Fwd: "Gesamtkunstwerk, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Date: Thu, 23 May 2013 01:30:00 +0100
Subject: "Gesamtkunstwerk, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
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Your word for today is: Gesamtkunstwerk, n.

Gesamtkunstwerk, n.
[‘ In the æsthetic theory of Richard Wagner (1813–83), an ideal work
of art in which drama, music, and other performing arts are integrated
and each is subservient to the whole.’]
Pronunciation:/ɡəˈzamtkʊnstvɜːk/
Etymology:German, <  gesamt total + kunstwerk work of art.
  In the æsthetic theory of Richard Wagner (1813–83), an ideal work of
art in which drama, music, and other performing arts are integrated
and each is subservient to the whole.
1939  B. Fles tr. Křenek Music Here & Now 223 Wagner went so far as to
lower his orchestra into a cavity below the audience's line of vision
to emphasize the illusionary character of his Gesamtkunstwerk, or
‘symbiosis of the arts’.
1947  A. Einstein Music Romantic Era xix. 356 In his Gesamtkunstwerk
all the individual arts were supposed to give up something of their
own nature in order to create a higher unity.
1948  L. Spitzer Linguistics & Lit. Hist. iv. 160 The nephew..lends
his voice to imitating an orchestra..and impersonating a
Wagnerian-like Gesamtkunstwerk.
1966 Listener 6 Oct. 517/3 Whether Gascoyne saw his poem in the light
of a Gesamtkunstwerk I'm not qualified to say.

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