Masques in Jacobean Tragedy

Abstract

With the aid of a remarkable assemblage of 300 production photographs, sketches, and drawings (60 of which are in color) Bauer traces the efforts of designers, directors, and producers in interpreting the operas for their audiences and their times. Bauer's encompassing thesis is that all these productions are a part of a continuing creative examination of Wagner's work. Ranging from the premiere of each work, through the Bayreuth Style established by Cosima Wagner, the revolutionary experiments of Alfred Roller and Adolphe Appia, the 1920s international style of Emil Preetorius, the Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner style of the 1950s and 1960s, and the current experiments of today, the works of Wagner emerge, through production, as vital and necessary testaments of the human spirit and its creative vision. By so admirably documenting the above, this book becomes an essential study for the scholar, the theatre artist, and the opera lover.