This volume presents Wagner's impact on music performers, composers, writers and stage directors in the European North from different angles and more broadly considers his championing of Nordic mythology beyond wellknown sources. The essays collected herein focus on two main geographic areas – Sweden and Finland – but include examples from other Northern countries as well.
Wagner's relationship with the North, albeit mediated through art and literature rather than his own experiences, has been dealt with extensively in Wagner research. This does not apply when looking in the opposite direction. How did the cultural life in the North respond to Wagner's works? The essays in this book describe, document and interpret the North's relationship with Wagner: what it was like in the beginning, how it has developed and distinguished itself from the experience of Wagner in other parts of the world and how the introduction and impact of Wagner's works have differed within the European North.