The Aesthetic System of François Delsarte and Richard Wagner: Catholicism, Romanticism, and Ancient Music

Description

On 17 September 1839, Richard Wagner arrived in Paris. Although scholars agree that the composer learned a great deal about aesthetics during his first sojourn in the city, what has not been known is exactly what he learned and from whom. This Element explores the striking similarities between Wagner’s early aesthetic writings and François Delsarte’s ‘Cours d’esthétique appliquée’, a theoretical and practical training course for artists which Delsarte began teaching in Paris in May 1839. This Element also details the rise of Delsarte as a celebrated teacher of aesthetics and interpreter of Gluck’s repertoire during the same years that Wagner lived in the city. By comparing historical timelines, published documents, and manuscript sources and by analysing Wagner’s treatises, Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft and Oper und Drama, and the essay ‘Über Schauspieler und Sänger’, the author shows that Delsarte’s course is the most likely source of Wagner’s aesthetic transformation in Paris. Cover Title page Copyright page The Aesthetic System of François Delsarte and Richard Wagner: Catholicism, Romanticism, and Ancient Music Contents Introduction 1 Delsarte’s ‘Cours d’esthétique appliquée’ 2 Delsarte’s Teaching: Pedagogy and Press 3 Delsarte’s Rise to Fame in Paris 4 Delsarte’s Principle of the Trinity in Wagner’s Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft 4.1 Wagner’s Theory in Accordance with French Spiritualist Realism 5 Delsarte’s Psychological ‘Chart of Man’ in Wagner’s Oper und Drama 5.1 Drama: Tonal Speech, Articulate Speech, and the Absence of Gesture 5.2 From Epic to Opera: A Poetic Theory of French Romanticism 5.3 Wagner’s Chart in Relation to Delsarte’s Psychological System 6 Schröder-Devrient Plays the Role of Delsarte in Wagner’s ‘Über Schauspieler und Sänger’ 6.1 Delsarte’s Musical System 6.2 Wagner’s ‘Example’ and Delsarte’s Criterion of the Ninth Chord Conclusion Acknowledgements