New to Wagner - Just purchased this big box set.

[Karl Henning]

I found the music ringing around my head as I read this. I'm really pleased it worked.

The cultural gain here is, at last I can see this being someone's favorite music. I should have intellectually conceded this possibility before, but now it makes musical sense to me.

[AnotherSpin]

Fair enough.

What I find simultaneolsy amusing and irksome is that when a fellow GMGer asks for suggestions on how to get to now Wagner better (after having shown apprecaition of one of his works), a couple of other GMGers simply tell him, most insistently, "don't get to know Wagner better, it's not woth it, his music is boring, his texts are rubbish". Very constructive...

Schopenhauer died in 1860, Wagner's mature works came later: Tristan - 1865; Die Meistersinger - 1868; Das Rheingold - 1869; Die Walküre - 1870; Siegfried - 1876, and the whole Der Ring cycle the same year; Parsifal - 1882.

[hopefullytrusting]

Probably because he doesn't feel the need to drench it in excess romanticism.

No, that it isn't it - he removes the humanity from Wagner because Wagner wasn't a humane composer.

The same goes for why I think Bohm and Karajan were so excellent when it came to Wagner, as neither of them were humane, so they understood Wagner implicitly, on that level.

[Florestan]

Schopenhauer died in 1860

All four libretti (Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung) were privately printed between 1848 and 1853. In December 1854 Wagner sent a print of the whole to Schopenhauer, bearing the autograph dedication "in veneration and gratitude". Wagner's autobiography reveals that Schopenhauer never sent a written reply. In Mein Leben Wagner wrote he had "resigned himself" from the outset to the prospect of not receiving a reply. But in fact he did suffer from Schopenhauer's silence; Cosima Wagner's diary records his grief and chagrin as late as March 1878-a generation after the fact.

[71 dB]

I don't recall calling you an idiot.

Sorry. I overreacted.

[Spotted Horses]

In any case, this thread makes me feel I'd like to listen to the Ring, which will never happen because I will never be able to find that magnitude of free time.

[Karl Henning]

In any case, this thread makes me feel I'd like to listen to the Ring, which will never happen because I will never be able to find that magnitude of free time.

It's a kind of investment, no q. I have a Zoom choir rehearsal this evening; I'll see how much of Die Walküre I might manage around/after. The mad thing is, I've got the Levine/Met coming in, too, so I'm apparently committing myself to two cycles before year's end.

[Karl Henning]

All four libretti (Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung) were privately printed between 1848 and 1853. In December 1854 Wagner sent a print of the whole to Schopenhauer, bearing the autograph dedication "in veneration and gratitude". 

Like a hen thinking the egg she'd laid was the only egg in all the world.

[Spotted Horses]

It's a kind of investment, no q. I have a Zoom choir rehearsal this evening; I'll see how much of Die Walküre I might manage around/after. The mad thing is, I've got the Levine/Met coming in, too, so I'm apparently committing myself to two cycles before year's end.

The first Levine/Met or the second? (I have both). On DVD or BR I also have Boulez, Barenboim, The Copenhagen Ring, Mehta and Haenchen. On CD Karajan, Bohm, Solti, Haitink. Copenhagen reinterprets the story somewhat from a feminist perspective, and I find the staging and music to be compelling. (I've only made it though Rheingold  and Walkure.)

I've listened to Karajan, Bohm and Levine I in their entirety.

[Karl Henning]

The first Levine/Met or the second? (I have both). On DVD or BR I also have Boulez, Barenboim, The Copenhagen Ring, Mehta and Haenchen. On CD Karajan, Bohm, Solti, Haitink. Copenhagen reinterprets the story somewhat from a feminist perspective, and I find the staging and music to be compelling. (I've only made it though Rheingold  and Walkure.)

I've listened to Karajan, Bohm and Levine I in their entirety.

You're way ahead of me, then. I had no success listening on CD. Of course, that may change now that I've cracked into it. As to which Levine/Met? Unsure. 

[T. D.]

You're way ahead of me, then. I had no success listening on CD. Of course, that may change now that I've cracked into it. As to which Levine/Met? Unsure.

What is the second Levine/Met? Unfamiliar to me. Is it a video?
I owned the (presumably) first on DG CDs, late '80s recording. It's pretty good, but I sold it long ago in a downsizing. Granted, nowadays (post infamous disclosures) I'm exceedingly unlikely to acquire more Levine recordings.

