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    Wagnerism by Alex Ross Summary

    Wagnerism
    Alex Ross
    4.18 (1217 Reviews)
    History
    Politics
    Philosophy
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    Overview of Wagnerism

    Wagnerism explores Richard Wagner's colossal shadow across art, politics, and culture. From Nietzsche to Apocalypse Now, his influence spans 1,000+ film soundtracks and inspired both Nazis and Bolsheviks. How did one controversial composer's vision reshape our entire cultural landscape?

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    Key Takeaways

    1

    When a Composer Becomes a Civilization

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    Five thousand telegrams flooded Venice within 24 hours of Richard Wagner's death in 1883. Memorial concerts erupted across continents. His funeral procession along the Grand Canal featured boats playing Siegfried's Funeral Music-as if the gods themselves were mourning. This wasn't just grief for a composer; it was something stranger, more unsettling. Wagner had become a cultural force field, bending art, politics, and identity around his gravitational pull. Thomas Mann called him "the most volcanically controversial artist who ever lived." Even if you've never stepped inside an opera house, you know Wagner-the "Ride of the Valkyries" thundering through Apocalypse Now, the "Bridal Chorus" at countless weddings. His music has been claimed by revolutionaries and fascists, feminists and mystics, gay rights activists and antisemites. How does one man's art become a mirror for an entire civilization's contradictions?

    2

    The Ring: Capitalism's Funeral March

    3

    Paris Surrenders: Baudelaire and the Symbolists

    4

    Victorian Ambivalence and American Democracy

    5

    The Poisoned Legacy: Wagner's Antisemitism and Its Consequences

    6

    Hitler's Wagner and Cinema's Valkyries

    7

    The Mirror We Cannot Escape