Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Wagner 101 1
The Emergence of a Wack Job Genius 30
Die Eliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) 35
Wagner Settles In - Briefly 53
Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg (Tannhäuser and the Song Contest on the Wartburg) 57
Life Is Good! Let's Screw It Up! 75
Lohengrin 79
And Now, Wagner's Own Personal (Soap) Opera 101
Tristan Und Isolde 107
Getting Cozier With Cosima 123
Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg (The Master Singers of Nuremberg) 127
Ring-Ward Bound 151
Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) 157
Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) "Preliminary Evening to the Stage Festival 'The Ring of the Nibelung"' 171
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) "First Evening of the Stage Festival 'The Ring of the Nibelung'" 181
Siegfried "Second Evening of the Stage Festival 'The Ring of the Nibelung'" 199
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) "Third Evening of the Stage Festival 'The Ring of the Nibelung"' 213
We Saw the World End-So What Does He Do for an Encore? 231
Parsifal, Eine Bühnenweihfestspiel (Parsifal, A Festival Stage Consecration Play) 237
Into the World Breath, Breaking Wind 259
Epilogue: Some Thoughts on Transcendent Experiences 271