Verdi and/or Wagner: Two Men, Two Worlds, Two Centuries - Softcover

'Many fascinating insights pepper the book ... no one has commented so fully on contemporary productions of the operas of both Verdi and Wagner as Conrad' - Times Literary Supplement 'A scintillating and absorbing read' - Opera 'A characteristic, often brilliant helter-skelter ride through the life, times and works of the composers ... fascinating enough to be scoured cover-to-cover with pencil in hand' - Gramophone 'A valuable work, not just because of Conrad's musical insights, but because of his grasp of historical context ... exemplary ... never dull' - Guardian 'Has done more than any actual production I've seen to make me excited about opera ... Conrad has provided me with a means of accessing opera specifically, as well as a way of thinking about music in general' - Prospect

Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, the two greatest operatic composers of their time, had everything and nothing in common. Their achievements were comparable, but their personalities, their approaches to music and drama, and their complex legacies made them incompatible. Verdi thought of art as a comfort to mankind; it pleased Wagner to believe that the nervous intensity of his operas might drive listeners mad. Is it impossible – as Peter Conrad asks in this book, the first to investigate their affinities and explain their mutual mistrust – to love them both? These equally matched Titans offer us a choice between two kinds of art, two ways of life, two opposed philosophies of existence. During their lifetimes Verdi and Wagner helped to define the identity of their emerging nations; their music still dramatizes the light and dark sides of every human being’s character and consciousness.

Table of Contents

1. Counterparts · 2. National Characters · 3. Maestro, Meister, Muses · 4. Duets or Dualities · 5. A Death and a Regeneration · 6. Their Second Century