For your reading list 1

Posted byJohnPosted inUncategorized

One of the books I got for Christmas was ‘Wagnerism’ by Alex Ross – Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music: Amazon.co.uk: Ross, Alex: 9780007319053: Books

I am now about 75% of the way through it – it is a fascinating, if exhausting, read. Essentially it is a history of European culture from the 1880’s to the 1930’s, and the omnipresence of Wagner’s influence in almost all aspects of that culture – Conrad, Virginia Woolf, TS Eliot, Joyce, Mann  – you name them, they have a place in Ross’s book. Occasionally it begins to be a bit list-like and repetitive, and its structure is very much of the “…and then…..and then….and then….” variety. But every reader will discover things they didn’t know – I am still boggling (and maybe Ross is being playful here) over the provenance of the French processed cheese brand – “Le Vache Qui Rit”, which apparently was an ironic French 1st World War nod to the German habit of naming their military defences with Wagnerian terms – Siegfried line, etc. “Le Vache Quit Rit, Valkyrie, geddit? Hmmm, not sure……

Anyway., a thoroughly recommended read for all Wagnerians

Published by John

I'm a grandfather, parent, churchwarden, traveller, chair of governors and trustee!. I worked for an international cultural and development organisation for 39 years, and lived for extended periods of time in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Ghana. I know a lot about (classical) music, but not as a practitioner, (particularly noisy late Romantics - Wagner, Mahler, Bruckner, Richard Strauss). I am well travelled and interested in different cultures and traditions. Apart from going to concerts and operas, I love reading, walking in the hills, theatre and wine-making. I'm also a practising Christian, though not of the fierce kind. And I'm into green issues and sustainability.

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