This volume presents Wagner’s impact on music performers, composers, writers and stage directors in the European North from different angles and takes a glance on his championship of Nordic mythology apart from the well-known sources. The essays collected in it focus on two main geographic areas – Sweden and Finland – but include examples from other Northern countries as well. Wagner’s relation to the North, though being 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 what the North’s relation to Wagner became like in the beginning, how it developed until present day, how it distinguished itself from other parts of the world and how the introduction and impact of his works differed within the European North.