Thread: Wagner Reexamined

I ran across this interesting book of essays recently. It explores how Wagner was using current ideas of class, found in Marxism, notably an obscure book called "What is Property." According to this, Wagner was using new emerging ideas about class struggle, and how he symbolized these various factions with Gods (who represented the upper aristocracy), Giants (who represented large bourgoise or large corporations), trolls, or the Niebelung (who represented the lesser bourgoise of small manufacturers, shops, craftsmen), and I forget what else. It seems to make sense, though.

A redeeming quote from Wagner was included; he at first said that "greed is the root of all mankind's woes" or something to that effect; but he later changed this to the perception that "all humanity desires one thing: simply to be loved."

I found this touching, and I can really relate to this; in my mind, this somewhat redeems Wagner in my mind.