Critical Compendium » The Wagner Clan, by Jonathan Carr
The Wagner Clan, by Jonathan Carr

“Few modern human beings have claimed a status so godlike, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, an early friend and devotee of Wagner’s, soon became disgusted by the composer’s pretensions, likening the receptions at the first Bayreuth festival to “papal audiences.” But Nietzsche was only there to begin with because Wagner’s music — epic, enveloping and mystical — is capable of instilling quasi-religious feelings; he felt it too. After Wagner died, his family decided to match life to art. They turned up the idolatry to 11, carefully buffing all the ignominious aspects of his past out of official accounts, and presiding over the Bayreuth festival in a dynastic succession. Jonathan Carr’s fiendishly enjoyable “The Wagner Clan” describes the history of this dynasty, as plagued by scandal and treachery as the snarling millionaires in any prime-time soap opera.” Read the review at Salon.com.

Filed under: Biography, History, Nonfiction | Posted 02.04.08 | Comments:


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