Mastodon Free audio book (listen online or download) Shaw's "The Perfect Wagnerite" - The Wagnerian

Free audio book (listen online or download) Shaw's "The Perfect Wagnerite"

Written By The Wagnerian on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 | 5:26:00 am

George Bernard Shaw
This is part of the voluntary project known as Librivox  and is in the public domain (click here for information and how to volunteer should you have the time and inclination).

Read, very well indeed by Bob Neufeld

The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring (originally published London, 1898) is a philosophical commentary on Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, by the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw. Shaw offered it to those enthusiastic admirers of Wagner who "were unable to follow his ideas, and do not in the least understand the dilemma of Wotan." He interprets the Ring in Marxian terms as an allegory of the collapse of capitalism from its internal contradictions. Musicologically, his interpretation is noteworthy for its perception of the change in aesthetic direction beginning with the final scene of Siegfried, in which he claimed that the cycle turns from Musikdrama back towards opera

For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.
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To download each chapter in MP3 select the links below:

00 - Prefaces and Encouragements 22.3 MB

01 - The Ring of the Niblungs/The Rhine Gold 38.1 MB

02 - Wagner As Revolutionist 13.3 MB

03 - The Valkyries 19.9 MB

04 - Siegfried 24.8 MB

05 - Back To Opera Again - Siegfried Concluded 32.0 MB

06 - Night Falls On The Gods 25.2 MB

07 - Forgotten Ere Finished/Why He Changed His Mind 22.2 MB

08 - Wagner's Own Explanation/The Pessimist As Amorist 15.8 MB

09 - The Music of The Ring 36.3 MB

10 - Bayreuth/Wagnerian Singers 12.5 MB