Chris Walton, Reviews of Heinel, ‘Richard Wagner als Dirigent’ and Holden, ‘The Virtuoso Conductors’

Richard Wagner was one of the most significant conductors of the nineteenth century, and his influence was felt for many decades after his death. There we have it: with that statement, no one would disagree, for the facts speak for themselves. The difficulties begin, of course, when we try to define what it was about his conducting that made him so special. There are no recordings, there is no film, nothing pictorial that is reliable beyond dispute. The problem is summed up unintentionally by a contemporary critic, Bernhard Spyri, who witnessed Wagner in action during the preparation for the Zurich Tannhäuser production in 1855: ‘The rehearsals took place under the baton of the composer himself, and anyone who has ever attended a rehearsal of Wagner’s will know what that means.’ Indeed; thanks for nothing, Bernhard.