Happy birthday Richard Wagner

[Nick Armstrong]

I am, of course, wearing pink silk underwear

No expressions of surprise yet, that I can see...

[vinteuil]

No expressions of surprise yet, that I can see...

... I did say "of course" !

[salymap]

All???

Only two of us, actually - well, one and a half.

<Make that two and a half. Ever since the Schubert fiasco I dislike losing most of R3 to one composer.

I like alot

of non -vocal Wagner and wish he'd lived longer to write more symphonies as someone suggests.

With age and tinnitus The Ring is not for me now. Sorry but overkill drives many away.

[BBMmk2]

I am glad it's RW's 200th. He certainly knew how to rock the established field.

[Mr Pee]

This plaque commemorating his place of birth can be found attached to what is now a very unprepossessing shopping mall in Leipzig. Under the East Germans it was a state-owned supermarket which looked like a giant sardine tin. The number 13 figures prominently - which is also the sum of the digits of his birth year and, needless to say, the number of operas he composed.

I believe that plans are now well afoot for a more substantial memorial to be erected in Liepzig.

[Mr Pee]

I have to admit I like some Wagner... but in small doses (e.g. Siegfried's Idyll, Wesendonklieder) for hearing what will be done more interestingly and succintly by successors (Mahler, Schoenberg). Hence I am quite enjoying this week's COTW. Which is to miss the point totally, I know; but one "brackets out" a lot of things one doesn't like about Wagner.

Succinctly, quite possibly.

More interestingly?? That is a matter of opinion!!

[ahinton]

Succinctly, quite possibly.

More interestingly?? That is a matter of opinion!!

Differently and equally interestingly, I'd say - and before anyone gets on the the anti-Semitism thing, let's not forget the reverence accorded to Wagner by those two Jewish composers, the younger of whom probably came closer at one time to being a worthy successor to Wagner than did any of the many other composers who fell under Wagner's influence.

[mercia]

I've rashly embarked on the very long haul that is Richard Burton's Wagner biopic, on youtube, hoping to gain some insight
so far, a comic turn by William Walton and a slurring Arthur Lowe, so onwards and upwards .....

[slarty]

Best of luck with that Mercia. As much as I adore Wagner, I think the full nine hours of this Tony Palmer film is complete overkill.
Burton only begins to convince as Wagner towards the end of it all. He was too old for the complete role.
The best bit of the whole thing was the scene with Olivier, Giulgud and Richardson as court politicians scheming behind the scenes.
Anything that brought those three gentlemen together in front of a camera had my vote.
slarty

[Mr Pee]

I've rashly embarked on the very long haul that is Richard Burton's Wagner biopic, on youtube, hoping to gain some insight
so far, a comic turn by William Walton and a slurring Arthur Lowe, so onwards and upwards .....

This has been airing on Sky Arts 2 for the last three Saturdays, 3 hours per night. I'm afraid I have found it extremely hard going....I started out with the best of intentions but so far have managed to watch an hour and a half or thereabouts of Part 1. The rest is waiting on my Sky+ box. I will try again..sometime.

[gurnemanz]

Anyone with access to the Arte TV channel via satellite or internet has an alternative to the R3 concert from RFH. They are broadcasting Wagner's Birthday Concert from Bayreuth live. Seems to be available online here. Two other programmes also on, one of which is a documentary made 100 years (!) ago for his first centenary.

[Petrushka]

It was Wagner who got me into classical music in the first place. On May 23 1970, just 13 days short of my 15th birthday, I chanced to hear the Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin on Radio 2 of all places, played by the BBC Concert Orchestra. It hit me with tremendous force, like a bolt from the blue, a real Road to Damascus moment. I badgered my bemused mother to get me a record of the piece for my birthday and I duly received a Fontana LP SFL14501 with the LSO/Dorati and the Detroit SO/Paray in various Wagner pieces. I never looked back.

I heard Götterdämmerung on R3 live from Covent Garden on Sept 26 1970 with Solti, Tristan in a Bayreuth recording a week later and the whole Ring later that autumn. To a 15 year old this was heady stuff, more potent than drugs or alcohol, and with the Solti Ring LP's emerging in annual instalments in my Christmas stocking, courtesy of my increasingly bewildered mother, I was well and truly hooked.

Listening to the Ring now or any of it's constituent parts I am instantly transported back to those days in the very early 1970s.

So, on this, his 200th birthday, Wagner demands, and gets, my eternal gratitude.

[Beef Oven]

It was Wagner who got me into classical music in the first place. On May 23 1970, just 13 days short of my 15th birthday, I chanced to hear the Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin on Radio 2 of all places, played by the BBC Concert Orchestra. It hit me with tremendous force, like a bolt from the blue, a real Road to Damascus moment. I badgered my bemused mother to get me a record of the piece for my birthday and I duly received a Fontana LP SFL14501 with the LSO/Dorati and the Detroit SO/Paray in various Wagner pieces. I never looked back.

I heard Götterdämmerung on R3 live from Covent Garden on Sept 26 1970 with Solti, Tristan in a Bayreuth recording a week later and the whole Ring later that autumn. To a 15 year old this was heady stuff, more potent than drugs or alcohol, and with the Solti Ring LP's emerging in annual instalments in my Christmas stocking, courtesy of my increasingly bewildered mother, I was well and truly hooked.

Listening to the Ring now or any of it's constituent parts I am instantly transported back to those days in the very early 1970s.

So, on this, his 200th birthday, Wagner demands, and gets, my eternal gratitude.

Lovely story, thanks for sharing it with us

I'm interested, later on in life, did you ever discuss this with your mother and resolve the bewilderment?

[Mr Pee]

Lovely story, thanks for sharing it with us

I'm interested, later on in life, did you ever discuss this with your mother and resolve the bewilderment?

Agreed!

I'm sure my mum and brother were equally bewildered. My mum not really being at all musical and my brother more into Fleetwood Mac and other popular beat combos of the day.

On my first day at Further Education College, starting a music foundation course, I stuck my hand up when one of the lecturers asked whether any of us liked Wagner.

"Ah well," he said,"we all have our problems."

[Nick Armstrong]

negative comments on Richard Wagner's birthday

To be precise: the music is largely wonderful. My problem is that this birthday overkill has provided far too much excuse for poor (to my ears, intolerable) singing by people who oughtn't to be let near this music, and for repetitive, cliché'd nattering by commentators. Too much warbling, too much chatter, in short.

But the music: massive, unqualified appreciation here.