New to Wagner - Just purchased this big box set.

[Lisztianwagner]

Ideally, Wagner intended his Ring to be performed on four successive nights.  (Very very demanding for the singers singing Wotan and Brunnhilde, and almost physically impossible for the orchestra players! )

As a matter of fact, at the first Bayreuth Festival, there was a pause between Das Rheingold/Die Walküre (performed on the 13th and 14th August) and Siegfried/Götterdämmerung (performed on the 16th and 17th August).

[ritter]

...
Oh, but you can't only focus on the music and ignore the rest, Wagner's art is Gesamtkunstwerk!

+1...concentarting on the whole requires an extra effort, but certainly pays off. And only by concentrating on the whole can one IMHO realize why Wagner enjoys such a special position in the arts...

[Karl Henning]

Ideally, Wagner intended his Ring to be performed on four successive nights.  (Very very demanding for the singers singing Wotan and Brunnhilde, and almost physically impossible for the orchestra players! )

Someday, I may assay that (as an auditor, I mean).

[Sergeant Rock]

As a matter of fact, at the first Bayreuth Festival, there was a pause between Das Rheingold/Die Walküre (performed on the 13th and 14th August) and Siegfried/Götterdämmerung (performed on the 16th and 17th August).

Siegfried needed that time to grow up 

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

(It didn't help.)

(Had to, sorry!) 

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Das Rheingold was what got me hooked on Wagner as a teenager.

Exactly the same thing with me. In fact, Rheingold was what really pushed me into the classical music as whole (I had liked some pieces earlier than that but I wasn't listening to it that much). I started with the Ring, then listened to Tannhäuser, Meistersinger, Lohengrin, Dutchman, Tristan and Parsifal. The only works I didn't instantly like that much was Tristan and curiously, Lohengrin, but after several relistenings tristan became one of my favorite works of all time and I listened to Lohengrin eventually again and again enjoying every bit of it,especially the prelude and ending of act III. So I wouldn't start with Tristan but I also wouldn't miss it for the world. I think Ring is as good a starting point as any. It certainly worked with me.

[Chris L.]

Exactly the same thing with me. In fact, Rheingold was what really pushed me into the classical music as whole (I had liked some pieces earlier than that but I wasn't listening to it that much). I started with the Ring, then listened to Tannhäuser, Meistersinger, Lohengrin, Dutchman, Tristan and Parsifal. The only one I didn't instantly like that much was Tristan but after several relistenings it became one of my favorite works of all time. So I wouldn't start with Tristan but I also wouldn't miss it for the world. I think Ring is as good a starting point as any. It certainly worked with me.

So should I start with the biggest and grandest first (Ring saga), or save it for the last? Decisions... decisions... I think I might just work my way through the box from disc 1, starting with Das Rheingold.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I edited my last post but I'll put it here as well: I forgot to mention that like Tristan I didn't like Lohengrin at first neither but now the situation is quite the opposite. And Rheingold is very good place to start.

[Jo498]

If you start with Rheingold, you do both: Rheingold is fairly short and accessible but the Ring is the grandest of all. The flying dutchman is also good and fairly accessible but it is quite different from the later Wagnerian "musical drama" whereas Rheingold although not long already has the breadth of the rest of the tetralogy.

I used to recommend "Walküre" as starting point because the first act is a rather conventional and accessible love story, the beginning of the 3rd act (ride) very famous and the respective endings of the 2nd (Todesverkündigung) and 3rd act (magic fire and Wotan's farewell) extremely beautiful. The downside are the rather dry bits in most of the 2nd act and the middle of the 3rd.

(Still do not care much for Tannhäuser and Lohengrin although these are probably the most popular in Germany and their preludes are justly famous.)

[Daverz]

Hmm... not a whole lot going on in the Opera/Vocal Dept. I see.

I just don't have the sitzfleisch for Wagner.

[San Antone]

I just don't have the sitzfleisch for Wagner.

[MishaK]

I'm not too fond of Dutchman and it is in some ways not really representative of the rest of Wagner's output. Much more like Weber on steroids than mature Wagner. If I were looking for a point of entry, I would also recommend Rheingold or actually Lohengrin, which is mature Wagnerian music theater, but unlike e.g. Parsifal or Tristan it has pretty much non-stop stage action. In my mind it is the most stageable of Wagner operas. Also really lovely music.

[king ubu]

The "Ring" in ten or so minutes:
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/bilder-und-zeiten/kaminski-erklaert-wagners-ring-jeder-giert-nach-seinem-gut-12193398.html

(facing musical fears: being drowned under my Wagner boxes before actually listening to any bit of 'em)

[Moonfish]

The "Ring" in ten or so minutes:
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/bilder-und-zeiten/kaminski-erklaert-wagners-ring-jeder-giert-nach-seinem-gut-12193398.html

(facing musical fears: being drowned under my Wagner boxes before actually listening to any bit of 'em)

  0:)

[PerfectWagnerite]

Note: I moved this post from "Purchases Today" because I felt it might fit better here.

Looking for advice on where to start with this box. Do I jump into the Ring saga at the beginning from disc 1 or should I start off with one of the smaller operas first (if anyone can call a Wagner opera "small" with a straight face)?

If you are interested in Wagner and would like to explore while on a budget you could have gotten this one for around $40:



It contains a great Tristan, Ring, and an almost great Lohengrin. At least everything is in stereo (which is pretty much a mandatory if you are new to Wagner).

[PerfectWagnerite]

Ideally, Wagner intended his Ring to be performed on four successive nights.  (Very very demanding for the singers singing Wotan and Brunnhilde, and almost physically impossible for the orchestra players! )

As many times as the Metropolitan Opera has presented this work I don't ever recall it being performed on 4 consecutive nights. It is probably for practical reasons as well - the demand on the audience to sit through 4 consecutive evenings is a bit much.

Completely agree with the almost super-human orchestral demands. Wagner saves some of the most difficult music for the END of each opera where the orchestra is pretty well burnt out. For example the rather exposed piccolo part in the Magic Fire Music at the end of Die Walkuere.

[Jo498]

(facing musical fears: being drowned under my Wagner boxes before actually listening to any bit of 'em)

The canonical quote here is Fafner's "Ich lieg' und besitz', lasst mich schlafen"
(I lie down and own [sc. the hoard], let me sleep)

[Jaakko Keskinen]

the rather exposed piccolo part in the Magic Fire Music at the end of Die Walkuere.

Piccolo must be really difficult to play because I learned to play the magic fire fairly easily on piano and I am so bad at playing instruments I can't even be described as a beginner.

[Wendell_E]

As many times as the Metropolitan Opera has presented this work I don't ever recall it being performed on 4 consecutive nights.

Neither has Bayreuth.  As someone mentioned, at the first festival there was a day's break between Die Walküre and Siegfried.  These days, they take a second day off between Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.

Checking that at the Bayreuth Festival website, I noticed that in addition to three complete cycles, there a "stand-alone" performance of Siegfried, on August 5th.  That's new, AFAIK.  Why?
http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/english/programme_157.html

Back to the Met, there's been a lot of complaints about how spread out the cycles are in the latest production.  Throughout the life of the Schenk production, you could see a complete cycle over six days, just as at Bayreuth.  The Lepage is spread out over at least eight, making things difficult, especially for out-of-towners.

[Decaffeinato]

I would be willing to bet that the majority of audience members don't want to go see the Ring on consecutive nights.