What is it about?
Unable to find a foot-hold in the opera scene in Paris, Wagner searches for a creative spark that will revolutionize his fortunes.
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Why is it important?
Richard Wagner is arguably one of the most controversial figures in music. This article examines the German composers time in Paris, where he grows disillusioned with the music world and begins his march toward the revolutionary concept of the 'total-art-work'. While in Paris, Wagner comes across a dramatic work by the Jewish composer Fromental Halévy, whose opera highlights the themes that Wagner is searching for in his own work.
Perspectives
Paris has always been for me a city that highlights the search for the self as all your senses become enlivened with the sounds, smells, tastes, and sights of the French capital. This article underscores that fascination as it examines how the city and all of its ardor created a lasting impression on one of the most ardent German nationalists of the nineteenth century.
Dr Mark A Pottinger
Manhattan College
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This page is a summary of: Wagner in Exile: Paris, Halévy and the Queen, Nineteenth-Century Music Review, September 2015, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s1479409815000324.
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