A Knight at the Opera

A Knight at the Opera examines the remarkable and unknown role that the medieval legend (and Wagner opera) Tannhäuser played in Jewish cultural life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book analyzes how three of the greatest Jewish thinkers of that era, Heinrich Heine, Theodor Herzl...

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Hoofdauteur: Garrett, Leah
Formaat: Online
Taal:Engels
Gepubliceerd in: Purdue University Press 2024
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Online toegang:ONIX_20241105_9781612491523_11
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author Garrett, Leah
author_browse Garrett, Leah
author_facet Garrett, Leah
author_sort Garrett, Leah
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description A Knight at the Opera examines the remarkable and unknown role that the medieval legend (and Wagner opera) Tannhäuser played in Jewish cultural life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book analyzes how three of the greatest Jewish thinkers of that era, Heinrich Heine, Theodor Herzl, and I. L. Peretz, used this central myth of Germany to strengthen Jewish culture and to attack anti-Semitism. In the original medieval myth, a Christian knight lives in sin with the seductive pagan goddess Venus in the Venusberg. He escapes her clutches and makes his way to Rome to seek absolution from the Pope. The Pope does not pardon Tannhäuser and he returns to the Venusberg. During the course of A Knight at the Opera, readers will see how Tannhäuser evolves from a medieval knight, to Heine's German scoundrel in early modern Europe, to Wagner's idealized German male, and finally to Peretz's pious Jewish scholar in the Land of Israel. Venus herself also undergoes major changes from a pagan goddess, to a lusty housewife, to an overbearing Jewish mother. The book also discusses how the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, was so inspired by Wagner's opera that he wrote The Jewish State while attending performances of it, and he even had the Second Zionist Congress open to the music of Tannhäuser's overture. A Knight at the Opera uses Tannhäuser as a way to examine the changing relationship between Jews and the broader world during the advent of the modern era, and to question if any art, even that of a prominent anti-Semite, should be considered taboo.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1474582024-11-08T06:09:22Z A Knight at the Opera Garrett, Leah Judaism Literature: history and criticism Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRJ Judaism A Knight at the Opera examines the remarkable and unknown role that the medieval legend (and Wagner opera) Tannhäuser played in Jewish cultural life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book analyzes how three of the greatest Jewish thinkers of that era, Heinrich Heine, Theodor Herzl, and I. L. Peretz, used this central myth of Germany to strengthen Jewish culture and to attack anti-Semitism. In the original medieval myth, a Christian knight lives in sin with the seductive pagan goddess Venus in the Venusberg. He escapes her clutches and makes his way to Rome to seek absolution from the Pope. The Pope does not pardon Tannhäuser and he returns to the Venusberg. During the course of A Knight at the Opera, readers will see how Tannhäuser evolves from a medieval knight, to Heine's German scoundrel in early modern Europe, to Wagner's idealized German male, and finally to Peretz's pious Jewish scholar in the Land of Israel. Venus herself also undergoes major changes from a pagan goddess, to a lusty housewife, to an overbearing Jewish mother. The book also discusses how the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, was so inspired by Wagner's opera that he wrote The Jewish State while attending performances of it, and he even had the Second Zionist Congress open to the music of Tannhäuser's overture. A Knight at the Opera uses Tannhäuser as a way to examine the changing relationship between Jews and the broader world during the advent of the modern era, and to question if any art, even that of a prominent anti-Semite, should be considered taboo. 2024-11-06T04:13:02Z 2024-11-06T04:13:02Z 2024-11-05T16:20:11Z 2011 book ONIX_20241105_9781612491523_11 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/94203 9781612491523 9781557536013 9781612491530 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/147458 eng Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies open access image/png image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/94203/1/9781612491530.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/94203/1/9781612491530.pdf Purdue University Press Purdue University Press ab0dc43b-863c-4471-84ed-f90e748ed075 9781612491523 9781557536013 9781612491530 Purdue University Press 158 West Lafayette open access
spellingShingle Judaism
Literature: history and criticism
Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRJ Judaism
Garrett, Leah
A Knight at the Opera
title A Knight at the Opera
title_full A Knight at the Opera
title_fullStr A Knight at the Opera
title_full_unstemmed A Knight at the Opera
title_short A Knight at the Opera
title_sort knight at the opera
topic Judaism
Literature: history and criticism
Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRJ Judaism
topic_facet Judaism
Literature: history and criticism
Social and cultural history
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRJ Judaism
url ONIX_20241105_9781612491523_11
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