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Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss.

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Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss. By Lawrence Kramer. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. [257 p. ISBN 0-520-24173-8. $39.95.] Music examples, bibliographical notes, index.

On page 221 of this, his latest book, author Lawrence Kramer acknowledges the often slippery nature of his prose and defiantly states his intention to continue in that way for the few remaining pages of the epilogue: "The writing [in this book] has drawn no firm line between evocation and explanation, metaphor and theory. On the contrary: the lines have been crossed or effaced time and again. (Disgruntled parties take note: I know about this breakdown. 1 do it on purpose. I will do it again here.)" With only seven pages left to the body of Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss, that warning comes a bit late for anyone who picks up this book without knowing who Kramer is or his distinctive approach to music criticism. Such people, at least in the world of musicology, are rare if not non-existent, however, which is just another way of saying that no one reading this book should ever be surprised by what lies between its covers. In fact, followers of Kramer's writings may already know much...

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