From Abgesang to Zurich

Wagner created new worlds within his operas, yet he also generated a new world by them. Has there been any other composer, including Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, who has commanded such an enormous following and fascination? Judging by the thousands of entries in The Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia – from Abgesang to Zurich – I think not. And it is no exaggeration to say that, like its composer, this hugely impressive reference volume is not only representative of its subject but also the period in which Wagner lived (and came to dominate).

It's all here, created by an august list of Wagner scholars who unpack the mythology around the terminology and idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, face the Nazi issue head on with an entry entitled 'the Wagner-Hitler connection: fact and fiction' and detail every single character within Wagner's music dramas, placing them within a musical and a synoptic context. Following the internal references within these entries is like flipping through the pages of an old fighting fantasy book, a fitting analogy, given the mythological nucleus of Wagner's mind.

Less inclusive are the entries on recent interpreters. Barenboim, Levine and Thielemann are each accorded a paragraph, while Haitink is oddly absent. One hopes this is a matter of oversight rather than editorial factionalism. This quibble aside, there is great richness to be found. This is not just a Wagnerian who's who (or a what's what), the book explores 'morality' in the context of Wagner, aesthetic discourse, 'Sleep as a meta-principle' and the many, many figures drawn into the orbit of Bayreuth, as well as those around whom Wagner himself orbited.

Yet perhaps the strongest precept of this tome is that it avoids the hagiographic – that is if we look beyond the partiality of creating an encyclopedia of one composer in the first place. By dint of the book's sheer breadth and its authorial plurality, guided, however, by a strong editorial hand, all of Wagner is here, rough and smooth, monster and magician. Indeed, Wagner may be the echt exception to the 'love the sinner, hate the sin' rule, and still The Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia proves, if proof were needed, that you cannot ever ignore him. Click here to order a copy.

The Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia (edited by Nicholas Vazsonyi)
ISBN: 9781107004252 (hardback) — £120 (US$180)

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