Wagner’s Visions: Poetry, Politics, and the Psyche in the Operas through Die Walküre by Katherine R. Syer (review)

Abstract

Wagner's Visions: Poetry, Politics, and the Psyche in the Operas through Die Walkure. By Katherine R. Syer. (Eastman Studies in Music, vol. 115.) Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2014. [x, 256 p. ISBN 9781580464826. $80.] Music examples, illustrations, figures, bibliography, index. In Wagner's Visions, Katherine R. Syer explores the musical and scenic portrayal of dreams, nightmares, and altered states of consciousness Richard Wagner's characters experience in his operas their potential to embody in art the hopes and anxieties of liberal thinkers during the politically unpromising times of the composer's own lifetime (p. 3). Locating these works within their immediate cultural and historical context, Syer identifies scientific, musical and dramatic models for Wagner's handling of these psychological experiences. She points out connections to a pool of common imagery, and confronts Wagner's operas with related tendencies to incorporate meaning in art, not only in opera, but also in poetry and painting. Starting in 1813, both the year of Wagner's birth and of the fateful Volkerschlacht (battle of the nations), chapter 1 paints a detailed and colorful picture of the historical events in the first half of the nineteenth century surrounding the development of a liberal nationalist movement that continued to cling to the idea of a unified, democratic Germany (p. 1). Focusing particularly on the repercussions these developments had on the local culture and art in Dresden and Leipzig, Syer sets up the frame of reference through which she aims to shed new light on the political undercurrents in Wagner's operas (p. 114). Among the models and contextual phenomena Syer deems significant both for Wagner's treatment of dreams and visions as well as for his engagement with contemporary issues in his works is the poetry of Theodor Korner--and even more, the hero-worship developed around this poet-soldier who died in the Wars of Liberation. Besides Carl Maria von Weber's settings of Korner's poems and Weber's operas Der Freischutz and Euryanthe, further influences stretch from Christoph Willibald Gluck's operas Iphigmie en Aulide and Iphigenie en Tauride across paintings of the Dresden-based artists Georg Friedrich Kersting and Adrian Ludwig Richter to contemporary theories of the psyche and the unconscious. The rich and varied language is one of the book's most outstanding features. Syer's portrayals of the historical and cultural circumstances are vividly descriptive and draw the reader in. Her account shows what historiography can gain by pairing historical evidence with attention to narrative and storytelling and a skillful use of language. The same goes for the descriptions and analyses of musical passages, dramatic scenes, poems, and paintings, which are always supplied with illustrations and extensive music examples so the reader can easily follow. Often, Syer manages to make connections between two scenes or between the atmosphere of a painting and an operatic scene palpable just through the way their descriptions are designed and juxtaposed. This carefully constructed cultural framework sets the stage for the detailed analyses of Die Veen, Der fliegende Hollander, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, and Die Walkure make up the remaining chapters of the book. Syer's analytic method is thereby entirely based on comparisons and the construction of intertextual references. She discusses Wagner's least-known opera Die Feen, for instance, within a web of related dramas (p. 41). She points out common metaphors, structural patterns, and dramatic constellations with Weber's and Gluck's operas, but especially emphasizes the intimate connection exists between Die Feen and Wagner's later works, arguing for continuity in his artistic development. In line with her self-assessment the book is rooted in her intensive study of opera staging practices (p. …