Richard Wagner and the Art of the Avant-Garde, 1860-1910

This engaging and well-researched book explores the artistic reception and response to the German composer Richard Wagner in the later nineteenth century. Dr. Rosenthal's cogent analysis combines a well-informed discussion of Wagner's operas, musical scores, and writings with insightful consideration of works by artists from Belgium, England, France and elsewhere to offer a fresh perspective on art practice in the fin de siècle.--Susan Canning, Ph.D. Art Historian, Independent Scholar. Weaving a discussion of Wagner's life, operas, reputation, and posthumous influence with an analysis of artistic responses by the most advanced artists from 1860 to 1910 to the composer's work, Rosenthal has made a significant contribution to scholarship on modern art. The very readable style will delight the specialist and general reader alike.--John P Lambertson, Professor and Edith M. Kelso Chair of Art History, Washington and Jefferson College. In this insightful, carefully researched and abundantly illustrated book, art historian Donald Rosenthal shows the extraordinary influence of Richard Wagner's operas on the visual arts, especially on the major avant-garde artists of the nineteenth century. No other music had such a strong attraction for some of the most the adventuresome artists of that century, who used their artistic skills to present, in their different personal styles, revelatory interpretations of the staging of Wagner's operas. For lovers of opera, and especially those with a serious interest in Wagner's works, Donald Rosenthal's survey of the correspondences between the composer's music and the visual arts will be richly rewarding.--David M. Kleinberg-Levin, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Northwestern University.