Wagner's Ring Cycle and the Greeks [Hardcover]

Foster explores how Wagner's political stance and his theories on Greek poetry and politics were combined to create the Ring.Wagner's Ring cycle, argues Foster, follows an evolutionary model of Greek poetry and politics adapted from Hegel. Providing a thorough analysis of three of the most important poetic genres  epic, lyric, and drama  this book interrogates the ways in which Wagner uses Greek aesthetics to further his own ideological goals.Wagner's Ring cycle, argues Foster, follows an evolutionary model of Greek poetry and politics adapted from Hegel. Providing a thorough analysis of three of the most important poetic genres  epic, lyric, and drama  this book interrogates the ways in which Wagner uses Greek aesthetics to further his own ideological goals.Through his reading of primary and secondary classical sources, as well as his theoretical writings, Richard Wagner developed a Hegelian-inspired theory linking the evolution of classical Greek politics and poetry. This book demonstrates how, by turning theory into practice, Wagner used this evolutionary paradigm to shape the music and the libretto of the Ring cycle. Foster describes how each of the Ring's operas represents a particular phase of Greek poetic and political development: Das Rheingold and Die Walk?re create epic national identity in its earlier and later stages respectively; Siegfried expresses lyric personal identity; and G?tterd?mmerung destructively culminates with a tragi-comedy about civic identity. This study sees the Greeks through the lens of those scholars whose work influenced Wagner most, focusing on epic, lyric, and comedy, as well as Greek tragedy. Most significantly, the book interrogates the ways in which Wagner uses Greek aesthetics to further his own ideological goals.Preface; Introduction; Part I. Epic: 1. Introduction: what is epic?; 2. Retrospective narrative and the epic process; 3. The orchestral narrator and elementary epic; 4. Spiritual and factual realities in epic; ParlÃ%