While no one would dispute <strong>Wagner</strong>s ranking among the most significantcomposers in the history of Western music his works have been more fiercel... » 

While no one would dispute Wagners ranking among the most significantcomposers in the history of Western music his works have been more fiercelyattacked than those of any other composer. Alleged to be an unscrupulouswomanizer and megalomaniac undeniably a racist Wagners personal qualitiesand attitudes have often provoked and continue to provoke intense hostilitythat has translated into a mistrust and abhorrence of his music.In this emphatic lucid book Michael Tanner discusses why people feel sopassionately about Wagner for or against in a way that they do not aboutother artists who had personal traits no less lamentable than those he isthought to have possessed. Tanner lays out the various arguments made byWagners detractors and admirers and challenges most of them. The authorsfascination for the relationships among music text and plot generates anilluminating discussion of the operas in which he persuades us to see many ofWagners bestknown works anewThe Ring Cycle Tristan und Isolde Parsifal.He refrains from lengthy and detailed musical examination giving insteadpassionate and unconventional analyses that are accessible to all lovers ofmusic be they listeners or performers.In this fiery reassessment of one of the greatest composers in the history ofopera Tanner presents one of the most intelligent and controversial portraitsof Wagner to emerge for many years. «