Michel Leiris—Die Meistersinger
DIE MEISTERSINGER
A monument erected by Wagner to the glory of lyric inspiration and before which I'm probably quite wrong to act disgusted.
A musically admirable, ideologically irreproachable* movement whose sole fault is undoubtedly that it is a little too "monumental."
The painful side: the titan Richard Wagner trying his hand at good-natured comedy, though he lacks the casualness and verve of Victor Hugo.
___________
*However, someone recently pointed out to me that the libretto of the Meistersinger contains attacks on the "Welsch" (i.e. the French) which reveal a highly unpleasant chauvinism (7/4/78)
A musically admirable, ideologically irreproachable* movement whose sole fault is undoubtedly that it is a little too "monumental."
The painful side: the titan Richard Wagner trying his hand at good-natured comedy, though he lacks the casualness and verve of Victor Hugo.
___________
*However, someone recently pointed out to me that the libretto of the Meistersinger contains attacks on the "Welsch" (i.e. the French) which reveal a highly unpleasant chauvinism (7/4/78)