{"product_id":"wagner","title":"Wagner","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhile no one would dispute Wagners ranking among the most significant composers in the history of Western music  his works have been more fiercely attacked than those of any other composer. Alleged to be an unscrupulous womanizer and megalomaniac  undeniably a racist  Wagners personal qualities and attitudes have often provoked  and continue to provoke  intense hostility that has translated into a mistrust and abhorrence of his music.  In this emphatic  lucid book  Michael Tanner discusses why people feel so passionately about Wagner  for or against  in a way that they do not about other artists who had personal traits no less lamentable than those he is thought to have possessed. Tanner lays out the various arguments made by Wagners detractors and admirers  and challenges most of them. The authors fascination for the relationships among music  text  and plot generates an illuminating discussion of the operas  in which he persuades us to see many of Wagners best-known works anew--The Ring Cycle  Tristan und Isolde  Parsifal. He refrains from lengthy and detailed musical examination  giving instead passionate and unconventional analyses that are accessible to all lovers of music  be they listeners or performers.  In this fiery reassessment of one of the greatest composers in the history of opera  Tanner presents one of the most intelligent and controversial portraits of Wagner to emerge for many years.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44954563510325,"sku":"ByrdShop_0691011621","price":62.56,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691011622.jpg?v=1770275206","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/wagner","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}