ROH: Ring 2018

[Conchis]

He did do that documentary called (I think?) 'Wagner and Me', which predictably was more about Me than Wagner. It was a good way of getting the BBC to subsidise a trip to Bayreuth but of little value otherwisew.

That was a terrible programme and, as you say, a wasted opportunity. I can't stand Fry (I seem to be the only person who can't stand him) and, yes, the programme was all about him. He was in the audience at an opera I attended last summer: in the interval, you could hear him louder than anyone on stage.

I don't like Michael Portillo's politics but if he's presented the Wagner programme, it would have been so much better.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Five stars from the Times for Gotterdammerung today - perhaps unsurprisingly reserving the highest praise for Nina Stemme ( who is surely the greatest Wagner soprano since Nilsson) .

Counting the days to Tuesday . I may have to be physically restrained from buying a cycle 3 or 4 ticket....

[Ein Heldenleben]

I'm sure we are all impatiently waiting for the inevitable Stephen Fry Meisterwerk on the subject (a large chunk of which will no doubt be simply a summary of Stephen Fry's autobiography).

The only Wagner books worth reading are by those who have made his work a lifetime's study e.g. Cooke , Millington, Magee , Donington . Most of the others are just dabbling...

[Darkbloom]

The only Wagner books worth reading are by those who have made his work a lifetime's study e.g. Cooke , Millington, Magee , Donington . Most of the others are just dabbling...

Magee's 'Aspects of Wagner' can be recommended to anyone with an interest in the subject. He was one of the few people who could write about him without sounding like a raving lunatic or someone with an axe to grind.

[gurnemanz]

The only Wagner books worth reading are by those who have made his work a lifetime's study e.g. Cooke , Millington, Magee , Donington . Most of the others are just dabbling...

Donington had a huge effect on the way I comprehend the Ring. Magee is fascinating. Haven't read the other two. Most recent acquisition is the excellent book, called simply and to the point "Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Peter Wapnewski. Erudite and very readable - I think German only.

I've been dipping in again to the latter, eg the interesting introductory section on leitmotivs where he quotes Cosima's diary from 1881 which recounts the occasion when she and someone called Lusch were playing a four-hand version piano version of Götterdämmerung to her husband. He seems to have objected to the schematic labelling of leitmotivs. She notes that it was "unfortunately" heavily annotated with labels like Wanderlust-Motiv etc and adds: "R sagt, am Ende glauben die Leute, daß solcher Unsinn auf meine Anregung geschieht". (R. says that people are going to end up thinking that I instigated this nonsense.)

[Darkbloom]

Donington had a huge effect on the way I comprehend the Ring. Magee is fascinating. Haven't read the other two. Most recent acquisition is the excellent book, called simply and to the point "Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Peter Wapnewski. Erudite and very readable - I think German only.

I've been dipping in again to the latter, eg the interesting introductory section on leitmotivs where he quotes Cosima's diary from 1881 which recounts the occasion when she and someone called Lusch were playing a four-hand version piano version of Götterdämmerung to her husband. He seems to have objected to the schematic labelling of leitmotivs. She notes that it was "unfortunately" heavily annotated with labels like Wanderlust-Motiv etc and adds: "R sagt, am Ende glauben die Leute, daß solcher Unsinn auf meine Anregung geschieht". (R. says that people are going to end up thinking that I instigated this nonsense.)

That makes me feel a bit less guilty about my eyes glazing over when it comes to discussions of leitmotivs. I'm sure it's useful but it also starts to feel like programme music if you take it too far, which was surely not RW's intentiom, and became a bit of a stick for his detractors to beat him with. Even the sword motif - one of the most recognisable - doesn't always mean a sword, so I think people can get too preoccupied with them.

[Belgrove]

The only Wagner books worth reading are by those who have made his work a lifetime's study e.g. Cooke , Millington, Magee , Donington . Most of the others are just dabbling...

I'm currently reading, and greatly enjoying, 'The Wagner Experience' by Paul Dawson-Bowling. The author is a medic and brings his expertise to bear for describing Wagner's character traits and behaviours in the first of this two volume work. For example, his childhood being influenced by the loss of his father and stepfather, and the the hugely erratic effects this had on his home life and education, and the attitude of his mother and sisters towards him. Dawson-Bowling adheres to a Jungian interpretation of the psychology that underpins the dramas rather than the largely Freudian take that Magee adopts - this is refreshingly and plausibly advocated. Also, Wagner's predilection for wearing silks and statins is attributed to easing his (documented) skin complaints and affliction by shingles rather than a preference for luxury. These are interesting insights that I have not seen voiced in other works. The second volume contains individual analyses of the works, and I've not yet got that far. The books are beautifully produced, contained in a slip-case, and have high quality colour illustrations which have not featured in previous books I have read. Even without finishing, these form a worthy addition to the Wagner bibliography

[Richard Tarleton]

The only Wagner books worth reading are by those who have made his work a lifetime's study e.g. Cooke , Millington, Magee , Donington . Most of the others are just dabbling...

And, from an earlier generation, Ernest Newman. I found "Wagner Nights", of which I have a treasured first edition, the best possible introduction to the individual operas before I first saw them. A clerihew:

Ernest Newman
Said next week it would be Schumann.
But when next week came
It was Wagner just the same.

Magee's "Wagner and Philosophy" referred to here. This led me on to his "The Philosophy of Schopenhauer", which of course includes a chapter on Wagner.

[gurnemanz]

And, from an earlier generation, Ernest Newman. I found "Wagner Nights", of which I have a treasured first edition, the best possible introduction to the individual operas before I first saw them. A clerihew:

Ernest Newman
Said next week it would be Schumann.
But when next week came
It was Wagner just the same.

Magee's "Wagner and Philosophy" referred to here. This led me on to his "The Philosophy of Schopenhauer", which of course includes a chapter on Wagner.

Wagner Nights (Picador) was my first buy - pages now brown and well thumbed.

[underthecountertenor]

That was a terrible programme and, as you say, a wasted opportunity. I can't stand Fry (I seem to be the only person who can't stand him) and, yes, the programme was all about him. He was in the audience at an opera I attended last summer: in the interval, you could hear him louder than anyone on stage.

You certainly aren’t the only person who can’t stand him. I think it was during the interval of the Prom featuring Act 1 of Walküre this season that he persistently talked over someone who knew a lot more than he does, and confidently and pompously mispronounced ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yep Wagner nights ( second hand hardback ) still on my shelf . I would also recommend EN's 'Wagner :As Man And Artist ' though no doubt "subsequent scholarship ". has etc. etc....

[Ein Heldenleben]

Can any one think of a better short book on Wagner than Magee's 'Aspects of Wagner' ? Admittedly it's not a crowded field . I reckon you could read it comfortably in ROH's interminable Siegfried and Gotterdamerung intervals....might prove a welcome distraction from the search for a bite to eat.

[Richard Tarleton]

though no doubt "subsequent scholarship ". has etc. etc....

Newman did have a bit of a, er, thing about Liszt.....

[Ein Heldenleben]

I see EN's 4 vol biography is back in print . That is Xmas sorted ....

[Darkbloom]

You certainly aren’t the only person who can’t stand him. I think it was during the interval of the Prom featuring Act 1 of Walküre this season that he persistently talked over someone who knew a lot more than he does, and confidently and pompously mispronounced ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’.

That would have been John Deathridge. He did manage to make one or two interesting points on the rare occasions Fry paused for breath.