Twilight of the Wagners: The Unveiling of a Family's Legacy

Rating:
Summary: Wagner's Favorite Whine
Review: Apart from some gossipy behind-the-scenes tidbits about the Wagners, this tedious book has little to offer. The author provides no insights at all into either Richard Wagner or even the author's family. There is little here that we did not already know from other sources: Wolfgang Wagner is a power-obsessed despot, for example. Winifred was an unrepentant Nazi and a virulent anti-semite. Who doesn't know that?

Most of this book appears to be the author's attempt to (a) settle old scores, particularly against family members, and (b) publicly atone for his sense of personal guilt at being a member of the Wagner family. Very little of what is in here merited publication. Gottfried comes across as whiny, self-indulgent, and not a little self-righteous. His recurrent theme is, "Everybody Hates Me, Nobody Loves Me, I Think I'll Go Out And Eat Worms."

Don't waste your time on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Dr. Wagner's great work
Review: Dr Wagner's work examines the pulse of lovers of Richard Wagner that still runs deeply thru the veins of Germany. His autobiography, which further examines the shaping events in his life, is also quite remarkable. This is a great book for all who are interested in musicology, Germany, or a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Twilight Zone
Review: Gotfried Wagner gives us the inside story on the Wagner dynasty. He is certainly an nonconformist Wagner: a supporter of social - democracy and a promoter of German - Jewish understanding who wrote his doctorate on the Jewish composer Kurt Weil. Dr. Wagner tells us what it was like growing up in the strange world of Bayreuth and about the infighting between the heirs to the dynasty.He leaves no doubts as to the historical anti-semitism of the Wagner legacy as well as the war time collabaration with the Nazis (Hitler was endearingly called "Uncle Wolf"). That anti - semitism lives on today. He considers Daniel Birenboim as somewhat of a careerist and a dupe who purposely chooses to ignore the anti - semitism of Bayreuth. Dr. Wagner completely broke with the Wagner heritage and for this he has my admiration. An interesting story but the book cold have been better edited and reduced by say, fifty pages.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother.
Review: I wish I had read the other reviews of this ponderous whinethon before I spent the money or more importantly the time enduring it. I had heard the author interviewed on NPR several times, and he is reasonably interesting in an interview. He is, however, an apallingly bad writer. This should have been pretty compelling stuff, but Gottfried Wagner has managed to turn it into an almost unending diatribe with repetitive and uninteresting details about his family's conflicts. There is also an uncomfortably consistent thread of self promotion present throughout most of his longwinded tales of his exodus from Bayreuth.

While I can appreciate his angst over discovering the dark secrets of his family background, he could have covered that territory in a lot less time and paper. If you want to read a fascinating book and one that will give you a far better idea of what growing up in Nazi Germany was really like, try "Stones From the River". It, unlike this lump, is brilliant.

Rating:
Summary: I'm not one of them
Review: Rambling and often disjointed, Twilight of the Wagners (a clever pun on Götterdämmerung - Twilight of the Gods) is more, much more, than the self-proclaimed "unveiling of a family`s legacy" that it is. From Hitler to Hess to the Wagner tribe to von Karajan to Furtwängler, they`re all here - all the great actors on the stage of History who, out of patriotism or madness, played a more than casual role in what was to be one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Like ghosts from the past, they are called up and made to act out their roles with sometimes convincing color and life throughout the pages of this book.

Although Gottfried Wagner is to be praised for unveiling his family`s legacy, the reader cannot help but wonder if this is really the mea culpa - the final exorcism of anti-semitic ghosts throughout no less than three generations - that it is meant to be. After reading it, you come away with the feeling that, beneath all the history, there is a razor-sharp undercurrent of bitterness and an overwhelming desire to prove that "I`m good; they`re bad."

Too, this book does not really unveil a dark legacy - it rips the mouldering shrouds off quite a few corpses; corpses that it might have been better to leave quietly buried. Closet doors fly open, and skeletons - some over a century old, others quite new - come tumbling merrily out. In other words, it doesn`t unveil a legacy, it spills the beans. Written in an almost conversational tone, the impression that it gives is that this is a prolixic, disjointed confession - one tinged with personal impressions but lacking the satisfying basis of empirical fact-finding and research.

Regrettably, the very thing that would make this an enjoyable book - its first-person narrative and conversational style - is also what makes it a rather tedious book to read. Equally regrettable is the fact that there is a distinctive self-promoting slant to the book. Regardless, it makes for an enjoyable first reading - although it probably won`t tempt you back for a second dose, and the historical anecdotes it contains are more than enough to whet the appetite of those researchers searching for the distinctively domestic touch that most treatises on the Third Reich lack.

Rating:
Summary: Self-absorbed twaddle
Review: This was a crashing disappointment on several fronts. Gottfried Wagner is in a unique position to dish major dirt on the Bayreuth Wagner clan, yet he inexplicably chooses to focus the center of attention on himself. The problem is that Gottfried is not especially likeable or interesting and suffers from a case of self-absorption unequalled in recent history. He repeatedly drones on about how he was persecuted and ignored by his father, misunderstood by the other Wagners and shunted aside for no good reason. Ho hum.

The second disappointment is that this book was marketed as containing many "new" revelations about Hitler and his relationship with Wagner grandmother Winifred. Notice that Hitler is featured prominently on the cover of the book, flanked by Wieland and Wolfgang. Gottfried again could have provided fascinating, new glimpses into Winifred, who was a fanatic, but at least a fascinating woman. This was an opportunity for Gottfried to unearth new tid-bits relating to Hitler's annual Bayreuth pilgrimages, his relationships with Verena, Friedilind and the Wagner boys, but... again, he drops the ball. There is very little new material offered here.

The writing style is unedifying, perhaps the fault of the translator, but to sum up: not worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: In my opinion, an involving and satisfying book
Review: Unlike the other reviews read here I found this book to be most compelling. The story of a man of a famous family trying to come to terms with himself, his family and society. How difficult it must be for persons born of a family despised by the world, hated for documented emotional outbursts of the most virulent kind. Gottfried Wagner is a man who is trying so hard to find a way to redeem himself in the eyes of society. I for one admire him immensely and found his book to be absolutely fascinating. Reading about the inner story of the Wagner family in the most open way is so revealing of the character of this family. He hides nothing. While I am sure he would never think of himself that way he is a man of the highest level of integrity. I am sure he will find the anwers to his dilemna. If you are a Wagner fan, read it you'll love it.