Publikationen

Chris Walton
Richard Wagner’s Essays on Conducting
A New Translation with Critical Commentary

Eastman Studies in Music, Vol. 175

Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2021
324 pages
ISBN 978-1-64825-012-5
e-ISBN 978-1-80010-189-0

Available in book stores or directly on the website of Boydell & Brewer
Also available Open Access.

Richard Wagner was one of the leading conductors of his time. Through his disciples Hans von Bülow, Hans Richter, Anton Seidl, Felix Mottl, Arthur Nikisch, and their many notable protégés, a Wagnerian art of interpretation became the norm in Europe and America until well into the twentieth century. Wagner’s essays on conducting had an even longer impact, and were upheld as central to their art by later generations of conductors from Mahler to Strauss, Furtwängler, Böhm, Scherchen, and beyond.
This is the first complete, modern translation of Wagner’s conducting essays to appear in English, and the first-ever edition to offer extensive annotations explaining their reception and impact. The accompanying critical essay offers a detailed analysis of Wagner’s conducting practices, his innovations in tempo and the art of transition, his creation of a new vocabulary to describe his art, and his success in establishing a school of conductors to promote his works and his aesthetic.
A publication related to the project Annotated Scores.

 

Contents

Introduction

PART I: RICHARD WAGNER’S WRITINGS ON CONDUCTING

Reminiscences of Spontini

Report on the Performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Dresden in 1846

About Conducting

On Performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

PART II: CRITICAL ESSAY

Richard Wagner and the Art of Conducting

 

Materialien

Rezension:

Gramophone (August 2021, S. 94f.)
«But no one until now has provided both commentary and [...] complete readable essay texts of Chris Walton’s fluency. Moreover, in addition to generous footnoting and editing of Wagner’s text itself [...], the surrounding critical apparatus is presented in 21 subsections and amounts to a virutally entire history of Wagner’s theory and practice of conducting. [...] And there is humour. It may not often be an attribute of Wagner’s, but good translations such as Walton’s turn into a sly smile what is often branded merely as the composer’s pomposity towards those he is critisising. [...] Warmly recommended in this form as a most approachable item of Wagner theory, especially the Beethoven chapters with a score to hand.» (Mike Ashman)

Opera Magazine (Dezember 2021, S. 1591–1953)
«Walton’s footnotes are a particular delight, drawing smart connections with Wagner’s wider world. They provide a leavening acidity that cuts Wagner’s indulgent, domineering style, sprinkling salty grains of truth on his wilder assertions, and platform dissenting voices. [...] Walton’s insights are so well crafted and considered that, like the works of the egomanical master himself, they feel irrefutable.» (Benjamin Poore)

Wagnerspectrum (Juni 2022, S. 313–316)
«Chris Walton hat ein Glanzstück produziert: ein Buch von höchster wissenschaftlicher Qualität und mit einem intimen Verständnis der Musik und des Musizierens zugleich, eine umfassende Darstellung von Wagner als Dirigent und die Geschichte der Kunst des Dirigierens von seinen Anfängen bis weit in das 20. Jahrhundert. Ab und zu scheint auch der Humor des Autors durch, sodass man gelegentlich auch lachen kann. Eine Seltenheit bei Wagner-Büchern. Das Buch ist eine Tour de Force und ein Muss für jeden Wagner-Liebhaber.» (Nicholas Vazsonyi)

American Record Guide 85/4 (Juli/August 2022)
«The real meat of this book is Walton’s own 136-page scholarly essay, Richard Wagner and the Art of Conducting. Brilliantly written and based on thorough research [...].» (REPP)

London Review of Books 45/6 (März 2023)