The Folk on the Hill: A timely history of the Wagner family is evaluated by Tim Blanning

Even by the standards of Bayreuth, these are interesting times. With Wolfgang Wagner in his eighty-ninth year, the resolution of the long-festering succession issue cannot be long delayed. Last summer the temperature was taken past boiling point by his daughter Katharina’s bid for the directorship with her fiercely controversial production of Die Meistersinger. So Jonathan Carr’s racy history of the Wagner family is certainly timely. After fifty pages on Richard’s life and times, he narrates the family’s fortunes and misfortunes, paying special attention to Winifred’s relationship with Adolf Hitler. Although most of the story will be familiar to readers of this journal, it is told with such infectious gusto that it can be recommended to everyone.