Wagner as Man & Artist is an early critical study by Ernest Newman, who would become the foremost English authority on the composer. Rather than simple celebration, Newman examines the often troubling relationship between Wagner’s personal character and his towering artistic achievement.
Clear-eyed and analytical, the book considers Wagner’s theories, his conduct, and the gap between the flawed man and the visionary creator of the music dramas. Newman writes with critical independence, refusing both idolatry and dismissal. As the work of a scholar who devoted his life to Wagner, it offers an incisive and balanced introduction to one of the most consequential and controversial figures in music history.