Laurenz Lütteken

Aufgehobene Revolution

Richard Wagner’s *The Ring of the Nibelung* remains a challenge even 150 years after the premiere of the entire cycle. This volume invites readers to engage with the work from new perspectives. It is deliberately aimed at a broader audience, extending beyond the academic world.

In addition to essays on the "Ring," the book includes others on Wagner’s ideological stance, the role of Goethe’s epic "Faust," religion and utopia, as well as questions of existence in exile. These are incisive essays that focus on Wagner’s formation through the Vormärz and the Revolution, rather than on the later-asserted—but not truly substantiated—"break" between early and late Wagner, which was later asserted but cannot really be substantiated. Rather, Hegel’s conceptual framework of "sublation" is employed to bridge the gap between revolution, failure, and utopia. The focus remains consistently on Wagner’s comprehensive conception of music and its significance for the concrete nature of the scores.


The Author
Laurenz Lütteken has been a full professor of musicology at the University of Zurich since 2001. His most recent publications with Bärenreiter include "Lesarten und Lebenswelten. Essays on Music" (BVK04037, 2025) and "The Hidden Meaning: Veiling and Unveiling in Music" (BVK02098, 2021). He is the editor of MGG Online.