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Why We Can’t Hear Wagner’s Music
First Things ^ | December 2010 | David "Spengler" Goldman

Posted on 11/22/2010 4:52:19 PM PST by mojito

Late in the nineteenth century, men and women in apparent possession of their senses heard Richard Wagner’s new operas and announced that their lives had changed forever. Charles Baudelaire saw Tannhäuser in 1861 and gushed, “Listening to this impassioned, despotic music, painted upon the depths of darkness, riven by dreams, it seems like the vertiginous imaginings of opium.” (Baudelaire, author of The Flowers of Evil, meant this as a compliment.) The twenty-three-year-old Gustav Mahler, after hearing Parsifal, wrote, “I understood that the greatest and most painful revelation had just been made to me, and that I would carry it unspoiled for the rest of my life.” For the first time in history, a composer lent his name to a cultural movement with ramifications far beyond music. As Adolf Hitler observed in 1943, “At the beginning of this century there were people called Wagnerians. Other people had no special name.”

Why did Wagner loom so large to his contemporaries? The answer is that he evoked, in the sensuous, intimate realm of musical experience, an apocalyptic vision of the Old World. Wagner’s stage works declared that the time of the Old Regime was over—the world of covenants and customs had come to an end, and nothing could or should restrain the impassioned impulse of the empowered individual. Wagner’s baton split the sea of European culture.

(Excerpt) Read more at firstthings.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; History; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: richardwagner; wagner
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To: Billthedrill

Everything you know about high culture you learned from Bugs Bunny cartoons.


21 posted on 11/22/2010 8:28:46 PM PST by Defiant (I'm a Fabian Constitutionalist. Roll back FDR and progressivism!)
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To: Defiant

"LEOPOLD!"

22 posted on 11/22/2010 8:33:11 PM PST by dfwgator (Texas Rangers -Thanks for a great season.)
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related:

The Bizarre Case of Nietzsche:
The Pro-Jewish Writer Who Inspired a Million Anti-Semites
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2631405/posts


23 posted on 11/22/2010 9:19:37 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: Defiant
Definitely so. This one cracks me up, but the music behind it... I'm really more of a Brahms feller than a Wagnerian but even with Mel Blanc hamming it up it gives me chills. Wagner was a creep personally but he had some serious chops. IMHO.
24 posted on 11/22/2010 10:08:02 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill
That was a great line from a Seinfeld episode, and it really was true for those of us who grew up watching Bugs Bunny on Saturday mornings. I only went to a few operas growing up, but I saw lots of Bugs Bunny cartoons and Marx Brothers movies and that was my highbrow education.

When Jerry was singing the song, "oh what heights we'll hit, on with the show this is it", I hadn't heard it in maybe 30 years but I was singing along.

25 posted on 11/22/2010 10:17:24 PM PST by Defiant (I'm a Fabian Constitutionalist. Roll back FDR and progressivism!)
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To: Kenny Bunk
Other composers made a lot of snotty remarks about Wagner's music, probably out of petty jealousy.

I will venture to say that anybody who proclaims not to like like Wagner's music has just not given it enough time to work on them. Unless you are well acquainted with classical music, this is not the kind of music that will thrill you on first listen.

In fact, it has taken me literally years to fully absorb and appreciate the music of Wagner. But with each listen, it grows on me a bit more and it gets less "boring" with each listen.

For novices, I would start with Das Rheingold (the beginning of the Ring cycle) and then Die Walkure (the second part of the ring) and listen to them dozens of times before starting to explore further.

26 posted on 11/23/2010 6:20:33 AM PST by SamAdams76 (I am 14 days away from outliving Curly Howard)
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To: SamAdams76

Meinst du das, oder sagst du das nur?


27 posted on 11/23/2010 6:23:31 AM PST by Kenny Bunk (Obama. He's Ray Nagin in National Office)
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To: mojito
I LOVE Richard Wagner's music. When I had my Benz I'd put this in the Cassette Player while cruising down the interstate.
RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES (You Tube)
For some *odd reason* my foot always slowly pushed the gas pedal down.
Pretty soon I'd be cruising at 80mph. (no traffic around)
28 posted on 11/23/2010 6:50:35 AM PST by Condor51 (SAT CONG!)
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To: mojito

I like Twain’s comment on Wagner.


29 posted on 11/23/2010 7:06:47 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim (Pablo lives jubtabulously!)
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To: sitetest

I saw the Lepage production of Rheingold. The author’s comments are spot on. It is in HD in the cinema...you don’t even have to go to New York. Personally, I’d recommend this experience to all.


30 posted on 11/23/2010 7:34:47 AM PST by ConservativeDude
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To: Cardhu

What a great reunion that’ll be! :)


31 posted on 11/23/2010 4:47:36 PM PST by tiapam
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