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Death's soundtrack

by
February 2014, no. 358

Richard Wagner: A Life in Music by Martin Geck (translated by Stewart Spencer)

University of Chicago Press (Footprint Books), $58.95 hb, 461 pp, 9780226924618

Death's soundtrack

by
February 2014, no. 358

After four days in the theatre, and just as many resting up between instalments, Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen ends with a big tune. Like most of Wagner’s themes, this one has been given a name: the ‘Redemption through Love’ motif. The name was not the work of the composer but of one of his acolytes, Hans von Wolzogen, and in its original German it is ‘Liebeserlösung’ which, strictly speaking, is ‘Redemption of Love’ or ‘Love’s Redemption’. But ever since guides to Wagner’s music began appearing in English – which is to say, a long time ago – the motif has been incorrectly labelled ‘Redemption through Love’, and so it has stuck.

Robert Gibson reviews 'Richard Wagner: A life in music' by Martin Geck

Richard Wagner: A Life in Music

by Martin Geck (translated by Stewart Spencer)

University of Chicago Press (Footprint Books), $58.95 hb, 461 pp, 9780226924618

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