Death-Devoted Heart

Reviews / Votes

Death-Devoted Heart is a book on music, tragedy, love, sacrifice and redemption. It is partly a brilliant critical/theoretical study, partly a manifesto for a new religion. It's a rare case of a philosopher really telling you what it's all about. * Tom Lubbock, The Guardian Review * A fascinating book, conveying his ideas so effectively he almost makes us hear the music ... Scruton is full of engaging subtleties written with his customary clarity and concision. * George Walden, The Sunday Telegraph * A study of the most important single composition in Western music... Scruton's examination is highly original and delves into aspects which have seldom been explored so rigorously. * Peter Porter, The Independent * If you're going to disagree with Nietzsche, Plato and Schopenhauer, you'd best have your own house in order. Roger Scruton certainly does. * Opera News * This distinguished, characteristically contentious book sets a standard of Wagnerian commentary which it would be a great relief to see other writers attempting to follow. * Michael Tanner, The Spectator * This book is so astonishingly comprehensive that it reflects Wagner's own concept of theatrical creation as Gesamtkunstwerk, the complete work of art. * The Salisbury Review * ...a book of such comprehensive genius... * The Salisbury Review * ...this is possibly the best book ever written about Tristan und Isolde from the dramatic as well as musical point of view. Scruton does not leave a historical stone unturned without dusting and exposing it to the sunlight of his extraordinary power of synthesis. And his musical analysis is phenomenal. * Eduardo Benarroch *