Opera, Irony, and Desire

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The music of Brahms and Wagner offers contrasting interpretations of the meaning and value of sexual desire. Both composers are addicts of longing; where they differ is in their evaluation of it. For Wagner, climax must be followed by death because this is the only way to conceal the fact that the transcendence of climax is impermanent. But Brahms knows that desire and its satisfaction are experiences in a human life, not an escape hatch to the absolute. Brahms is not weak or brooding, and he is not afraid of desire. Rather, he is strong enough to acknowledge that the satisfaction of desire can itself be a source of sadness. By comparison, it is Wagner who seems fearful—if not of desire itself, then of the irony we cultivate to make it bearable.</jats:p>