Understanding Wagner

"Wagner sums up modernity. It's all very well to start by being Wagnerian." Nietzsche Glorified in France and Germany in the 19th century, Wagner's image was hijacked: the revolutionary art of this close friend of Bakunin was soon enlisted by the Nazis in the service of their propaganda. The authors retrace Wagner's life, his philosophy and the contrasting reception of his work. They remind us of the emotional shock he provoked and demonstrate that there is a before and after Wagner in European cultural history.