A welcome from the Wanderer

[Wanderer]

Greetings from the Richard Wagner Forum! Or should I say greetings from me because...err...at the time of writing the Richard Wagner Forum is me...and then that's pretty much it! For most of my life I have never been terribly interested in classical music or music generally really, but about 2 months ago I became hooked on Wagner and since then I have wanted to listen to him and learn about him as much as I can. Has anyone else had this experience? It is a bit like a religious conversion!

Given Wagner's reputation and popularity, it surprised me to find that there is not much in the way of (English language) internet discussion forums devoted to Wagner. For this reason, I have set up this forum in the hope of...well...discovering what happens! I figure there must be other Wagner lovers out there. If anyone is reading this and feeling remotely interested, please sign up and jump right in!

[wahnfried]

Thank you, Wanderer, for creating this forum andfor your hint on facebook in our Richard Wagner group. Otherwise I wouldn't have found it, because google germany doesn't show it. Maybe you can do something so that this forum will be on prominent place there.
When I started to hear classical music I had a lot of problems with Wagner. Waiting for big italian like arias it was a hard time to get through all of his operas. My initiation then was the "Ring" in the Böhm version wich I heard through a whole weekend. And from then I was doomed.
Not that I loved first sight all of his operas. Lohengrin was my favourite besides Holländer. Meistersinger, Parsifal and Tristan I struggled a lot with. That means over years and years. This now has totally changed.
I can't say wich of is operas I really love best. It is a matter of the right moment. But Parsifal, Götterdämmerung, Tristan and Meistersinger, that means the real musical dramas are nor at the top.
I'm glad to be here, I hope a lot of other afficionados will follow and we will have a lot of interesting discussions.

[wahnfried]

Please, do tell me how I can create a new thread.

[Wanderer]

Thanks so much for joining me here, wahnfried! As you can see, it's just you and me at the moment, but hopefully the membership will enlarge over time.

I enjoyed reading your short history of your relationship with Wagner's work. It is quite exciting for me to read this kind of thing, because I am right at the beginning of my Wagner enthusiasm but haven't yet gotten to speak with many other people who share it. Wanting to rectify this situation is one of the reasons I set up this forum .

I was being economical with the truth in writing that I've only liked Wagner for about 2 months. Actually, I recall listening to the famous 'Ride of the Valkyries' sometime in my teens and being swept away by it. Afterwards, I bought a 'Best of Wagner' compilation CD, but other than 'Ride of the Valkyries', none of the other tracks excited me at that time. More recently, I got listening to another (much fuller) Wagner compilation CD, and it was this that got me seriously interested in Wagner (I immediately loved 'Liebestod', the overture to The Flying Dutchman...just about all of them, actually!). Soon afterwards, I borrowed the Karajan's version of Siegfried from my local library and loved it (even though it is said to be the least popular opera in the Ring cycle). I've gone on to listen to opera after opera. The most recent one I've gotten hold of and listened to is Solti's version of Tannhauser (listened to 3 times in about a week!).

Like you, I quickly warmed to Hollander and Lohengrin upon listening them, both of which I find lighter listening than some of Wagner's other operas. Actually, (other than Das Rheingold) these are the only Wagner opera recordings that I've listened to all the way through in one go; with all of the others, I've needed breaks!

Parsifal and Tristan both feel very, very deep for me. With Tristan, I found part of myself repelled by it and part of myself entranced by it; it is difficult to explain. Parsifal is an opera I find very demanding in a way I can't quite explain. It is very mysterious, very spiritual...but I'd really have to be in the right mood to watch in again (I own a DVD version). That said, I would rank it as possibly the best of the Wagner operas I've heard.

The music to Meistersinger is fantastic, especially the overture, but as an opera I've not fully got to grips with it yet (listened to it it twice, borrowed from the library). Some of the humour goes over my head. I hope to return to it sooner or later though. Wagner's work usually improves with experience of it!

I'm pleased to see you've figured out how to start new threads, and hope you will continue to create more in the future .

[wahnfried]

You see, Wanderer, in the meantime we are are three, nearly a crowd.

I do understand you difficulties with Meistersinger so very well. For years and years I only loved and worshipped the highlights and thougt that Wagner could have skipped the boring rest of it. But after 20 years :-) I'm now constantly overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of every musical phrase. The kind of humour Wagner is presenting here is very german and therefore definetely not easy to understand. Neither for me.

Nowadays I think this is one of the great merits of Wagner that one has to acquire his operas. Most of them, especially the late ones, are hard stuff. It takes years and years, well at least in my case. But time dosn't matter when it comes to Wagner. Maybe concerning time Wagner is the most oldfashioned artist because the idea of our capitalism that time is money didn't bother him at all. Neither in his operas nor in the anticipation of them.

So take your time :-) and when an opera won't speak to you - don't worry. Someday... :-)

[tristan]

I would also like to thank the Wanderer for creating this firum, although there aren't many members yet, but who knows.

My Wagner-addiction started at age 10, when my father purchased The Flying Dutchman (Böhm). I was totally swepted away by the first minute of the overture, listened to it countless times, and it's still one of the most (if not THE most) powerfull piece of music I've heard so far.
It wasn't until I was 25 though that I started listening to the complete opera, and gradually started to enjoy it. At age 39, I decided to dive into the Ring, and realised that the Dutchman was really just a warming up.
Meanwhile (I'm 41) I enjoy all of Wagner's opera's tremendously, although I haven't heard Meistersinger and Parsifal yet. The reason is simple: I became addicted to Tristan and haven't been able to open myself up again for yet another masterpiece. So I already bought Meistersinger and Parsifal, but I'll delve into them as soon as I've got 'emotional room' for them.

As for Tristan: the perfect version doesn't seem to exist, but if it did, it would feature Margaret Price, Wolfgang Windgassen and George Solti (in my humble opinion). I also like the Furtwangler, but the Karajn doesn't really work for me.

[wahnfried]

It's wonderful to have new member here. Welcome to "Richard Wagner". I'll answer your post in a few days, because I haven't got enough time for it today.

[wahnfried]

Hello Tristan!
It's funny. The "Flying Dutchman" was my entrance in the world of Richard Wagner also and also the famous recoding with Böhm from Bayreuth. But I must admit that it didn't really catch me in those days. It took quite a while until I heard the "Ring", again with Böhm, that I really got addicted to Wagner. And then it was "Lohengrin" with Kempe I heard over and over again. But there were some operas I had a problem with for quite a long while. This was "Parsifal" and "Meistersinger" also. And now they are at the top of my list, besides "Tristan" and "Götterdämmerung".

I can strongly advise the Furtwängler "Tristan". This is really celebrating the myth, not just presenting an unfortunate love affair. And though Flagstad was far beyond her prime, she was still the most expressive and experienced Isolde. Suthaus was a real "Heldentenor" wich suited the role perfectly well. I mean it needs a lot of "stamina" to survive the third act. And he had the power. Blanche Thebom is wonderful with this stunning "Habet Acht" interpretation (by her and by Furtwängler), Frick and the young Fischer-Dieskau were one of a kind and Schock, also at the beginning of a long career is also outstanding.
But you have to tackle "Parsifal" and "Meistersinger". It is absolute worth doing it. Maybe you start with some scenes from "Meistersinger". Listen to the "Preislied" it is like taking drugs. The rest will come, hehe.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXU93xvie-4