In this bicentenary celebration of Wagner and his music, Paul Dawson-Bowling introduces, deepens and enriches the Wagner Experience for the newcomer and the seasoned Wagnerian alike. Expounding in colourful style the stories, the sources and the lessons of Wagner’s great dramas, he offers unusual insights into the man, his works and their meaning, while grappling with the music’s almost occult power.

Before taking us through the ten great dramas themselves, he discusses Wagner’s formative experiences, his aspirations and his mentality; also his first wife Minna and her immense but unrecognised impact. This sets up better lenses through which to view not only Wagner the man and his less appealing aspects, but more importantly his stage works, since, as Dawson-Bowling insists, the best encounter with Wagner’s dramas is the direct one.

Above all, this book draws out the vital lessons which Wagner’s extraordinary, didactic dramas can offer us. It reveals their lessons as life-enhancing, capable of transforming our society, our lives and ourselves. There is no other book about Wagner quite like it.

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