Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig two hundred years ago today. For the New Yorker website I have perpetrated a Wagner Birthday Roast, the second in a sporadic series of bicentennial commentaries. (The first was A Walking Tour of Wagner's New York.) I've written at least a dozen Wagner-centered pieces over the years; the one I'm happiest with, and the one I'd offer to anyone asking why this ever-problematic composer still matters, is my Walküre essay from 2011. Elsewhere on the Internet, I recommend Mark Berry's posts at Boulezian, the Wagnerian's Scrapbook, and Sam Hawke's perceptive essay on Wagner's politics at Social Justice First. A reminder that the WKCR marathon is in progress; also, you can listen to the entire 1953 Clemens Krauss Ring at Minnesota Public Radio. Happy birthday, old magician! May your third century be more peaceful than your second.
