Wagner and Literature: New Directions: Introduction

Abstract

Many readers of this Special Issue will be aware of the plethora of events in 2013 marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner (1813–83). In addition to several international conferences and symposia at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Freud Museum in London, and the universities of Alcalá, Leeds, Leipzig, Melbourne and Toronto (plus the multi-year ‘WagnerWorldWide’ programme organized by the University of Bayreuth), there have been Ring cycles in Berlin, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Longborough, Mannheim, Melbourne, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Seattle, Sofia and Vienna, along with the more populist ‘Rhinegold on the Rhine’ (involving a floating musical theatre) and Gregor Seyffert's colourful Leipzig dance spectacular ‘Wagner Reloaded’. The range of concerts, films and symposia associated with the ‘Wagner 200’ Festival in London alone suggests how fascinating and relevant Wagner remains for contemporary audiences and scholars. Unsurprisingly, 2013 also produced significant additions to an already vast Wagner literature: whether the wide-ranging Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia, monographs with a biographical, philosophical or cultural focus, or collected essays, book chapters and journal articles on topics such as the reception history of Wagner in France and Eastern Europe, a revisiting of Wagner's racial theories, cultural, aesthetic, gender and performance issues, and analytical and contextual studies of specific compositions.1