Richard Wagner, Alban Berg, and intellectuals of the Russian
Silver Age are compared
and contrasted in ways that draw up specific examples of
how Wagner’s theories and
aesthetics were integral in forming the morals and perceptions of
Berg and the Russians,
both for their personal truths as well as for that of their art.
The concept of Expressionism is the cement that fuses all these ideals
and individuals across the aesthetic landscape
between the mid-nineteenth century and the early twentieth
century. Wagner is shown
to be a forerunner of Expressionism due to his early
ideas about the role of culture in
society. The article also reveals that his later, more
important preoccupation with inner
states of consciousness and being were recognized and
valued by Expressionists from
a variety of art forms. The important distinction being,
however, that recognition of
these traits within Wagner’s output was only the
beginning. Indeed, both Berg and the
Russians would appropriate Wagnerian ideals for their own
purposes, thereby simultaneously evolving and morphing the foundation
that Wagner established for them in order
to enact the changes they felt to be natural and
necessary.