Wagner's Melodies

Since The 1840S Critics Have Lambasted Wagner For Lacking The Ability To Compose Melody. But For Him Melody Was Fundamental - ''Music''S Only Form''. This Incongruity Testifies To The Surprising Difficulties During The Nineteenth Century Of Conceptualizing Melody. Despite Its Indispensable Place In Opera Contemporary Theorists Were Unable Even To Agree On A Definition For It. In Wagner''S Melodies David Trippett Re-Examines Wagner''S Central Aesthetic Claims Placing The Composer''S Ideas About Melody In The Context Of The Scientific Discourse Of His Age: From The Emergence Of The Natural Sciences And Historical Linguistics To Sources About Music''S Stimulation Of The Body And Inventions For ''Automatic'' Composition. Interweaving A Rich Variety Of Material From The History Of Science Music Theory Music Criticism Private Correspondence And Court Reports Trippett Uncovers A New And Controversial Discourse That Placed Melody At The Apex Of Artistic Self-Consciousness And Generated Problems Of Urgent Dimensions For German Music Aesthetics.