Includes bibliographical references (p. 353-371) and index.

A sublime but glaucous sea -- Revolution and reverse -- Ugly duckling and swan king -- The fortress on the hill -- The plastic demon -- The spin doctor -- Odd man out -- Wolf at the door -- Three funerals and a new broom -- All the Reich's a stage -- Dissonant quartet -- Mausi at bay -- War--at home and abroad -- New Bayreuth? -- The road not taken -- Sins of the fathers -- End of empire? -- Time present and time past -- Time future?

A family saga that mirrors Germany's rise, fall, and resurrection. Richard Wagner was many things--composer, philosopher, philanderer, failed revolutionary, and virulent anti-Semite--and his descendants have carried on his complex legacy. Here, biographer Jonathan Carr retraces the path of the renowned composer and his descendants, showing how its history and that of Europe are intertwined. Along the way, Carr offers glimpses of Franz Liszt (whose illegitimate daughter Cosima married Wagner); Friedrich Nietzsche; Arthur Schopenhauer; Alberto Toscanini; Joseph Goebbels; Hermann G�oring; and Adolf Hitler, a passionate fan of the Master's music and an adopted uncle to Wagner's grandchildren. All through the war the Bayreuth Festival, begun by the Master himself, was supported by Hitler, who had to fill out the meager audience with fighting men and SS officers. After the war, the festival was dark for a decade until Wagner's offspring--with characteristic ambition and cunning--revived it.--From publisher description.