{"id":3891,"date":"2026-04-05T23:48:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=3891"},"modified":"2026-04-05T23:48:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:48:06","slug":"blows-off-the-dust-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2026\/04\/blows-off-the-dust-of-history.html","title":{"rendered":"“Blows Off the Dust of History”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reviewing my new novel \u201cThe Disciple<\/strong><\/a>:<\/strong> A Wagnerian Tale of the Gilded Age,\u201d the British critic Clive Paget writes in \u201cMusical America\u201d that it\u2019s \u201ca richly detailed depiction of [New York] at the apogee of the Gilded Age and its embrace of all things Wagnerian.\u201d His review reads in part:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horowitz sees Seidl\u2019s sudden death at the age of 47 as a national and cultural calamity. \u201cBigger than the Toscanini story to come, bigger than the Bernstein story,\u201d he writes, \u201cSeidl\u2019s New World sojourn is, finally, intensified by the pathos of unconsummated promise. Its magnitude and implications challenge understanding.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A scrupulous researcher and, most importantly, a gifted storyteller, Horowitz\u2019 s lively prose, ready wit, and persuasive dialogue blow the dust of history off of his deftly assembled characters. And what a cast list it is.<\/strong> There\u2019s the tireless Laura Langford<\/strong>, proto-feminist, social progressive, clairvoyant and ardent theosophist, who, as founder of the Seidl Society, became the leading impresario in Brooklyn . . . Then there\u2019s the dean of New York music critics Henry Krehbiel<\/strong>, a heavy-set intellectual wending his solitary way to his desk at the New York Tribune<\/em> every evening to craft his ponderous pronouncements . . . Antonin Dvorak<\/strong> is another fine vignette. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legendary European singers that Seidl brought to America are captured in all their gossipy self-absorption and . . . There\u2019s a refreshingly even-handed treatment of Cosima Wagner<\/strong>, the black widow of Bayreuth. . . . Horowitz\u2019s Richard Wagner<\/strong>, narcissistic, twinkly eyed, and fiendish by turns, is one of the more persuasive character sketches I\u2019ve come across. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, The Disciple<\/em> conjures the sense of an America rich with potential, a nation crackllng with energy, its buildings, transportation, and industry exploding with unbridled ambition. From Chicago to Manhattan, the author seems familiar with every borough and street . . .<\/strong> And yet there\u2019s an inscrutable sadness about his central protagonist, an unfathomable melancholy .   . . There \u2018s a personal tragedy at play , one that Horowitz teases out over the course of the novel, keeping us in suspense until Seidl\u2019s \u2018Rosebud\u2019 moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For another recent Wagner post (“Not a Monster”), click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewing my new novel \u201cThe Disciple: A Wagnerian Tale of the Gilded Age,\u201d the British critic Clive Paget writes in \u201cMusical America\u201d that it\u2019s \u201ca richly detailed depiction of [New York] at the apogee of the Gilded Age and its embrace of all things Wagnerian.\u201d His review reads in part: Horowitz sees Seidl\u2019s sudden death […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-10L","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3891"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3896,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions\/3896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}