[(poco) Sforzando]

You're way ahead of me, then. I had no success listening on CD. Of course, that may change now that I've cracked into it. As to which Levine/Met? Unsure.

The earlier Levine DVD is the Met's more traditional production with James Morris and Hildegard Behrens. In the later one on BR (a controversial production which I think the Met already is scrapping) Levine shares conducting with Fabio Luisi and the leads are sung by Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt. I strongly prefer the earlier one.

As for CD, after all I've heard I still prefer Solti above all.

[(poco) Sforzando]

What is the second Levine/Met? Unfamiliar to me. Is it a video?
I owned the (presumably) first on DG CDs, late '80s recording. It's pretty good, but I sold it long ago in a downsizing. Granted, nowadays (post infamous disclosures) I'm exceedingly unlikely to acquire more Levine recordings.

See my post 171.

[San Antone]

The earlier Levine DVD is the Met's more traditional production with James Morris and Hildegard Behrens. In the later one on BR (a controversial production which I think the Met already is scrapping) Levine shares conducting with Fabio Luisi and the leads are sung by Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt. I strongly prefer the earlier one.

As for CD, after all I've heard I still prefer Solti above all.

This production I believe is the one using "The Machine" if I am not mistaken.  I watched it on Met Opera on Demand and it was a very rewarding experience.  One which allowed me to finally enjoy the work, which until then had been tough slogging for me.

[Karl Henning]

The earlier Levine DVD is the Met's more traditional production with James Morris and Hildegard Behrens. In the later one on BR (a controversial production which I think the Met already is scrapping) Levine shares conducting with Fabio Luisi and the leads are sung by Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt. I strongly prefer the earlier one.

This will be mine.

[AnotherSpin]

This production I believe is the one using "The Machine" if I am not mistaken.  I watched it on Met Opera on Demand and it was a very rewarding experience.  One which allowed me to finally enjoy the work, which until then had been tough slogging for me.

We saw the premiere of Das Rheingold with Levine, when the Machine didn't work in the final scene. We couldn't get tickets inside the theatre, so we listened on the plaza in front of the Met, sitting on chairs while following the video broadcast on a massive screen. At various points during the performance, the heavens opened with torrential rain, and listening to Wagner while sitting on chairs on the plaza in a downpour lent an unforgettable flavour to the whole affair.

[Karl Henning]

Act 1 almost done of Meistersinger on Spotify. I am liking the music quite a lot! In general I am not into opera buffa and this is supposed to be Wagner's only comic opera. Maybe it is all in the libretto, because the music sounds serious enough to my ears. It looks like Meistersinger would be a good choice to get on Blu-ray.

Thanks for the indirect suggestion! Even just this Vorabend experience of Der Ring makes it plain that this is my path for Die Meistersinger, as well.

[Karl Henning]

... sitting on chairs on the plaza in a downpour lent an unforgettable flavour to the whole affair.

This I readily credit.

[San Antone]

In 2019 the Met staged a revival of the 2012-13 production using the Machine. Here is an article describing all the improvements and software updates that went into it.  It was this 2019 production that I watched.  It was flawless and impressive, IMO.

Rise of the Machine
Robert Lepage's innovative staging of opera's ultimate epic, Wagner's four-installment Der Ring des Nibelungen, is one of the most ambitious productions ever conceived for the operatic stage. In spring 2019, the Ring took the Met stage for the first time since the 2012–13 season, and in anticipation of its triumphant return, the company spent almost a year working to update and improve the staging's complex machinery and technology. By Jay Goodwin

Continue reading

[Karl Henning]

In 2019 the Met staged a revival of the 2012-13 production using the Machine. Here is an article describing all the improvements and software updates that went into it.  It was this 2019 production that I watched.  It was flawless and impressive, IMO.

Rise of the Machine
Robert Lepage's innovative staging of opera's ultimate epic, Wagner's four-installment Der Ring des Nibelungen, is one of the most ambitious productions ever conceived for the operatic stage. In spring 2019, the Ring took the Met stage for the first time since the 2012–13 season, and in anticipation of its triumphant return, the company spent almost a year working to update and improve the staging's complex machinery and technology. By Jay Goodwin

Continue reading

Nice!