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The charge or, so it would seem, the plaudit of being a liberal - somehow, vaguely on account of Hegel - seems nonetheless to be the focus of Alexander H. Shapiro's book on, of all Wagner's works, I Götterdämmerung i . Shapiro has stern words for Wagner scholars who see Bakunin, Schopenhauer, or even both ( I mea culpa i ) in the final conflagration or, indeed, in anything leading up to it. "Was Hegel a liberal?". [Extracted from the article]

This article considers Frank Castorf's Bayreuth Festival production of Wagner's Ring (2013–17) and its relationship to postdramatic theatre, including the latter's fraught relationship to conceptions of the political. Framework and context are provided by Castorf's theatrical practice, both prior to and following German reunification; by Wagner's nineteenth-century revolutionary and post-revolutionary experience, both historical and as dramatised in the Ring; and by Hans-Thies Lehmann's theoretical writing on postdramatic theatre. The production was a story of fascinating collisions: on the one hand, between different, often opposing, conceptions of drama and theatre; on the other, between different, yet in some ways complementary, political experiences. Interpretation proceeds by means of detailed description and analysis of the staging and a broader theoretical discussion. Compelled to reconcile themselves, at least in part, with ideas of musical drama and the work concept, Castorf's postdramatic aesthetics underwent significant challenge. In the wake of this production, ideas of Wagner staging and, more broadly, staging of opera in general have similarly undergone transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the opera "Das Liebesverbot," composed by Richard Wagner, performed by the Leipzig Opera company in Germany on October 13, 2013.

The article examines a critical essay done by German sociologist Theodor W. Adorno concerning German composer Richard Wagner and its relation to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Topics discussed include the special responsibility of Wagner with respect to musical fatalism according to Adorno, Wagner's Romantic organicism, and the views of Adorno that Wagner's own linguistic usage was more sophisticated compared to his aesthetics of unmediated unity.

The article discusses the transcendental aspect of the opera "Parsifal," by Richard Wagner. It states that the opera represents a climax of ideology with concern on Christianity and allows exploration of cyclical and teleological aspects. It also notes that the opera's Hegelian characterization remains helpful in considering the conflict between time and eternity. It mentions the developing idea of the opera.

This article outlines Richard Wagner's conception of music-drama during the period in which he formulated his intentions for composition of the epic Ring of the Nibelung. Attempting to renew rather than to restore the communal, political nature of Attic tragedy, he wished to transform that model from celebration of the Athenian political order into a savage critique of the contemporary political order, indeed into an incitement to and celebration of revolution. Wagner was determined to restore the dignity of art, a dignity he believed to have been lost in the pursuit of base, commercial considerations; but this determination should not be confused with the idea of art for art's sake. Instead, he wished to renew art in a socialist, even communist, sense as the paradigm of free, productive activity. The direct revolutionary experience of participation in the Dresden uprising of 1849 bolstered his conviction of the necessity of such a transformation. With his magnum opus, Wagner wrote, he intended to ‘make clear to the men of the Revolution the meaning of that Revolution, in its noblest sense’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including an interesting episode from London theatrical history, an examination of German composer Richard Wagner as musical storyteller in "Parsifal," and reviews that consider Wagner performances.