La Revue Wagnérienne - Philosophical Concept | Alexandria
La Revue Wagnerienne, ostensibly a journal devoted to the composer Richard Wagner, emerges instead as a curious nexus where music, literature, and nascent Symbolist aesthetics intertwined during the late 19th century. Was it simply a fanatical ode to a musical revolutionary, or something far more subversive—a crucible for a new artistic sensibility? The review’s history suggests the latter.
Its origins can be traced to February 8, 1885, thanks to Edouard Dujardin, when the first issue heralded Wagner as not merely a composer but the herald of a new artistic age. Launched amidst the swirling currents of fin-de-siecle Paris, a period marked by rapid industrialization and spiritual questioning, the Revue became a platform for writers and artists seeking alternatives to Realism and Naturalism. The allure of Bayreuth, Wagner’s operatic mecca, drew pilgrims seeking artistic transcendence. Consider the irony: a German composer, embraced as a standard-bearer by French intellectuals grappling with national identity and the trauma of the Franco-Prussian War.
Over its nearly twenty-year run, the Revue Wagnerienne featured essays, poems, and artwork that explored the synesthetic potential of Wagner's operas. Contributors like Teodor de Wyzewa and Stéphane Mallarmé interpreted Wagnerian concepts like Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) through a Symbolist lens, emphasizing subjective experience, the power of suggestion, and the evocative use of language. Mallarmé's "Richard Wagner: Reverie d'un poete francais" remains a key text, illustrating how Wagnerian ideals could inspire a radical re-imagining of poetry. The review also sparked intense debate, attracting both fervent admirers and detractors who viewed Wagner's influence as a threat to French artistic tradition. Did the Revue truly understand Wagner, or did it refashion him in its own Symbolist image?
The Revue Wagnerienne ceased publication in 1902, yet its echoes reverberate through the development of modern art, particularly in its emphasis on the interconnectedness of the arts and the power of myth. Today, the review is studied not just as a Wagnerian footnote but as a vital document in the history of Symbolism and modernism, raising questions about the appropriation of artistic ideas across cultural boundaries and the enduring quest for artistic unity. Where does sincere appreciation end, and creative reinterpretation begin?