Imagined Germany : : Richard Wagner's national utopia / / Hannu Salmi.

• Superior document: German life and civilization
• VerfasserIn: Salmi, Hannu,
• Place / Publishing House: New York : : Peter Lang International Academic Publishers,, 2020.; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Edition: Second edition.
• Language: English
• Series: German life and civilization.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (242 pages).

Imagined Germanyfocuses on Wagner's idea of Deutschtum, especially during the unification of Germany, 1864-1871. Salmi discusses how Wagner defined Germanness, what stereotypes, ideas, and sentiments he attached to it, and what kind of state could realize Wagner's national ideals.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii -- Introduction 1 -- Part I: "What is German?": Wagner's Nationalist Writings and the Possibility of a New Germany -- Chapter 1: Wagner's Concept of the German Past 23 -- On the Birth of the Romantic Sense of History 23 -- Wagner and the History of Germany 27 -- Mythical Germany 30 -- The Past as Building Material for National Identity 33 -- Chapter 2: The Home of the German Spirit 38 -- Germany before Unification: 'An Atomistic Chaos' 38 -- The State, the Nation or Culture 40 -- 'The Spirit of the Genuine, True, Unadulterated': The National Stereotypes 49 -- The German Genius and the Mission of German Culture 52 -- Chapter 3: The Gesamtkunstwerk and the Future Germany 69 -- The Rebirth of Antiquity 69 -- Wagner's Theory of Art and the Gesamtkunstwerk 74 -- A Possible Germany 78 -- Part II: "Towards The Power of Germany ...": Wagner's Political Activity and The Unification of -- Germany, 1864-1871 -- Chapter 4: Wagner in Munich, 1864-65 87 -- Looking for a German Community 87 -- The Invitation to Munich 91 -- Ludwig II and Richard Wagner 96 -- The Political Gauntlet and Deportation from Munich 102 -- Chapter 5: A Political Outcast between Bavaria and Prussia 117 -- Wagner's and Ludwig's Relationship during the Triebschen Years 117 -- The Austro-Prussian War: Wagner's Changing Relation to Prussia 122 -- German Art and German Politics 131 -- The Mastersingers of Nuremberg 134 -- Chapter 6: "I Stir Them Ever to Strife ..." 145 -- The Outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870) 145 -- "Hail to the Emperor!": Wagner and the Unification of Germany 149 -- Part III: The Paths of the Artist and the State Diverge -- Chapter 7: Disappointment with the New Germany 159 -- Bismarck's Relationship with Wagner 159 -- "Without Germany's Greatness My Art Was Only a Dream ..." 165 -- Chapter 8: Bayreuth: Towards Immortality 172 -- The Foundation of the Bayreuth Festival 172 -- A Place in History 178 -- The Maintenance of the Wagner-Image by the Bayreuth Circle 184 -- Epilogue: "My Kingdom Is Not of This World" 195 -- List of Sources 205 -- Index 229.