This is a one semester, specialized music history and analysis course for graduate students. Wagner's early operatic works - The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, and Lohengrin - are discussed and placed in a historical context. Der Ring des Nibelungen is analyzed for its huge architectural proportions and explored for its fine technical detail through studying a specific act from the Ring dramas. Tristan und Isolde will also be examined in detail. Wagner's late operatic works - Meistersinger and Parsifal - will be discussed briefly. Many videos of these operas are watched in class. The text is Richard Wagner, the Man, His Mind, and His Music, by Robert W. Gutman.
