Siegfried Wagner: Wahnopfer (unfinished)

[Mark Thomas]

There's some lovely music in Siegfried Wagner's unfinished opera Wahnopfer of 1928. By the time of his death he had completed the gorgeous Prelude, Act I and the first 17 minutes of Act II, and those substantial fragments were premiered in a concert performance in 1994. A link to the recording of the performance is now in our Downloads board here. The story is so preposterous (as are those of many of his operas) that it's probably best to ignore it and just wallow in the late romantic glories of Wahnopfer, incomplete though it is.

[Revilod]

Thanks for that. Although I wouldn't say the prelude to "Wahnopfer" ( which I know from the CPO recording) shows Siegfried at his best, I will certainly investigate Act 1. Do you know if the rest of the opera exists but Siefgried died before he could orchestrate it or was Siegfried one of those composers, like Puccini, who orchestrated as he went along?

Btw, Act 2 of "Der Friedensengel" should convert doubters to SW's cause.

[Alan Howe]

I've never been convinced by SW's operas as a whole. There are wonderful passages, but they soon lapse into tedium. IMHO, of course.

So it's excerpts only for me...

[Mark Thomas]

You may well be right, but I just enjoy the fin de siècle sound world most of his operas inhabit. They're a bit like listening to a Klimt painting, if you know what I mean.

Do you know if the rest of the opera exists but Siefgried died before he could orchestrate it or was Siegfried one of those composers, like Puccini, who orchestrated as he went along?

I really have no idea, I'm no expert on Siegfried Wagner. Perhaps someone else here knows?

[Ilja]

You may well be right, but I just enjoy the fin de siècle sound world most of his operas inhabit. They're a bit like listening to a Klimt painting, if you know what I mean.

Exactly this. But to be honest, I always find SW's orchestral music a lot more engaging than any of his vocal stuff. With that pedigree you can't blame him for focusing on opera, but I always felt that that style of writing for voice didn't mesh that well with that style of orchestral writing. As an instrumental composer, I find SW almost always interesting; the symphony is a great piece and few of the overtures ever disappoint. I certainly listen to his music more than to his father's (although that mainly reflects a stylistic preference).

[Alan Howe]

I'm with Ilja here. I'll listen to the orchestral writing, but as operas they just don't work. IMHO, of course.

[Ilja]

With that surname (and first name, let's be honest) it's inevitable that he always be compared to his father and by all accounts, he didn't enjoy it much - the more so since his character was so unlike Richard's in almost every way.
But while undoubtedly musically influenced by his parentage (hard to avoid when living and working in what amounts to a temple dedicated to your father), his music contains a humility, irony, and fragility that I find singularly absent in Wagner père.

[Mark Thomas]

I agree with all that, and one can only feel sympathy for the poor man with a heritage like that - both parents (and his wife) were monsters to some degree.

I always felt that that style of writing for voice didn't mesh that well with that style of orchestral writing

Ilja's comment has given me much food for thought over the last couple of days and I can't refute it. In fact, I've come to realise that what I enjoy about the operas is what's going on orchestrally, not vocally. Much the same is true for most of his father's operas too, come to that. Something of a Damascene moment.

[Alan Howe]

The difference between father and son is that Richard wrote many memorable melodies for his singers: Acts 1 and 3 of Die Walküre, the love duet from Götterdämmerung, the love duet in Tristan, the quintet and final tenor solo from Die Meistersinger, all of the solo tenor arias in Lohengrin, 'O du mein holder Abendstern' from Tannhäuser, etc. etc. prove that Richard wrote memorably for voices. And there are many, many other examples.

But then Richard was a very great composer (and no doubt not a very nice man), whereas his son was, well, a relatively minor talent - who wrote some lovely music.

[Mark Thomas]

I don't for one second deny Richard Wagner's genius, any more than I do, say, Mozart's or J.S. Bach's, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I enjoy their music to the degree that their genius implies I might or should. That's more a matter of taste and preference, heart and head. Similarly, one can enjoy the music of a minor composer without pretending that he was in any way a genius.

[Alan Howe]

That's quite right, of course. My point, though, was that Richard demonstrably wrote brilliantly for voices, which his son didn't. The problem with listening to RW is the sections between the many purple passages and the overall length of his operas. No wonder 'bleeding chunks' have always been so poplular...

And I get bored with Bach too - and my Mozart collection is pretty limited.