WAGNER DOUBLE HEADER

Do-it-Yourself – Purchase tickets and attend the Metropolitan Opera HD of Das Rheingold. 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (approximate timing)

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Professor Nicholas Vazsonyi:  Richard Wagner – Self-Promotion and the Making of a Brand. 2:00 p.m. NOTE LATE START TIME

“All modern artists have had to market themselves in some way. Richard Wagner may just have done it better than anyone else. In a self-promotional effort that began around 1840 in Paris, and lasted for the remainder of his career, Wagner claimed convincingly that he was the most “German” composer ever and the true successor of Beethoven. More significantly, he was an opera composer who declared that he was not composing operas. Instead, during the 1850s, he mapped out a new direction, conceiving of works that would break with tradition and be literally ‘brand new’. This is the first study to examine the innovative ways in which Wagner made himself a celebrity, promoting himself using every means available: autobiography, journal articles, short stories, newspaper announcements, letters, even his operas themselves. Vazsonyi reveals how Wagner created a niche for his works in the crowded opera market that continues to be unique.”  

Vazsonyi’s book is available on Cambridge University Press for $95 – however, because of the very high cost it will NOT be carried in the WSNC Book Stall