Even a Nationalist enjoyed the book
Yes well I thought this was a very interesting book. It explains alot of connections between Nationalists of the day and read like a who's who of the right. Really put alot of it all in context for me. I would recommend it to all Nationalists as a good history of what was going on at the time.
The Wagner clan-the saga of Germany's most illustious and infammous family
Wonderful history of the Wagner family that would be enjoyed by music lovers and non-music lovers alike.
a great read
If you are into Wagner (and all you have to do is listen to any of his music and you will be) this is a most interesting book. Great background on Bayreuth and the festival. Yes, sad that Winifred went gaga over Hitler and a low mark for Bayreuth. But it happened...let's move on. To attend the festival at Bayreuth is a grand experience. This book brings it back...with all the good and bad memories. Hitler did say one good thing: "You can never have too much Wagner." I highly recommend this book.
Beautifuly written to boot.
Wagner with an agenda
Jonathan Carr's book on the Wagner clan is bascally an interesting look into the lives of an interesting family. The Wagners' devotion to the works of the patriarch, Richard, is unusual in this day and age. Each member of the family is a facinating topic per se. However, Carr's obsession with German politics gets in the way; yes Wagner displayed antisemtism in his life, yes his daugher in law was fascinated with Adolph Hitler and yes the Bayreuth Fesitval became a showcase for Nazi pretensions to high culture. All that is regretable and well known. Carr however goes into post war German politics with the intention of smearing people like Conrad Adenauer and his administration for not sufficently denouncing the Wagner ethos at Bayreuth. At the same time Carr gives his fellow European socialists a pass by praising how they owned up to the evil connections to the Nazi past of their countrymen. It would have been interesting and fair had Carr mentioned that his fellow Leftists turned a blind eye to the brutality of the Soviet and Communist regimes and that Left wing artists like Brecht and Gunther Grass made common cause with these brutal regimes in the latter half of the twentiet century. Maybe Adenauer et al did not do enough to highlight the connections of post war Germans with the evil of Nazism but the Left continued to praise the evil of Communism within their own artistic world.
Recommended but
Well written. If you looking for a biography of
Richard Wagner this is not it, and you need to buy another book. This is the story of how the family was able to retain control of Wagner's preformances. I found the first part of the book to be most interesting since it discribes Richard and events up to 1947. The post World War II porition of the book is less interesting since it resembles a "soap opera" and I lost interest in the spoiled Wagner grandchildren and great grandchildren.
(5 reviews)
