How do you listen to Wagner operas?

[rubio]

I have recently completed my journey through the Keilberth Ring following the libretto. A lot of nice music and singing, but I also find this big work a bit exhausting. I wonder, those of you who regularly return to Wagner operas - do you most of the time just listen to the music? Or do you most often follow the libretto? And if you just listen to the music - do you understand the German lyrics?

[Que]

I have recently completed my journey through the Keilberth Ring following the libretto. A lot of nice music and singing, but I also find this big work a bit exhausting. I wonder, those of you who regularly return to Wagner operas - do you most of the time just listen to the music? Or do you most often follow the libretto? And if you just listen to the music - do you understand the German lyrics?

I first go trough the synopsis before listening - that helps to follow the story.
First time(s) I always follow the texts, I know German so that is an advantage.
A tip might be - though a laboreous one - is to photocopy the libretto in a magnified format, makes for much more relaxed reading while listening. Luckely most libretti have German & English next to each other on the same page.

As for the music, with a new opera - especially the longer ones like by Wagner, I take a break between acts. One act each day works also well.

Q

[gmstudio]

I follow along with the full orchestral scores. Dover has published all of them (except Rienzi).  I, too, usually do one act at a time.

[Anne]

I follow along with the full orchestral scores. Dover has published all of them (except Rienzi).  I, too, usually do one act at a time.

I listen with the libretto until I need it no longer.  Then is the time I really enjoy the music because from each part of the music I know what is happening or being said in the opera.  That is when the opera is most enjoyable.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

When I first began to explore Wagner's operas (when I was in my teens), I spent the whole day immersed in one work, with breaks between the acts. I read along with the libretto as I listened, but not always: sometimes I wanted the music to do the talking, going with the mighty Wagnerian flow. To deepen my understanding I read a lot in advance, and I borrowed the score from the library. And yes, I can read German (even though Wagner's German is often intentionally archaic (in the Ring, that is).

Nowadays I simply return to my favourite moments due to lack of time. But I must say - I still get goose bumps whenever I hear even a few bars of Wagner...

[Wendell_E]

I follow along with the full orchestral scores. Dover has published all of them (except Rienzi).  I, too, usually do one act at a time.

Dover's published Das Liebesverbot and Die Feen?   

Yeah, I usually follow along with the full orchestra scores, too.  But sometimes i'll just follow with the text or just listen to the music.  My German's good enough to understand most of the text, but I usually have a libretto nearby, in case I need it. 

[marvinbrown]

I have recently completed my journey through the Keilberth Ring following the libretto. A lot of nice music and singing, but I also find this big work a bit exhausting. I wonder, those of you who regularly return to Wagner operas - do you most of the time just listen to the music? Or do you most often follow the libretto? And if you just listen to the music - do you understand the German lyrics?

   Oh Gosh where do I start.  Wagner is to be experienced in so many ways.  The best way is on DVD, those operas are meant to be seen as well as heard.  Follow along with the plot (subtitles) and enjoy the music. With the Ring try to link the music (leitmotif) with the action on stage.
  That said, I am very familiar with Wagner's operas as I have heard and seen them so many times (after all this guy is my favorite composer).  With CDs (audio recordings) it has gotten to the point where I no longer need a libretto and can just listen to the operas knowing full well what's happening.  You start to get a mental picture from the DVDs you have seen as you are listening to the audio CDs- it takes time for this to happen but when it does it is a real joy!

  I hope this helps!

  marvin

[Sean]

Just whack the music on and get to know it- play it six times over the next month or two in your room. It gets more harmonically complex in Gotterdammerung but its all internalizable, if always remaining unexpected.

Wagner's overall lack of formal frames though gives it an exhausting quality ie the listener tending to look for closure, when this is constantly anticipated and negated. A live performance can be particularly brain-bashing and imperious.

[longears]

First, pay your bills for the coming month.  Go to the grocery store and lay in a good supply of food.  Eat a full meal and go to the bathroom before you start.  Warn your wife so she can leave to visit the in-laws.  Then settle yourself into a comfortable chair, put the CD in the player, and turn the sound off.

Bliss.

