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SJW, Do you sing any Wagner roles? Posted by Pikes Peak 14115 on July 12, 2025, 4:54 pm ADMIN You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony

No. No. No. Posted by SJW on July 13, 2025, 2:55 pm, in reply to "SJW, Do you sing any Wagner roles?" Valued Poster The only role I sing in German is Eisenstein. I would try to sing the "young" Wotan in Das Rheingold, but even with all the coloration I can manage I don't think I can do the role justice. Don't want to be like Bryn Terfel who, in my opinion, played Wotan and lost.

Das Rheingold Wotan surprises me Posted by Pikes Peak 14115 on July 14, 2025, 1:07 am, in reply to "No. No. No." ADMIN Kind of a dark role. Lots of F's and G's in there, and it has to be really full. It would be funny to model Alberich after the felon, and when you step on his toad character... that would be a moment! You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony

What's surprising about wishing one could do something? Posted by SJW on July 16, 2025, 5:30 am, in reply to "Das Rheingold Wotan surprises me" Valued Poster

Nothing. I thought you more Italian opera. I did not expect a Wotan role Posted by Pikes Peak 14115 on July 16, 2025, 1:17 pm, in reply to "What's surprising about wishing one could do something?" I used to like to sing Donnor's aria to the clouds. "Heda! Heda Hedo! Donner, Der Herr, ruft euch zu hier!" Also Wotan's Farewell from Die Walkure. I cannot sing F4 and G4 with power, regardless how I work at the passaggio. But my bottom end is special. I can sing musically to C0, and with some power to F0. My hands are not what I'd like. I wish I had a bigger reach. I can play tenths quietly. But I have no explanation for looseness of my wrists, or independent dexterity of my fingers. For example, listen to ths bA Polonaise. My lh octaves in the E major section are kind of a nervous impulse in one circuluar motion starting on E and then sliding the hand in one circular drop motion down #D #C to B, then lifting in a slight lift drop roll back to the E and repeating. The wrist never tired. The result was pianissimo, legato y molto allegro. I can still do that, and haven't heard anyone else do it that way either. I believe Josef Lhevinne did, and I emulated what I heard when he played it, and from what Rosina Lhevinne said of it. My thirds were pretty remarkable too. Etude in #g You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony

You thought correctly, but the final 12 minutes or so of Rheingold! Posted by SJW on July 16, 2025, 4:17 pm, in reply to "Nothing. I thought you more Italian opera. I did not expect a Wotan role" At any rate, as I developed "tenorhood" was out, ( for more than one reason) and Mozart, Donizetti, Rossini, Offenbach, et al were in.

Let me clarify Posted by SJW on July 17, 2025, 10:01 am, in reply to "You though correctly, but the final 12 minutes or so of Rheingold!" Valued Poster My first opera "experience" was the demonstration of our new and high-end stereo system using the Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla from the Solti recording.

That's my favorite rercording of Der Ring Posted by Pikes Peak 14115 on July 17, 2025, 1:35 pm, in reply to "Let me clarify" ADMIN As you know, everything was done, or done as close as possible to instructions from the original score. My lips wrinkle into a wry smile when I hear of a theory assignment to analyze Wagner, like the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde. You have harmony with outer voices that contract chromatically, and the motif augments chromatically. At least four ways to analyze exists with valid argument for each. You have vertical harmony, and linear harmony spanning beats to measures; vertical with one sequence of anaylsis, and linear with several simultaneous where you have to look ahead to what you think is a cadence point, except there are almost always more than one. He apparently wrote few to no sketches, and the orchestrations are first and only drafts. Several new brass instruments were made to satisfy the demand in his head. He knew exactly what sound he wanted. What's the shelf life for a singer singing roles of Brunnhilde, or Siegfried? I imagine they mark a lot outside of performance. You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony

Wagner was like the Who in his day Posted by greenman on July 12, 2025, 8:20 pm, in reply to "SJW, Do you sing any Wagner roles?" Valued Poster His operas were rock operas.. Love some of the stuff from Lohengrin or the Ring Cycle - and I confess I'm not normally a huge opera fan. -greenman

He was a stupendous, self taught person with extraordinary self discipline Posted by Pikes Peak 14115 on July 13, 2025, 12:05 am, in reply to "Wagner was like the Who in his day" He taught himself orchestration by copying the parts of the Ninth Symphony. He didn't do small things, and what he did, he did big. His ego was enormous. He invited the foremost musicians of his time over, to listen to HIM play HIS music. Before you ask what hubris, if they heard what I hear... I would stop and listen too. He was from another planet. Orchestra after orchestra plays the Meistersinger Overture without a chorus. Why? The way this overture delivers to the chorus is unequaled. Hire the damned chorus and do it right. Nobody developed thematic material better than Wagner. His orchestration is also the best, and the only reason the Rimsky Korsakov model prevailed is because it is smaller and more efficient. His unequaled self taught knowledge of harmony and theory produced an ability to exploit tension to do incredible things with cadences. His orchestrations have what I call units. This unit does something different from another unit, and and when they converge it isn't what and where you think. The cadence is extended, each unit following its own path to surpassing resolution that may be the most satisfying in music. You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony

Speaking of Wagner Posted by SJW on July 16, 2025, 7:21 pm, in reply to "He was a stupendous, self taught person with extraordinary self discipline" Valued Poster My dad made sure I knew this piece

Great explanation Posted by greenman on July 17, 2025, 12:45 pm, in reply to "Speaking of Wagner" Valued Poster I'd heard some of this before; amazingly funny stuff. -greenman

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