Listening to Wagner's Das Rheingold.

The modern equivalent is the nuclear bomb; the thing that makes inadequate despots think they have total power over humanity if they control it. Their power is limited to ending the human race without anything creative or positive. So was Wagner "a genuis". No. At his best. a good tunesmith.

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MartinII · 70-79, M

Curious analogy. Nothing ends in Das Rheingold. On the contrary, Wotan seems to be triumphant, though at a cost and with the Rhinemaidens prophesying his doom. And when the world of the gods comes to an end in Gotterdammerung, the world of humans is redeemed by the sacrifice of Brunnhilde, Wotan’s daughter whom he loves above anyone or anything else.

Wagner wasn’t just a genius, he was one of the greatest geniuses of all time, though of course many other things as well.

alan20 · M

@MartinII I respect but don't share your appreciation of Wagner. I prefer the music of his father-in-law Liszt, and a great many other composers : Debussy, for instance. Once ideology starts to get mixed up with art, alarm bells start ringing for me. I do like his Flying Dutchman.

MartinII · 70-79, M

@alan20 Thanks for your kind reply. I don’t think there’s a great deal of ideology in Wagner’s operas - philosophy perhaps, but not much ideology - and I think all his mature operas can be interpreted in different ways. To my mind most of the ideology comes from later acolytes, some of whom of course were extremely reprehensible.

Anyway, it’s good to know that you like opera and classical music. I’m afraid I find Pelleas boring (it’s definitely non-ideological!), but I like some of Debussy’s chamber music.

alan20 · M

@MartinII Also Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune , La Mer , most of his piano music - I am a pianist.