[Sergeant Rock]

How do I listen to Wagner's operas? I dress up as my favorite character, hit play, and then act out the drama along with the music, in much the same way fans dress up for the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Mrs. Rock thinks I'm pretty weird (especially when I'm playing Brünnhilde) but you have to understand: she's the anti-Wagnerite. She'll never get it. 

Sarge

[gmstudio]

How do I listen to Wagner's operas? I dress up as my favorite character, hit play, and then act out the drama along with the music,

So you dress up and stand still for hours on end? 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

So you dress up and stand still for hours on end? 

Not if you have a treadmill...

[knight66]

So you dress up and stand still for hours on end? 

Don't forget the ...opening and closing mouth slowly catching flies...bit.

Mike

[Haffner]

I buy some choice books ("Wagner's Ring" comes in two fine book forms, one is a fine libretto and the other a fascinating Jung-ian analyses by Robert Donington). Another terrific book is "The Wagner Operas" by Newman.

Then I'll watch, one act at a time. If I'm really getting lost, I'll put the dvd away for a time. Inevitably I get drawn back to it. And, inevitably I find myself captured that next time or the time following.

After all, that, I grab all the great performances on cd I can, the score comes out and my admiration deepens exponentially the more I follow along.

[MahlerSnob]

Oh Gosh where do I start.  Wagner is to be experienced in so many ways.  The best way is on DVD, those operas are meant to be seen as well as heard.

Really? I think the best way to experience Wagner's operas - or anything, really - is live. After that, DVD's are probably the best way to go, but you can't beat a live performance. One of my greatest all-time concert experiences was seeing the San Francisco Symphony do a semi-staged performance of Flying Dutchman about six years ago. At that time I wasn't too familiar with any of Wagner's operas, and that performance made such an impression on me that I've been in love with them (and that one in particular) ever since.
My approach to Wagner has generally been one act at a time. I watched the Ring (Boulez/Bayreuth '76 for those who care) that way a few years ago. His operas that I've watched more recently (Lohengrin, Parsifal, Tristan), I've done in fewer sittings. You get a better sense for the large scale design of the operas when you watch them in one sitting, in a way that you don't really get when you do them one act at a time.

[marvinbrown]

Really? I think the best way to experience Wagner's operas - or anything, really - is live. After that, DVD's are probably the best way to go, but you can't beat a live performance. One of my greatest all-time concert experiences was seeing the San Francisco Symphony do a semi-staged performance of Flying Dutchman about six years ago. At that time I wasn't too familiar with any of Wagner's operas, and that performance made such an impression on me that I've been in love with them (and that one in particular) ever since.
My approach to Wagner has generally been one act at a time. I watched the Ring (Boulez/Bayreuth '76 for those who care) that way a few years ago. His operas that I've watched more recently (Lohengrin, Parsifal, Tristan), I've done in fewer sittings. You get a better sense for the large scale design of the operas when you watch them in one sitting, in a way that you don't really get when you do them one act at a time.

  Well done MahlerSnob you certainly trumpted my suggestion.  Yes of course a live performance is the best way to experience Wagner or any performance for that matter.  But if you are on a tight budget then DVDs are the best way to go. I would like to add though that with DVDs you can pick after sampling which production style suits you better (traditional, modern, elaborate, simple etc.) which is an added advantage.  That said I agree with you that nothing beats a excellent live performance of Wagner's operas. 

 

  marvin

[knight66]

My suggestion also is one act at a time. I try not to listen to less than that. I use the libretto or a piano/vocal score.

Mike

[paulb]

I have recently completed my journey through the Keilberth Ring following the libretto. A lot of nice music and singing, but I also find this big work a bit exhausting. I wonder, those of you who regularly return to Wagner operas - do you most of the time just listen to the music? Or do you most often follow the libretto? And if you just listen to the music - do you understand the German lyrics?

just curious, which, the 52 or 53?
I have found both to be very close, slight edge to the 53, which i place along side the great Furtwanlger/53.
I listen w/o reading along. and study the libretto whenever I have time.

[Michel]

With an anal probe.

[knight66]

No wonder you are deaf in one ear.

You gotta stop taking those Grouch pills.


Mike