Wagner's Valhalla

[madaboutmahler]

Wow... can't wait! Off to go and listen to it now. Will report back later, but by the sounds of it, I will probably be speechless!

[madaboutmahler]

Just back from the last act of Die Walkure..... 

Such powerfully beautiful, moving music, so passionate and heavenly!!!!! Simply amazing.... Not only my favourite act so far... but certainly now some of my favourite music ever written. Absolutely amazing.

Looking forward to continuing the journey, by starting Siegfried. I will be able to continue on Tuesday, very excited!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Wonderful, Daniel. We have all been there, so we know what you have just experienced.

[Lisztianwagner]

Just back from the last act of Die Walkure..... 

Such powerfully beautiful, moving music, so passionate and heavenly!!!!! Simply amazing.... Not only my favourite act so far... but certainly now some of my favourite music ever written. Absolutely amazing.

Looking forward to continuing the journey, by starting Siegfried. I will be able to continue on Tuesday, very excited!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho! Heiaha! Heiaha!

I'm really glad you liked this opera so much! I agree with everything you said, the 3rd act of Die Walkure is absolutely thrilling, passionate and powerfully evocative, full of beauty and poetry; absolutely haunting, ethereal music!!
Enjoy Siegfried on Tuesday ; that opera, along with Gotterdammerung, is my favourite of the whole Ring Cycle.

[madaboutmahler]

Wonderful, Daniel. We have all been there, so we know what you have just experienced.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho! Heiaha! Heiaha!

I'm really glad you liked this opera so much! I agree with everything you said, the 3rd act of Die Walkure is absolutely thrilling, passionate and powerfully evocative, full of beauty and poetry; absolutely haunting, ethereal music!!
Enjoy Siegfried on Tuesday ; that opera, along with Gotterdammerung, is my favourite of the whole Ring Cycle.

Thank you, both! It certainly was amazing!

I am certainly looking forward to the two remaining operas, Ilaria! What an amazing journey it is!!!

[Elgarian]

Hojotoho! Hojotoho! Heiaha! Heiaha!

Exactly so. Exactly so.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Siegfried is my personal favorite, especially act II. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

[madaboutmahler]

Siegfried is my personal favorite, especially act II. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

Thank you! I look forward to it very much! The small excerpts from Siegfried I have heard so far sound absolutely brilliant!

[madaboutmahler]

Just back from listening to the first act of Siegfried.

I enjoyed it so so so so much! It was absolutely amazing, such brilliant music! By the end of it, I think I was getting carried away with my facial expressions and urges to burst out conducting, as I was loving it so much! I had to repeat the finale! Absolutely thrilling!

SO BRILLIANT!!!!!

Not sure when I will be able to continue with Act 2... but whenever I can, I am very much looking forward to it!

[Lisztianwagner]

Just back from listening to the first act of Siegfried.

I enjoyed it so so so so much! It was absolutely amazing, such brilliant music! By the end of it, I think I was getting carried away with my facial expressions and urges to burst out conducting, as I was loving it so much! I had to repeat the finale! Absolutely thrilling!

SO BRILLIANT!!!!!

Not sure when I will be able to continue with Act 2... but whenever I can, I am very much looking forward to it!

Haha, I can totally share the feeling

The 1st act of Siegfried is really powerfully emotional, absolutely thrilling, passionate music! (actually, my favourite opera of the Ring) I've always been so impressed by the expressive, intese strenght of the finale that I always have the impulse to beat the hammer on Siegfried's rythm or to burst out conducting.

[madaboutmahler]

Haha, I can totally share the feeling

The 1st act of Siegfried is really powerfully emotional, absolutely thrilling, passionate music! (actually, my favourite opera of the Ring) I've always been so impressed by the expressive, intese strenght of the finale that I always have the impulse to beat the hammer on Siegfried's rythm or to burst out conducting.

haha I loved the hammer too, believe it or not!

I loved it so much, that I even posted on the Judith Weir thread to post about how amazing the Ring Cycle is!

[Lisztianwagner]

haha I loved the hammer too, believe it or not!

I loved it so much, that I even posted on the Judith Weir thread to post about how amazing the Ring Cycle is!

Haha, I was sure you would loved the hammer!

[Jaakko Keskinen]

@madaboutmahler: pardon me if you have mentioned it before, but is the Ring Cycle your first experience with Wagner or have you listened to his other operas too? I myself started with the Ring and I find it an excellent introduction to Wagner's awesome art, it being my favorite classical work of all time. Not to say his other awesome operas (or music dramas) wouldn't as well.

