The Good Friday music from Parsifal

[Chaszz]

Can one recover from this experience which has now lasted more than two weeks? Is there anything else as moving? Is life anywhere else as beautiful as this 10 minutes of sublimity? Is there any relief from its quiet but overwhelming power? This music which controls not only the poor listener's waking life life but also his sleep and his dreams?......Does the word 'art' even begin to suggest this power?...Does one begin to become depressed at the chasm between the power of this experience and any sane, civilized, supposedly rational view of the world? Was Faust himself any more consumed?.... Was Plato correct that music should be outlawed? ....Is there a doctor, a drug or a treatment program which can cure this deep affliction?....

[Karl Henning]

Bob! Wet clean-up on aisle 7!

[jochanaan]

Chaszz, if you melt at Good Friday, what will you do for the last movement of Mahler 3?  Or Der Abschied from Das Lied von der Erde?  Or anything by Morton Feldman?

[Chaszz]

Chaszz, if you melt at Good Friday, what will you do for the last movement of Mahler 3?  Or Der Abschied from Das Lied von der Erde?  Or anything by Morton Feldman?

I've heard Das Lied con der Erde and liked it, but have not explored it in depth. Likewise Mahler 3. Morton Feldman I'm not familiar with at all. I'm on my way, however. Thanks for the recommendations.

[Chaszz]

Bob! Wet clean-up on aisle 7!

The guy uses epoxy, polyester and polyurethane for sculpture, so wear on your industrial hazard suit also, Bob.

[Mandryka]

Can one recover from this experience which has now lasted more than two weeks? Is there anything else as moving? Is life anywhere else as beautiful as this 10 minutes of sublimity? Is there any relief from its quiet but overwhelming power? This music which controls not only the poor listener's waking life life but also his sleep and his dreams?......Does the word 'art' even begin to suggest this power?...Does one begin to become depressed at the chasm between the power of this experience and any sane, civilized, supposedly rational view of the world? Was Faust himself any more consumed?.... Was Plato correct that music should be outlawed? ....Is there a doctor, a drug or a treatment program which can cure this deep affliction?....

There's a tune in it which always reminds me of Donny and Marie Osmond singing Paper Roses.

The music which makes me all weak kneed is the end of Gotterdammerung. And Brangaene's warning in Act 2 of Tristan. And and music that Siegfried sings after he's been wounded by Hagen. Oh, and the wonderful woodbird. Parsifal makes me want to genuflect all the way through, except for Klingsor's music.

I don't listen to Wagner enough.

[Chaszz]

There's a tune in it which always reminds me of Donny and Marie Osmond singing Paper Roses.

The music which makes me all weak kneed is the end of Gotterdammerung. And Brangaene's warning in Act 2 of Tristan. And and music that Siegfried sings after he's been wounded by Hagen. Oh, and the wonderful woodbird. Parsifal makes me want to genuflect all the way through, except for Klingsor's music.

I don't listen to Wagner enough.

Each to his own. The end of Gotterdammerung is obviously very ambitious musically, but has never touched me the way it should, or I should, or whatever. Re your other examples, Brangane's warnings, Siegfried's stab in the back, and the Woodbird, I agree completely, all great music. I've been listening to all of Act 3 of Parsifal lately, and very moved by it, even though I know that as literature, besides the music, it's something the bull left behind in the pasture. As I implied in my original post, I don't think the part of me that is addicted to Wagner and absolutely thrills to the music, and even gives up some of my dream life to it, is the part I would trust to navigate life successfully, do sensible things, and think straight. Not in the least.

[Mandryka]

Each to his own. The end of Gotterdammerung is obviously very ambitious musically, but has never touched me the way it should, or I should, or whatever. Re your other examples, Brangane's warnings, Siegfried's stab in the back, and the Woodbird, I agree completely, all great music. I've been listening to all of Act 3 of Parsifal lately, and very moved by it, even though I know that as literature, besides the music, it's something the bull left behind in the pasture. As I implied in my original post, I don't think the part of me that is addicted to Wagner and absolutely thrills to the music, and even gives up some of my dream life to it, is the part I would trust to navigate life successfully, do sensible things, and think straight. Not in the least.

The Act 3 which impressed me the most is the one with Vickers and Knappertsbusch. He extends the very last syllable he sings, "schrein" in "Öffnet den Schrein", so that it blends into the orchestral music that follows and gradulally fades away. The effect is astonishing. I think he was interviewed about it after and made some comments on why, how it signified something about christianity (i can't remember what.) I also remember the production was interesting, he took Kundry up to the shrine at the very end as a sort of feminist gsture.

I've lost touch a bit wth what's haplening with Wagner and I bet that some interesting things have been done with the opera over the past five years or so.

[val]

Chaszz
Can one recover from this experience which has now lasted more than two weeks? Is there anything else as moving? Is life anywhere else as beautiful as this 10 minutes of sublimity? Is there any relief ....Is there a doctor, a drug or a treatment program which can cure this deep affliction?....

I never recovered, and there has been more than 30 years.
There is a good treatment. It doesn't cure but gives you other experiences as strong as that one. Beethoven's Adagio of the piano Sonata opus 106 or the Variations of the opus 109, or the slow movement of the string Quartet opus 132. Or Bach's Kyrie and Credo of the Mass. Or Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (the Preludes of the First and Third Act, the love duo of the second, and all the third act). Or Bruckner's Adagios from the 8th and 9th Symphonies.