Almost a hundred years after Richard Wagner's death the noted musicologist Marcel Prawy wrote, "Richard Wagner wurde am 22. Mai 1813 geboren und ist niemals gestorben" (Richard Wagner was born on May 22, 1813, and he never died). Ten of his thirteen musical-dramatic works are still performed to packed houses in Europe and America; he is now as much as ever a topic of controversy. He has been called both a "monster" and "the ventriloquist of God." During his life the debate was about the outlandish claims he made for his works and for music and drama in general, about his never-before-heard musical idiom, about his political views, about his extravagances, and about his sexual relationships. Since then his alleged anti-Semitism has been seen as the root of that of Adolf Hitler, who adored Wagner's music but understood none of his dramas; if he had, he would have banned them from the...