Imagined Germany  Paid

Richard Wagner's National Utopia, Second Edition

by Hannu Salmi (Author)
©2020, Monographs, VIII, 234 Pages
History & Political Science

Series: German Life and Civilization, Volume 29

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eBook


Richard Wagner (1813–1883) has often been regarded as a symbol of "Germanness." Despite this view, few studies have been undertaken regarding his nationalistic thinking. Imagined Germany focuses on Wagner’s idea of Deutschtum, especially during the unification of Germany, 1864–1871. Salmi discusses how Wagner defined Germanness, what stereotypes, ideas, and sentiments he attached to it, and what kind of state could realize Wagner’s national ideals.

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Part I “What Is German?” Wagner’s Nationalist Writings and The Possibility of a New Germany
    • Chapter One: Wagner’s Concept of the German Past
      • On the Birth of the Romantic Sense of History
      • Wagner and the History of Germany
      • Mythical Germany
      • The Past as Building Material for National Identity
    • Chapter Two: The Home of the German Spirit
      • Germany before Unification: ‘An Atomistic Chaos’
      • The State, the Nation or Culture
      • ‘The Spirit of the Genuine, True, Unadulterated’: The National Stereotypes
      • The German Genius and the Mission of German Culture
    • Chapter Three: The Gesamtkunstwerk and the Future Germany
      • The Rebirth of Antiquity
      • Wagner’s Theory of Art and the Gesamtkunstwerk
      • A Possible Germany
  • Part II “Towards the Power of Germany”: Wagner’s Political Activity and the Unification of Germany, 1864–1871
    • Chapter Four: Wagner in Munich, 1864–1865
      • Looking for a German Community
      • The Invitation to Munich
      • Ludwig II and Richard Wagner
      • The Political Gauntlet and Deportation from Munich
    • Chapter Five: A Political Outcast between Bavaria and Prussia
      • Wagner’s and Ludwig’s Relationship during the Triebschen Years
      • The Austro-Prussian War: Wagner’s Changing Relation to Prussia
      • German Art and German Politics
      • The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
    • Chapter Six: “I Stir Them Ever to Strife …”
      • The Outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870)
      • “Hail to the Emperor!”: Wagner and the Unification of Germany
  • Part III The Paths of the Artist and the State Diverge
    • Chapter Seven: Disappointment with the New Germany
      • Bismarck’s Relationship with Wagner
      • “Without Germany’s Greatness My Art Was Only a Dream …”
    • Chapter Eight: Bayreuth: Towards Immortality
      • The Foundation of the Bayreuth Festival
      • A Place in History
      • The Maintenance of the Wagner-Image by the Bayreuth Circle
  • Epilogue: “My Kingdom is Not of This World”
  • List of Sources
  • Index
Pages:
VIII, 234
Year:
2020
ISBN (HARDBACK):
9781433177385 (Active)
ISBN (EPUB):
9781433173660 (Active)
ISBN (PDF):
9781433169403 (Active)
Language:
English
Published:
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Oxford, Wien, 2020. VIII, 234 pp.
Hannu Salmi is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku in Finland. He has published numerous articles on the history of music in Finland and Germany, but is also known as a historian of film and popular culture.

"Salmi makes an important contribution to our understanding of one of the most fascinating artistic figures in German politics and culture, particularly his political role."—Michael Meyer, California State University, Northridge

"Salmi lays forever to rest the myth, propagated by some of Wagner's older apologists and by many of his more recent critics, that there existed a communality of interests between Wagner and Bismarck, as well as between the new 'Reich' and the Wagnerian cultural enterprise. Salmi shows, more clearly than anyone has done thus far, how Wagner at first styled himself as the 'most German of Germans' only to realize, in the end, that he had been crucified 'am Kreuz des deutschen Gedankens'."—Hans Rudolf Vaget, Smith College

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