Wagner, why did you not

[Chaszz]

Wagner, why did you not

- write less polemics
- forget about politics
- ignore social problems
- leave the Jews alone
- write more music
- not bother with Schopenhauer
- forget Aeschylus and Shakespeare
- write more music
- be like Bach, be a musician every morning, afternoon and evening
- you coulda been the greatest
- you wasted so much time on nonsense,
Wagner

[The new erato]

But then he wouldn't have been Wagner.

[karlhenning]

Wagner without the nonsense would not have been Wagner: 'tis true.

[Grazioso]

A de-nonsense-ification trial

[karlhenning]

Ho-jo to-ho!

[Brahmsian]

Wagner was Wagner.  It is what made him special "in some cases not in a good way at all", but it is also who Wagner was that made his music very special and unique.

When I'm in the mood for Russian music, I can turn to a few handful of composers to get my fix.  However, when I have a hankering to listen to Wagner's music, there is no substitute and never will be.

Wagner had his flaws just like we all do, and yes, he was not the nicest man and said some horrible things.

Wagner for me:  Not a great man or role model, but he wrote some beautiful, incredible music that is incomparable to anyone else.

[prémont]

I am hypersensitive to Wagner´s nonsens, so I surely need a nonsensitivity training course.

[Opus106]

However, when I have a hankering to listen to Wagner's music...

...I listen to the slow movements from Bruckner and early Schoenberg.

[Superhorn]

   Yes, good old tricky Dick was a very busy guy.And don't forget his active career as a conductor all over Europe, conducting much more than his own music.  He was famous for among other things, his performances of the Beethoven symphonies, which aroused considerable controversy with their very elastic use of rubato.
   As Royal Kapellmeister in Dresden in the 1840s, he had to conduct operas by many different composers.,most of whom are pretty much forgotten now,
   And if he had not died in Venice not long before his 70s birthday in 1883, he might have given us some really intriguing things. He was planninf to write an opera called "Die Sieger" (The Victors) , which was based on Buddhism, something he was very interested in, taking place in India !   As well as writing symphonies. He produced one at the age of 19 which isn't bad at all, and there are fragments of a second.  There have been several recordings, such as by Sawallisch and the Philadelphia orchestra on EMI.   Too bad he didn't live as long as Verdi, who died in 1901.

[Jared]

Wagner, why did you not

take up carpentry, become a blacksmith or a barrel maker... ?

why did you have to compose?

[Grazioso]

Wagner, why did you not

Star in a touring production of Lord of the Dance, set to your own soundtrack?



I could just see him out there on stage in his heavy velvet robes and floppy hat, desperately trying to tap dance to the Tannhauser Act I Venus Grotto ballet music, shooting nasty looks to Liszt at the piano in the pit orchestra.

[Chaszz]

An illustration of Wagner's stupid pursuits of things other than music. It is known that he participated in the Revolution of 1848, but is generally assumed he was too young for the Revolution of 1830. However, this image from 1830 has recently come to light. It shows him disguised as the Duke of Buckingham in an unsuccessful plot to blow up London Bridge.  He was jailed for nine months, at first begging to be allowed to continue wearing the costume. This little escapade interrupted the composition of Das Feen.

[karlhenning]

. . . This little escapade interrupted the composition of Das Feen.

We must be grateful, then . . . .

[Josquin des Prez]

Die Feen isn't bad, you just have to ignore the libretto.

[Florestan]

An illustration of Wagner's stupid pursuits of things other than music. It is known that he participated in the Revolution of 1848, but is generally assumed he was too young for the Revolution of 1830. However, this image from 1830 has recently come to light. It shows him disguised as the Duke of Buckingham in an unsuccessful plot to blow up London Bridge.  He was jailed for nine months, at first begging to be allowed to continue wearing the costume. This little escapade interrupted the composition of Das Feen.

Is that the image of a 17-year boy, be it in disguise? I seriously doubt it.

[Grazioso]

Is that the image of a 17-year boy, be it in disguise? I seriously doubt it.

He was mature for his age.

[karlhenning]

He was born an old fart . . . .

[Harry Powell]

Did Wagner kill Manolete?

[Grazioso]

Did Wagner kill Manolete?

No, he killed music 

[Florestan]

No, he killed music 

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