Favourite Wagner opera

[verismissimo]

Any except Lohengrin.

[David-G]

Any except Lohengrin.

What do you have against Lohengrin? It is undoubtedly my favourite! (Except when my favourite is Walkure, or Gotterdammerung, or Meistersinger - sorry about the umlauts, I can't cope with them). But seriously, I always see Lohengrin with especial pleasure. It can and should be intensely dramatic, and the music is very special.

[Petrushka]

What do you have against Lohengrin? It is undoubtedly my favourite! (Except when my favourite is Walkure, or Gotterdammerung, or Meistersinger - sorry about the umlauts, I can't cope with them). But seriously, I always see Lohengrin with especial pleasure. It can and should be intensely dramatic, and the music is very special.

I played the Kempe recording of Lohengrin over the weekend for the first time having had it for several weeks. Moreover, it was the first time I'd really got to grips with the work at all having tended to dismiss it as 'early Wagner'. I was absolutely bowled over by the beauty and drama of the music. There is so much here that pre-figures the great music dramas to come and I love it! Can't wait to play it again when time permits.

[Flosshilde]

But seriously, I always see Lohengrin with especial pleasure. It can and should be intensely dramatic, and the music is very special.

Yes, if you want a 'traditional' opera, but with that special Wagner magic, Lohengrin is certainly it. It doesn't get performed often enough, I think. I saw the Elijah Moshinsky production at Covent Garden many years ago; unfortunately I missed the WNO performance broadcast yesterday.

My favourite Wagner? probably the Ring - yes, I know it's four operas, but it's one work. My least 'favourite'? Mastersingers. I can never make up my mind whether T&I or Parsifal is the greatest.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Another vote for Meistersingers from me followed by Tristan and Tannhauser.

[verismissimo]

What do you have against Lohengrin?

So much of it sounds four-square to me. Whereas Dutchman (which precedes it) I love.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Oh dear. This is quite impossible. Once it was Meistersinger (and sometimes still is),
but Rheingold or Gotterdammerung sometimes replace it.
Never really got into Parsifal, and Lohengrin I find tedious.
But I adore Tannhauser and regard Solti's recording as the finest of any opera.
Tristan is unbelievable.
And Siegfried and Walkure are pretty good too.

Die Feen, perhaps?

Seriously, though, it's Die Meistersinger.

[Mahler's3rd]

Tannhauser I think, I remember hearing my Father playing the famous Pilgrims chorus. I was a ragged 16 year old into Black Sabbath etc etc, at the time and I said "What Is That!!!!!...... you just played, that's amazing" etc etc, The Rest As They Say Is.........