Eternal Dreamer: The Imagery of Richard Wagner

by Jeffrey Buller

Overview

As one of the rare opera composers who wrote their own libretti, Wagner controlled what an audience heard, not only in his music, but also in the sound of his text. As a complete man of the theater, Wagner controlled (at least whenever he could) the lighting, set design, and costumes that an audience saw on the stage. The result was that a number of images-including sleep, dreams, storms, the potion, the significant glance, and the journey-reappear throughout Wagner's mature works and are crucial to an appreciation of his artistry. This book, which began as a series of lectures the author gave on behalf of the Wagner Society of New York at the International Wagner Festival in New York, approaches Wagner's evolving thoughts on life and art through his use of several specific images. Each of the ten music dramas included in Wagner's "Bayreuth corpus" is discussed in detail, along with plenty of fresh insights for even the most seasoned admirer of the composer's work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798881144333
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	03/09/2024
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Jeffrey Lynn Buller (born 1954) is an author, speaker and college administrator. Trained as a classicist (A.B., University of Notre Dame, 1976; M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1977; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1981), Buller currently works as the CEO and proprietor of ALPHA Leadership Programs. In his administrative roles, Buller has served in positions ranging from department chair to vice president for academic affairs at Loras College, Georgia Southern University, Mary Baldwin College, and Florida Atlantic University. As a classicist, he rose to the position of president in the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (2004-2005). As a scholar of Wagnerian opera, he served as the New York Wagner Society’s principal English-language lecturer at the International Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, from 2003 to 2006.