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“Richard Wagner and the Nationalization of Feeling“ refers to

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the 19th century being the century,

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in which questions of identity are posed anew,

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or are asked for the first time.

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And, in this context, Richard Wagner is someone,

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who takes up this question and answers it clearly.

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In the exhibition, we show quite a wide range

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of different objects:

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We show letters, we show music manuscripts,

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we show clothes, we show scores,

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we show paintings,

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and we will also hear music in the exhibition.

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Of course, it can't be the purpose,

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to imitate a visit to the opera by visiting the exhibition,

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that is in fact not possible.

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Nevertheless, each chapter has an opera room,

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in which we present compacted,

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and very brief moments from Wagner's operas.

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Through an artistic intervention by Barrie Kosky,

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which, however, refers to Wagner's writings,

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there also are original recordings of Wagner to listen to.

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We understand the four feelings alienation, eros, belonging, and disgust

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as driving forces for political and individual action.

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It helps, if you look at them on a coordinate plane,

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or as poles on a scale, so to say.

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Then they are recognizable as pairs of opposites:

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Eros and disgust on one side, and alienation and belonging on the other side.

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During the making, I was particularly amazed and fascinated,

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by how Wagner's story

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can also be told as a story of Wilhelminian times.

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Wagner can actually also be told

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as an entrepreneur of the 19th century,

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who places himself and his work as products on a market.

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This vocabulary works very well for Wagner,

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who had an incredible talent for marketing himself.

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There are quite a few levels on which we see,

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how Wagner wants to do everything novel and different.

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This stretches from the labelling of his works

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to the construction of his own festival opera house.

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And it really persists in the way

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people talk about him and about his works – 

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here it shows again and again.

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The exhibition actually takes care of both,

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about his writings as well as about his music drama works,

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because one cannot separate one from the other at all.

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And I think it's also particularly interesting to show,

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how Wagner, beyond his music drama works

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delivers an incredible output, and really

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always brings himself into the conversation,

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with his writings and also other statements,

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and is incredibly good at marketing his work, too.

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The exhibition focuses mainly on the 19th century,

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thus on Wagner's lifetime.

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Only in the epilogue do we go

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into highlights of the 20th century,

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and end with asking protagonists of today,

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how they see Wagner today, sometimes rather critically.

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Wagner was an antisemite, that is a fact,

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that the exhibition does not play down,

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but rather puts in the focus.

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And especially within the chapter of “disgust“

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a media station will take care of

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taking up this discourse around Wagner, and of contextualizing Wagner

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in this discourse of antisemitism and to show:

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Is he a loud voice? Is he an agent of antisemitism?

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Is he someone who just picks up on it,

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or someone who helps to shape it?

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The visitors should take away from the exhibition,

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how they see Wagner as an artistic personality,

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but also as an antisemite in the context of the 19th century.