The Selected Writings of Max Reger (review)

Reviewed by: The Selected Writings of Max Reger Vincent Rone The Selected Writings of Max Reger. Edited and translated by Christopher Anderson. New York: Routledge, 2006. [xliii, 138p. ISBN-10 0415973821; ISBN-13 9780415973823. $95.] Illustrations, references, index. As the first collection of the composer's writings translated into English, The Selected Writings of Max Reger, Christopher Anderson's second book concerning the composer, is a significant addition to the growing body of Reger scholarship (his first was Max Reger and Karl Straube: Perspectives on an Organ Performing Tradition [Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003]). As editor and translator, Anderson has a close connection to Reger, whose life and work have only recently begun to enjoy some critical attention. How Anderson became familiar with Reger shaped much of the material in the book. Anderson has helped lessen the negative reception that has haunted Reger for many years and presents a book indispensable for English-speaking researchers interested not only in Reger, but also in the largely underappreciated history of early German modernism. Anderson concerns himself primarily with the question, "what sort of person under what sort of circumstances could produce this type of music?" (p. ix) and to "call attention to the fact that he was an active player in a game that mattered very much" (p. xii). The "game" is, of course, the musical culture of Reger's day—composition, performance, theory, musicology, and so on. For purposes of unity and thematic coherence Anderson limits himself to the professional and public essays published between 1904 and 1914, and divides the work into four parts. Part 1 is a set of essays in defense of Reger's Beiträge zur Modulationslehre (Leipzig: C. F. Kahnt, 1903). The next is entitled "The 'Draeske' Controversy of 1906," referring to the debate that stemmed from the premiere of Richard Strauss's Salome. Composer Felix Draeseke (1835–1913) published an article, "Die Konfusion in der Musik," in Stuttgart's Neue Musik-Zeitung (4 October 1906). Draeske argued against the new musical sounds Salome featured and the overall trajectory of music. This section of essays reveals Reger's rather adamant philosophies concerning the field of Musikwissenschaft and musical "progress." It also contains the very interesting (and somewhat personal) polemical exchange between the composer and his former mentor, Hugo Riemann. Part 3 deals with Reger's own reception of composers and artists: Hugo Wolf, dancer Isadora Duncan, Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Richard Strauss. Perhaps most entertaining is the fourth and last part which presents Reger's "analyses" of his own works written for the yearly festival of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein and later published in Die Musik. Although intended for a scholarly audience, this book can be appreciated by those with some prior biographical knowledge of Reger and familiarity with his music. Because Reger scholarship is a fairly recent development in America, it is necessary to view this work and the thrust of Anderson's scholarship in light of what others have written and are writing about Reger. The annual meeting of the [End Page 745] American Musicological Society in 2000 featured a session dedicated entirely to Reger. This session produced a number of fine essays, later published in The Musical Quarterly (87, no. 4 [Winter 2004]). It was a major victory for the composer in the United States. The goal was "to bring Reger into the 'conversation' in English-language musicology and theory" (Walter Frisch, "The Music of Max Reger," Musical Quarterly 87, no. 4 [Winter 2004]: 628). This goal is akin to Anderson's second theme, Reger's activity in musical culture. Frisch describes the fundamental question: "Where is Reger to be located in the axis of Romanticism and Modernism?" (Frisch , "Music of Max Reger," p. 630). This question is undoubtedly characterized by "where" or "how." Anderson treats a much more basic question (who), though the logical eventuality of his question and findings bring us to the "where" and "how" posed by Frisch. The very existence of this book, a translation of primary source material—the composer's own words, is a testament to Anderson's preoccupation with "who." The context Anderson constructs enables readers to enjoy the book without having to consult other...