[Forgiven_Sinner]

Good article comparing Tolkien and Wagner. He did get one thing wrong: Sauron did not make, nor help the Elves make their rings. Sauron shared his knowledge with the Elves and vice versa, until he knew enough to make the One Ring. It was designed to dominate the Elvish rings, but not because he had helped the Elves make them.

[bvw]

I haven't yet digested the fulsome article as yet, yet must comment as some little wisdom I have discovered about Wagmer's Ring Cycle. It is about the waning days of the Roman Empire in Ravenna, that is the germanic roots. Not german at all: Roman.

[merak]

Wagner will still haunt the stages of opera houses, but audiences will see him through Tolkien's eyes.

Not necessarily; they might see him through Sergio Leone's eyes. The music which you hear as you watch Tuco running around in circles in the cemetary until his vision melds into a sort of a golden circle is nothing more or less than a slight transmogrification of Richard Wagner's ring theme. Morricone called it "The Ecstasy of Gold".

Richard Wagner is not going to be killed off by Tolkein. There's a hell of a lot more to Wagner than just the ring cycle. My own choice of Wagner's operas would still be the ghost story, Flying dutchman.

[537 Votes]

Wagner's dictum that the sources of Western civilization had failed was not only entirely correct, but also numbingly obvious

In 1945, 'failed' Western civilization defeated Nazi Germany. In 1991, 'failed' Western civilization defeated the Soviet Union. And somewhere in there, we also went to the Moon.

You pessimists just don't know what to do with yourselves.

[LadyDoc]

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[SkyPilot]

Awesome--BUMP.

[MrConfettiMan]

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