Review (PDF) Judaism In Music And Other Essays
Musical genius, polemicist, explosive personality—that was the nineteenth-century German composer Richard Wagner, who paid as much attention to his reputation as to his genius. Often maddening, and sometimes called mad, Wagner wrote with the same intensity that characterized his music. The letters and essays collected in Judaism in Music and Other Essays were published during the 1850s and 1860s, the period when he was chiefly occupied with the creation of The Ring of the Nibelung. Highlighting this collection is the notorious 1850 article “Judaism in Music,” which caused such a firestorm that nearly twenty years later Wagner published an unapologetic appendix. Other prose pieces include “On the Performing of Tannhauser,” written while he was in political exile; “On Musical Criticism,” an appeal for a more vital approach to art undivorced from life; and “Music of the Future.” This volume concludes with letters to friends about the intent and performance of his great operas; estimations of Liszt, Beethoven, Mozart, Gluck, Berlioz, and others; and suggestions for the reform of opera houses in Vienna, Paris, and Zurich. The Bison Book edition includes the full text of volume 3 of William Ashton Ellis’s 1894 translation commissioned by the London Wagner Society.
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (June 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0803297661
ISBN-13: 978-0803297661
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #49 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Musical Genres > Religious & Sacred Music > Jewish #82 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Wagner #358 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Historical Period > Late Romantic
The German word "Erdball" means "world". It takes a weird translator to want to render it into English as "Earthball". H Ashton Ellis is that translator, a man who, in learning German, forgot all his English. Ellis translates German compound words not with plain English but with strange Germanic formulations, eg "leg-dancers", or "tone-arranger" for a German word that simply means "composer". So while it's good to have these Wagner texts available in English, it's a shame that the re-appearance of these awful translations in a modern edition will publishers from commissioning a new, competent, plain-English translation discourage. Ellis also makes Wagner's "Das Judentum in Musik" harder to evaluate by introducing antisemitic overtones (perhaps of his own) where the Wagner text doesn't justify it. For example, the Ellis text describes Mendelsohn as "a Jew composer", which has a hostile, sneering, sound to it. But Wagner's text has "Judaische"; the correct translation is the merely descriptive "a Jewish composer". There are other, similar examples.As for Wagner, "Das Judentum in Musik"'s argument is that because [in mod-19th Century Europe] Jews are partly involved in the cultures amongst which they live, and are partly separate and aloof from them, their music and poetry don't have the warmth, depth and humanity that come from having strong folk roots; Jewish art, while Jews remain apart and not assimilated into the mainstream "folk", is likely to be imitative, clever, ironical, and so on, but not deep or passionate.The essay brings no comfort to Wagner-lovers, but not quite as much comfort to Wagner-haters as is sometimes claimed.
Judaism in Music and Other Essays Comparing Judaism and Christianity: Common Judaism, Paul, and the Inner and the Outer in Ancient Religion Judaism Defined: Mattathias and the Destiny of His People (Studies in Judaism) Judaism: Everything You Need to Know About: Jewish Religion; Jewish Culture; and the Process of Converting to Judaism ( How to Become a Jew ) Covenant of Blood: Circumcision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism (Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism) Essays That Will Get You into Medical School (Essays That Will Get You Into...Series) [Second Edition] (Barron's Essays That Will Get You Into Medical School) James Baldwin : Collected Essays : Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work / Other Essays (Library of America) Same God, Other god: Judaism, Hinduism, and the Problem of Idolatry (Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice) Essays That Worked for Law Schools: 40 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Law Schools Essays That Will Get You into Medical School (Essays That Will Get You Into... Series) 4th Edition by Dowhan, Chris, Kaufman, Dan, Dowhan, Adrienne (2014) Paperback 240 Writing Topics with Sample Essays: How to Write Essays (120 Writing Topics) Landmark Essays on Archival Research (Landmark Essays Series) Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks in Full Score (Dover Music Scores) Broadway Sheet Music: A Comprehensive Listing of Published Music from Broadway and Other Stage Shows, 1918-1993 iPad Music School: A Hands-On Introduction to Making Music on iOS (Apptronica Music App Series Book 2) Choosing a Jewish Life, Revised and Updated: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends The Horizontal Society: Understanding the Covenant and Alphabetic Judaism (Vol. I and II) (Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah) Between Symbolism and Realism: The Use of Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Language in Ancient Jewish Apocalypses 333-63 B.C.E. (Journal of Ancient Judaism. Supplements) Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
