This biographical study by Ernest Newman offers an impartial and searching psychological examination of Richard Wagner, peeling away the hagiography of his early followers to reveal a complex human being driven by immense vitality and monumental egoism. The author investigates the primary sources, including Wagner's autobiography Mein Leben, his published prose, and his voluminous correspondence, while scrutinizing the testimonies of his contemporaries.
The volume explores Wagner's turbulent early life, his struggles in Magdeburg, Königsberg, and Paris, and his relationships with patrons, friends, and family. Newman closely analyzes the composer's contentious dealings with figures like Robert von Hornstein, Franz Lachner, and Eduard Hanslick, demonstrating how Wagner's self-justifying accounts often distorted historical facts.
A central focus of the study is Wagner's marriage to Minna Planer, detailing the profound incompatibility between the two natures. Minna's early sacrifices and her growing despair at her husband's single-minded devotion to his art are examined through the light of newly available correspondence, which paints a much more nuanced picture than the one-sided portrayals found in Wahnfried-approved biographies.
The book investigates the romantic crises of Wagner's middle years, most notably the emotional storm surrounding Mathilde Wesendonck during the composition of Tristan and Isolde. Newman traces the mechanism of Wagner's passionate idealism, his theories of dramatic music, and his insistence on absolute artistic independence at any human cost.
Moving from Wagner the man to Wagner the artist, the study evaluates his theoretical writings and his practical innovations in operatic style, orchestration, and the use of the leit-motif. Newman discusses the contradictions between Wagner's revolutionary artistic doctrines and his practical execution in the theatre.
The narrative follows the composer through his political exile, his struggles with poverty, and his shifting philosophical influences, culminating in the eve of his rescue by King Ludwig. The account presents Wagner as a man capable of heroic self-sacrifice and petty egoism in equal measure, driven always by the unshakable faith in a vast life-mission.
Ultimately, Newman does not seek to deliver moral judgments, but rather to construct a truthful psychological portrait of an extraordinary artist whose genius and human flaws remain an endless challenge to biographers.
