about mental illness, and suicide was not a topic for general discussion. Wagner was often plagued by extreme mood swings; he used his operas, especially the librettos, to express himself and his personal difficulties. This investigation of the suicidal themes in Wagner's life and operas--Die Fliegender Hollander, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger, the Ring cycle, and Parsifal--shows how manic-depressive illness, particularly the depressive part of it, affected Wagner's life and art. It also analyzes the influence of Giambattista Vico's theories of cycles (and how these theories appeared in Wagner's work), suicide as a theatrical and operatic phenomenon, and the way in which the theme of suicide has appeared in other works of the literary and performing arts. |
Contents
| 7 | |
| 21 | |
Tannhauser The Artistic Personality and Suicide | 37 |
Lohengrin The Dream Persona from Another World | 55 |
Tristan und Isolde Suicide as the Best Alternative | 73 |
Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg Mania and Reconciliation | 94 |
The Ring Cycle Suicide as Threat and Triumph | 111 |
Parsifal Beyond Polarity | 148 |
Suicide in Opera and Drama | 165 |
Wagner the Decadents and the Modern British Novel | 172 |
Conclusion | 182 |
Bibliography | 187 |
Index | 193 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alberich Amfortas anti-Semitism appears artistic Bayreuth Beckmesser becomes behavior bipolar illness Brünnhilde certainly characters Christian clearly comedy comic commits suicide composer connected Cosima curse cycles of nature cyclical darkness Das Rheingold death Die Walküre dramatic dream Elisabeth Elsa Ernest Newman especially eternal famous final opera final scene Flying Dutchman German goddess Götterdämmerung Grail Hans von Bülow happy indicates King Kundry last act libretto light Liszt live Lohengrin lovers Ludwig manic Mathilde Mathilde Wesendonck medieval Meistersinger mood Nacht never Newman night Ortrud Parsifal personality polar redemption remains Rheingold Rhinemaidens rhyme Richard Wagner Ring cycle Sachs says second act seems seen Senta sexual Siegfried Siegfried's Sieglinde Siegmund sings sleep song spear stage directions suffering suggests symbol Tannhäuser tetralogy theater theme Tristan und Isolde Venice Venus Venusberg Vico's vision Wagner wrote Wagner's operas Wagnerian opera Walküre Walther wanted Wesendonck wonderful Wotan yearning
Popular passages
Page 90 - I am the daughter of earth and water, And the nursling of the sky ; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores ; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain, The pavilion of heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams, Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.
Page 57 - As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf. Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows, over the still stream, Up the hillside; and now 'tis buried deep In the next valley-glades: Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music: — Do I wake or sleep?
Page 56 - FANATICS have their dreams, wherewith they weave A paradise for a sect ; the savage too From forth the loftiest fashion of his sleep Guesses at Heaven ; pity these have not Trac'd upon vellum or wild Indian leaf The shadows of melodious utterance. But bare of laurel they live, dream, and die ; For Poesy alone can tell her dreams, With the fine spell of words alone can save Imagination from the sable- chain 10 And d.umb enchantment. Who alive can say, "Thou art no Poet — may'st not tell thy dreams?
Page 177 - Margaret greeted her lord with peculiar tenderness on the morrow. Mature as he was, she might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man.
Page 4 - Es schäumt das Meer in breiten Flüssen Am tiefen Grund der Felsen auf, Und Fels und Meer wird fortgerissen In ewig schnellem Sphärenlauf.
Page 4 - Und Stürme brausen um die Wette Vom Meer aufs Land, vom Land aufs Meer, Und bilden wütend eine Kette Der tiefsten Wirkung rings umher.
Page 177 - Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.
Page 24 - In kurzer Frist sollst du mich wieder tragen! Dein Trotz ist beugsam, — doch ewig meine Qual! — — Das Heil, das auf dem Land ich suche, nie Werd
Page 88 - Alles sagend, mild versöhnend aus ihm tönend in mich dringet, auf sich schwinget, hold erhallend um mich klinget? Heller schallend, mich umwallend, sind es Wellen sanfter Lüfte? Sind es Wolken wonniger Düfte?
Page 34 - Thus, during hypomania and mania, mood is generally elevated and expansive (or, not infrequently, paranoid and irritable); activity and energy levels are greatly increased; the need for sleep is decreased; speech is often rapid, excitable, and intrusive; and thinking is fast, moving quickly from topic to topic. Hypomanic or manic individuals usually have an inflated selfesteem, as well as a certainty of conviction about the correctness and importance of their ideas. This grandiosity can contribute...