The Real Wagner

This is an excellent and useful book. Though there is some commentary by Sabor, the book is largely a compendium of quotes, mainly from Wagner himself, on different aspects of his life, views and work. It's surprising how complete a picture of Wagner's personality can be given in this format. Wagner emerges, in my view accurately, as mercurial, utterly inconsistent, and full of crank ideas. The most notorious of Wagner's crank notions is his antisemitism, but he held to his Francophobia, his water-cures, his advocacy - though not consistent practice - of vegetarianism, just as fiercely. Sabor also quotes Wagner confessing that these notions were "a kind of poison he needed to get out of his system", showing an awareness that they were not Wagner at his best. Sabor shows Wagner ready to flair into anger (with truly astonishing tantrums) at a moment's notice, and equally swift to apologise; sometimes playful, sometimes grumpy, remarkably like a child all his life. So the long-suffering and devoted Cosima was a miracle not just for him, but for us too. Without her patience we may never have had the finished "Ring", "Meistersinger" or "Parsifal". Sabor's quotes demonstrate the trials she went through, but also the rewards. Another miracle is how much information can be packed into a relatively short book, in this way. The quotes are also illuminating on the works, and on Wagner's musical and philosophical development. And the last miracle is how a man like Sabor, auther of a splendidly well-researched commentary on the "Ring", can have the modesty to allow his subjects, largely, to speak for themselves. Good book. Laon