Favourite Wagner opera

[Parry1912]

Meistersinger, for me

I'm inclined to agree, although I think Parsifal contains Wagner's finest music.

[Richard Tarleton]

Another vote for Meistersinger.

OT, something heard on the radio the other day made me realise I can get back to Wagner by six degrees of separation - and to Beethoven come to that - it was that the world chess champion Alekhine used to play chess with Rachmaninov, who of course knew Tchaikovsky, who met Liszt, who.....met Beethoven, and knew just about every other 19th composer. My landlord for two years as a student was a former world class chess player who as a young man twice played Alekhine in pre-war Prague.

I'm sure others eg Petrushka who have met great conductors backstage can get back in fewer moves than that

[Tevot]

Hello there,

As Chad once upon a time might have surmised :-

"Wot ! No Rienzi ?? ;-) "


For me it'd have to be Gotterdammerung although Die Walkure comes pretty close too.

Heck it is an impossible question isn't it? Can't we take this to a higher authority...?

Imagine the verdict : "Hallo London. Zis is the Valhalla jury calling. Zees are our votes..."

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Flosshilde]

The one I'm listening to.

[Petrushka]

Another vote for Meistersinger.

OT, something heard on the radio the other day made me realise I can get back to Wagner by six degrees of separation - and to Beethoven come to that - it was that the world chess champion Alekhine used to play chess with Rachmaninov, who of course knew Tchaikovsky, who met Liszt, who.....met Beethoven, and knew just about every other 19th composer. My landlord for two years as a student was a former world class chess player who as a young man twice played Alekhine in pre-war Prague.

I'm sure others eg Petrushka who have met great conductors backstage can get back in fewer moves than that

I can get back to both Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin in a couple of moves - how scary is that? As for Wagner I'd need to think a bit. Did Richard Strauss meet Wagner? If so I can get there via Karl Böhm (whose teacher knew Brahms). If not, I can do so in another move via Strauss's father. That therefore opens up the possibility that there are no more than three degrees of separation between me amd most of the great Viennese composers.

There's a great thread here!

[Nick Armstrong]

There's a great thread here!

Go for it, Pet!!

I get back to Hitler with just one degree of separation...

(I'll explain on your new thread! )

[Petrushka]

Go for it, Pet!!

I get back to Hitler with just one degree of separation...

(I'll explain on your new thread! )

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?8424-Six-Degrees-of-Separation&p=298277#post298277

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Did Richard Strauss meet Wagner?

I don't think so, but Strauss' father, Franz, was Wagner's favourite Horn player. (Strauss snr, on the other hand, couldn't stand the tuneless modern muck he was paid to play so well!)

[Flosshilde]

Did Richard Strauss meet Wagner?

No, but he conducted rehearsals at Bayreuth in 1891, & was very close to Cosima, who apparently had plans to marry him to Eva.

[antongould]

I don't know any of them.

....and for me ER, try as I might - whichever one is the shortest.......

[gurnemanz]

I don't think so, but Strauss' father, Franz, was Wagner's favourite Horn player. (Strauss snr, on the other hand, couldn't stand the tuneless modern muck he was paid to play so well!)

He played in the premiere of Tristan and when he first saw the horn part is said to have commented: "Das kann kein Mensch blasen!" (No human being can blow that). He obviously eventually managed to do so.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

He played in the premiere of Tristan and when he first saw the horn part is said to have commented: "Das kann kein Mensch blasen!" (No human being can blow that). He obviously eventually managed to do so.

[gradus]

T and I, Parsifal, Meistersinger. The established pecking order chez moi.

[DublinJimbo]

Meistersinger, Meistersinger, Meistersinger.

[Simon B]

For once with such questions, this is actually fairly easy.

If in the mood for triffic toons (and much else besides), then Meistersinger which (glossing over some slightly tedious patches in Act I) seems to me to comprise a seam of, er, seamless melody whose near limitlessness almost leaves me shaking my head in disbelief.

Otherwise, Gotterdammerung.