At age 37, Richard Wagner—composer, exile, and failed revolutionary—set to work on the project that would consume the next 25 years of his life. By its completion, it had grown into arguably the most ambitious artwork of the 19th century: the monumental cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, a fifteen-hour operatic tetralogy of unprecedented scope and complexity, narrating the history of the world from its birth to its destruction. The cycle was intended not only as entertainment, but as a vehicle of social and political transformation—a means by which to realize, through art, the utopian aspirations that had been crushed in the revolutions of 1848. Its music captivated devotees from Charles Baudelaire to the young Friedrich Nietzsche, while Wagner’s artistic radicalism and prophetic self-image transformed the arts. More
In this course, it will examine the many facets of the Ring: its music, its mythology, its transformative social and political project, and its long historical shadow. You will listen to and discuss all four operas, coupling them with readings from Wagner and from his admirers and detractors, including Nietzsche, Adorno, and Thomas Mann. Also, explore the intricacies of Wagner’s artistic technique, from the complex web of musical leitmotifs that unite the four operas to the harmonic and orchestral innovations that mesmerized his contemporaries, and consider their relation to the Ring’s larger political and metaphysical vision. More
Language: English
Price: $315
Date and Time: 04/08-29/19, Mondays, 6:30-9:30pm
Location: Goethe-Institut New York, 30 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003
Fore more information please visit www.goethe.de