I'm a classical singing teacher and former professional opera singer. With many years of experience ...
I'm a classical singing teacher and former professional opera singer. With many years of experience I can help young people to improve their singing using the Italian bel canto style of vocal technique. I'd be happy to help anybody online.
Member since:30.12.2004
Reviews:3
To the uninitiated, listening to the Ring Cycle first is not the best way to try and understand the world of Richard Wagner and his romantic notion of life on earth as we know it today.
Something like reading Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game first, then exploring his earlier works. That's a back-to-front approach.
Likewise with Wagner. You need to start at the beginning and work your way through the elements of his creativity and composition.
When you finally reach the Ring cycle, your love of the music will be enhanced and your understanding about a musical genius fully appreciated.
So, let's take a tour of Wagner's operas and try to build a foundation of understanding of his operas from our listening point of view.
Some commentators believe the Ring Cycle was clear in Wagner's mind before he started writing any operas at all. There may be some truth in this statement, perhaps only elements rather than finalised views.
Then we must take into account Wagner's view of other operatic composers, in particular the Italian school headed by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti during the first half of the nineteenth century.
Wagner maintained the Italians debased opera by trivializing sublime music with nonsensical stories. By contrast, he lauded the efforts of earlier Italian and Greek poets whose works were devised from national folklore. And that was precisely how opera - the ultimate pure artform - should be created.
Throughout Richard Wagner's entire operatic output, we see the principle elements that fashioned his mind.
Firstly, genuine love and personal sacrifice. The failure of his first marriage clearly a factor, though leading to his second and happy marriage to Cosima Liszt . No better way to start the Wagnerian journey. Listen to The Flying Dutchman, then to the more complex and powerful love story Tristan and Isolde. You will be enlightened as the earlier and lyrical work of the 'Dutchman' develops into the musical narrative of 'Tristan' with singing and orchestral accompaniment of equal importance, each with its own identity and the drama blending superbly around both aspects. Truly, opera of perfection.
Secondly, social issues dealing with money and power. Although Wagner was a man who lived a life of luxury well beyond his financial resources, he remained a champion of the working classes who were being trampled on by big business in Germany and who corrupted life with power broking exercised through excessive wealth. So, next listen to the lyrical opera Tannhauser and then the only comedy he wrote, The Meistersingers of Nuremburg. In both cases the the working classes become the heroes.
So, to religion. Lohengrin, the son of Parsifal and the story of the futile quest for the Holy Grail. Wagner was a known anti-semite, but his criticism and disbelief for Christianity is clearly evident in these two operas.
Finally, the Ring Cycle. Once all these other operas have been fully digested and understood, the greatest romantic musical creation of mankind makes so much more sense. Here we see and hear all the elements previously explored come together as we experience the myth of creation and destruction of the world in an artistic form which only a musical genius like Richard Wagner could devise.
No matter what we think of Richard Wagner, the man, surely his music is one of the greatest wonders of the world of art . We should be open-minded about art. After all, art is purely fictitious.
To summarise, what a pity some enterprising music company doesn't issue a set of Wagner's ten great operas as outlined above, complete with original and English translation librettis, but not that tiny little pint-sized copy we get in the CD record sets.
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Had to give you a Helpful because you really didn't tell me much about The Ring. And also you left out the fact that it took Wagner two decades to compose the Ring cycle. Das Rheingold and Die Walküre came just before Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger appeared in the middle of Siegfried, after which Götterdämmerung was finally finished in 1874. You seem also to have confused Lohengrin (contemporary to Tannhäuser) with Parsifal (his last opera). But welcome to Ciao anyway!!!
Delicate_Orchid 30.12.2004 14:21
Welcome to Ciao. A great first review. Desiree x
MUFCboi 30.12.2004 14:06
Welcome to Ciao - not for me i'm afraid but a nice write up. Alex
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