Der Ring Des Nibelungen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xe5dFBqbg

The greatest work of art ever created… Anyone familiar with it and the leitmotivs? Holy fucking shit what a ride… 20 hours of uninterrupted music, 4 operas although Wagner referred to them as “dramas”. Discuss mofoz, if u don’t know it, go get Solti’s complete Ring and enjoy.( or check out my youtube channel )

Go check video description for my list of leitmotiv.

There is absolutely nothing else like it( that I know of ) in the whole repertoire, referring to music as deep on an intellectual level, a journey of the mind, seemingly endless discoveries and subtleties. EPIC.

I studied this extensively for a year at the conservatory, analyzed the story, the music, knew all the leitmotivs, etc.

Fucking INSANE work, and that year was not even close enough to learn all about it. I didn’t know anything about it before, and I’m glad I chose to do that. Saw the entire Ring last year as well, worth the time 8)

Haha respec… yeah i’ve been listening for months and am barely starting to scratch the surface… it was written over a period of 25 years, so yeah it’s extremely thought out and refined

I like Wagner, but only as music. Personally I don’t think gesamtkunstwerk works very well in practice.

You mean because of the length?? Yeah…

But look at where we are now… fast food pop muzak 3 minutes garbage. I would say Wagner fully realized his vision of the Gesamkunstwerk with the Ring. He could never stage it as accurately as he wanted, if that’s what you meant.

And to be honest the story isn’t even that great… it’s great, but itz really ALL about the music and the ideas/leitmotivs/elements connecting between the operas that make it truly incredible. And the Preludes and Finales… Wagner fucking knew how to start and end strong…

I actually mean both of these. I don’t think the libretti are that great, but I don’t whether this is because I don’t understand German?

Also the performances never have everything; the voice/music have primacy and the acting is usually weak or unbelievable (for example having some whale play the heroine, although I can accept this with brunhilde). This is one of the reasons I like ballet, at least they look the part. 8)

i saw the ring a few years ago. there really is nothing like it in music. the staging was absolute shit, but it didn’t take away from how epic the musical experience was. i had heard the work a few times before, but you really need to see it live if you have the opportunity to really get it, and maybe that won’t be enough. it’s one of the most significant performances i’ve seen in my life, for sure.

I saw it (albeit in four separate parts) on TV many years ago, but I was too young to fully appreciate it. What’s amazing about the above clip is how so much different thematic material is crammed in, but it doesn’t sound rambling or discursive as it would do in the hands of a lesser composer.

Yeah definitely on my to-do list. Need to go see something worth it tho, and I’m kind of lost as to what is.

Yeah… totally agree 8)