THE WAGNERS: The Dramas of a Musical Dynasty
Nike Wagner, THE WAGNERS: The Dramas of a Musical Dynasty<. , $29.95 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-691-08811-2
This book by one of the composer's granddaughters is an odd hybrid: part psychologically intense investigation of Wagner's greatest operas in light of his somewhat tortured family history, part a prolonged look at that family history by one who knows it intimately, but takes pains to distance herself from it. Although Nike, the daughter of Wieland Wagner, who helped transform Bayreuth in the de-Nazified wake of WWII, is herself one of the heirs apparent of the dynasty, she does not disclose this until the final pages. It's also the first time she refers to herself in other than the third person—a rather remarkable strategy for one with such inside knowledge. The first part of the book—a rather laborious attempt to link
Reviewed on: 03/26/2001
Genre: Nonfiction
Hardcover - 327 pages - 978-0-297-64315-9