Too lengthy, but irresistible

[pcc]

Nuremberg is doing _Guillaume Tell_ shortly, or has done it (I saw the opera house emblazoned with posters) - but I wonder how much of it?  That beats everything yet posted here in terms of length.

[semloh]

I don't think that Wagner's too long - it's life that's too short! 

[Alan Howe]

William Tell is certainly very looooong - and a very important work looking ahead to later Italian opera. As for Wagner, I agree: life's definitely too short!

[Mark Thomas]

I'm a Wagner agnostic at home. At some point the urge to do some mindless domestic chore overtakes my wish to plough onto the third CD, but that's never a  problem with, say, Meyerbeer. But in the theatre it's a different matter - I have loved every Wagner production I've seen. Time almost ceases to exist as one is absorbed into the totality of Wagner's world, even when it's staged in an inappropriate modern setting. I can't think of any other artistic endeavour which has that effect in me.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'm giving my 15-year old daughter (an avid opera fan) the option of us leaving if it gets to be too, too much - it's her first Wagner,

I think Parsifal is a tough nut to crack - not one I'd choose to introduce someone to Wagner. I fear it may put her off for life. I hope not, but certainly she should leave if she gets bored. Tannhauser is probably the best introduction to Wagner.

[Alan Howe]

Parsifal might be a bit of a stretch for her - it sends my mother soundly off to sleep!

[pcc]

I should say that I greatly enjoy Wagner through LOHENGRIN plus MEISTERSINGER (I'm afraid I follow Sullivan's taste), and I like RIENZI very much, but I much prefer Meyerbeer all round (and I'm at least partially with you, Mark, on that).  It's TRISTAN, PARSIFAL, and the RING that I always, always have trouble with (and I can't help always hearing in my mind Anna Russell saying "Remember the Ring?")  If you want the most abridged bit of Wagner on record I have the Columbia Band under Charles Prince doing as much of the PARSIFAL prelude as would fit on a 10" 78 side, recorded in 1904. The bandsmen are completely mystified by the style, though they were undoubtedly familiar with excerpts from the early works, and the cuts are as monumental as the opera itself.  It's rather charmingly naive, but the flip side (it was one of Columbia's abortive 1904 double-faced series), the - as announced - "Gralsritter March", is much better played and quite evocative.  Would anyone like to hear it?

[Amphissa]

Although I recognize the great contribution Wagner made to music, I do have to agree with Rossini that the wondrous moments are interspersed within long stretches of rather dull stasis.

The Wagner I've enjoyed most is a synthesis of Wagner music crafted by Maazel called "The Ring Without Words". (It is, indeed, "unsung")

Yes, I know -- I'm a heretic and shall be skewered by the Wagner purists! But how different is this from orchestral suites drawn from operas by other composers?

Maazel's is not the only synthesis out there, but it is the best to my ears. And at 75 minutes, it is not exactly a sprint. Thus it is not only "unsung" (literally), but also lengthy, (and to me) much more irresistible than sitting through the entire Ring operas listening for my favorite bits of music.

Maazel recorded this with the Berlin Philharmonic. But I have a broadcast of a performance with Maazel conducting the Santa Cecilia orchestra, which I think has never been released commercially in any form.

I don't know if it would be of interest to others here, or if it would be appropriate to upload.

[obermann]

I think Parsifal is a tough nut to crack - not one I'd choose to introduce someone to Wagner. I fear it may put her off for life. I hope not, but certainly she should leave if she gets bored. Tannhauser is probably the best introduction to Wagner.

I am not sure what is says about me but my first encounter with Wagner was when I watched Parsifal on the TV one Easter. I seem to recollect that I was immovable for the full length and I still find Parsifal my personal favourite amongst his operas by a long distance. I still struggle immensely with Siegfried.

[Ilja]

I wish there was more space for anti-Wagnerites to-day, like myself.  I always feel like an atheist in church concerning Wagner.

I'll gladly assist you in nailing those ninety-five theses to that concert hall door ;-)

[Alan Howe]

Heretic! 

[giles.enders]

For how long has Wagner been an unsung composer??? 

[Alan Howe]

He isn't. Sorry pardon. Back to the unsungs...

[semloh]

For how long has Wagner been an unsung composer???

As Mark says, he isn't, of course, but there is at least one rarity which I think would deserve a place here as a rare unsung gem - his short and sweet choral piece Kinderkatechismus. Now that certainly is irresistible, and not too lengthy. 

[pcc]

And one rarely heard (so somewhat "unsung" or "unplayed") Wagner piece that always make me laugh with its grandiosity and wallopingness over tiny material - his overture to DAS LIEBESVERBOT.  The gigantic coda is one of the most deliriously silly things I've ever heard.  (I do also note the hints of more mature Wagner melody in the work's odd Rossinian "crescendi".)  I love it!