La Revue wagnérienne

The publication cost 12 francs a year in France, and 13 Francs abroad. Individual issues were sold for one franc, with deluxe printings on Dutch and Japanese paper available for up to 5 francs annually.^[2]

Though exact circulation figures are not available, receipts from printers indicate that each issue received a print run between 600 and 1 000 copies.^[2] Despite its small print run, the Revue Wagnérienne is seen by some as the "most substantial and significant expression" of French Wagnerism.^[5] The magazine also included "timetables and fares for ferry travel between England and France, suggesting an Anglo-French readership."^[1]

Disagreements on the subject of the direction of the publication between the editors vision for La Revue and the financiers eventually led to its demise.^[4]

While La Revue Wagnérienne included some conventional content such as performance reviews from a number of international correspondents,^[1] contributions engaged largely with his aesthetic and philosophical ideas. Rather than musicologist, the key authors came from literary circles. Contributors included poets Stephane Mallarmé, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Paul Verlaine and Joris-Karl Huysmans. who were largely associated with the symbolism movement, and to a lesser extent, decadent movement.^[5] The publication also featured lithographs from Henri Fantin-Latour, which helped establish his 'reputation as an antinaturalist painter-printmaker,'^[6] symbolist Odilon Redon,^[6] and Jaques-Émile Blanche.^[4]

Due to the relative scarcity of full Wagner performances within contemporary Paris, many contributors had limited exposure to the music itself and largely based their analysis on Wagner's prose output. As such, the Revue was not always well received, with one commenter saying that it produced 'neither good art nor competent criticism.'^[7] Still, Pamela Genova argues that because of the "unusual blend it presents of divergent methodologies and formats, its balance between detailed theoretical pieces and an informal and informative style of journalistic' marks an important example of literary journalism.^[4]

Though la Revue is principally known for its association with symbolism, contributions were often eclectic in nature, linking Wagner's music and ideas to such diverse topics as Christianity, evolution and socialism.^[2] It also featured French translation of several of Wagner's prose works, such as "Une Capitulation" and "Beethoven."^[4]