Karol Berger is the Osgood Hooker Professor in Fine Arts, Department of Music, Stanford University. His award-winning books include Musica Ficta; A Theory of Art; and Bach's Cycle, Mozart's Arrow.

"The author develops his new interpretative perspective with so much mastery and such highly reflective circumspection that he is sure to convince even some inveterate Nietzscheans. ... Karol Berger has written a great and momentous book, and only now the work begins. What more could one wish from the contemporary Wagner research?"

• Preface Prologue: Beyond Autonomy The Uncanny Grace: A Gloss on Kleist's Marionettes Reason Beyond Reason History Nation Will Religion, the Enlightenment, the Counter-Enlightenment: The New Configuration part one 1. The Secret of Music-Dramatic Form: Music Drama as Opera 2. Der Ring des Nibelungen: The Anarchist Utopia Das Rheingold: The Fall Die Walkure: How One Becomes Human Act 1: Becoming Wagner Act 2: Becoming Brunnhilde Act 3: Waiting for the Hero Siegfried: How One Becomes a Hero Act 1: Getting the Sword Act 2: Using It Act 3: The Awakening Gotterdammerung: The Apocalypse Prologue: The Past and the Future Act 1: The Entrapment 1 Act 2: The Entrapment 2 Act 3: Death and Transfiguration The Myth of Revolution part two 3. Tristan und Isolde: The Erotic Utopia The Lyrical Axis The Narrative Axis The Orchestral Strand The Music-Dramatic Form The Myth of Will Postscript 4. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg: Politics after Tristan Act 1: The Knight's Failure Act 2: The Clerk's Failure Act 3, Part 1: A Lesson in Poetics Act 3, Part 2: The Shoemaker's Triumph The Myth of Nation 5. Parsifal: Ethics after Tristan The Communion Sequences of Acts 1 and 3 The Monologues of Acts 1 and 3 Act 2: The Kiss of Self-Knowledge The Music-Dramatic Form Eros and Agape The Myth of Redemption Epilogue: Wagner contra Nietzsche Wagner and Nietzsche: A History of the Relationship Becoming Nietzsche Nietzsche contra Wagner, Wagner contra Nietzsche Appendix 1. Das Rheingold: The Music-Dramatic Plan Appendix 2. Die Walkure: The Music-Dramatic Plan Appendix 3. Siegfried: The Music-Dramatic Plan Appendix 4. Gotterdammerung: The Music-Dramatic Plan Appendix 5. Tristan und Isolde: The Music-Dramatic Plan Appendix 6. Die Meistersinger: The Music-Dramatic Plan Appendix 7. Parsifal: The Music-Dramatic Plan Acknowledgments Abbreviations Used in Notes Notes Works Consulted Index