[Lisztianwagner]

I myself started with the Ring and I find it an excellent introduction to Wagner's awesome art, it being my favorite classical work of all time.

Wonderful!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Quote from: Alberich on Today at 16:47:38

I myself started with the Ring and I find it an excellent introduction to Wagner's awesome art.



Same here. I first bought LPs (yes...) with just orchestral fragments and preludes. The first real music drama I listened to, diligently reading along in the libretto, was 'Das Rheingold' under Karajan. I remember forcing my sister, who was deep into Earth, Wind & Fire at the time, to listen to those sensational sixteen anvils...

[madaboutmahler]

@madaboutmahler: pardon me if you have mentioned it before, but is the Ring Cycle your first experience with Wagner or have you listened to his other operas too? I myself started with the Ring and I find it an excellent introduction to Wagner's awesome art, it being my favorite classical work of all time. Not to say his other awesome operas (or music dramas) wouldn't as well.

No problem. Yes, the Ring Cycle is my first exploration into the world of Wagner. Probably partially why I am so amazed! Of course I knew the overtures before, and loved them. But it is through the Ring Cycle that I have for the first time listened to a Wagner opera in full.



I imagine I will listen to Tristan und Isolde after the Ring. I might take me a while to finish the Ring now though, as school term-time starts this Monday.... might be difficult to find as much time to devote to Wagner... I will find the time though!

[kishnevi]

No problem. Yes, the Ring Cycle is my first exploration into the world of Wagner. Probably partially why I am so amazed! Of course I knew the overtures before, and loved them. But it is through the Ring Cycle that I have for the first time listened to a Wagner opera in full.



I imagine I will listen to Tristan und Isolde after the Ring. I might take me a while to finish the Ring now though, as school term-time starts this Monday.... might be difficult to find as much time to devote to Wagner... I will find the time though!

I started my Wagner with Meistersinger and Parsifal,  then went on to the earlier works and only then to the Ring.  It was the last act of Meistersinger and the transformation scenes in Parsifal that hooked me.  At that time,  I knew them via the Solti recordings on LP.
I had a very hard time with Tristan--usually fell asleep by the end of Act I.  The key for me was to familiarize myself with the libretto:  the talk vs action ratio in Tristan is highly slanted to the talk side, probably more than in any other of Wagner's works, and you really need to know what the characters are saying (that is, singing) most of the time--unlike some other passages in, say, Parsifal or Walkure, where a general idea of what the character is saying is all that's necessary for at least preliminary enjoyment.  (Of course, if you really want to "get" any of those works, you eventually have to know in detail what's being said/sung onstage--but that goes for almost every opera, anyway.)   I have three recordings now of Tristan--Furtwangler on EMI,  Pappano (with Domingo),  and Bohm, and wouldn't be without any of them.

ETA: Come to think of it,  I wasn't a total stranger to the Ring--I had the Bohm recording of Rheingold,  and if nothing else thoroughly enjoyed those hammers!

[knight66]

I got in to Wagner through the bleeding chunks, but then did go to a Ring Cycle when I was about 17. I went on my own as I did not know anyone else who liked the kind of music I was into. I bought the Solti Ring on LP, but a lot of the time I was cherry picking my favourite parts. There are still stretches of Wagner that I would cheerfully take scissors to. So I am not really a Wagnarian  who considers the pieces as almost sacred: but as the years go by, I find more and more and enjoy elements I once ignored.

Mike

[Lisztianwagner]

I started my wagnerian journey with Der Ring des Nibelungen too; after listening to the ouvertures and various excerpts from Wagner's operas, I was very impressed by the great beauty of that music and I immediately looked for the complete works. The Ring Cycle was the first one I've ever got (Barenboim's recording), I had already known both the plot of Wagner's libretto and the Nibelungenlied, so I was very excited to start my exploration from it.
The Ring absolutely overwhelmed me, I was so captured by the its power and passion that I listened to Das Rheingold and Die Walkure in the same day. Apart from Tristan und Isolde, I think it's quite hard to find another opera which can compete with the Ring Cycle for intensity, harmonic richness, orchestral brilliance, expressive strenght and overpowering passion, such absolutely thrilling music!

[madaboutmahler]

Thank you all for sharing your stories about your Wagnerian beginnings! Very interesting and enjoyable to read.

I am really looking forward to continuing the Ring, and eventually coming to the other operas.