Wagner Again

[Serenity]

I don't know treebeau...Somebody was smart enough to get into the export business!

[barfle]

Tim, since I don't live in Ohio any more, and haven't considered it my address at any time in my concious life, it might be kinda tough. I'll probably visit there sometime in the next couple of months, though, so I'll see if I can find any.

You're actually only a few hours further from Ohio than I am, depending on your route.

[treebeau]

True. Last time I set foot in Ohio, though, was in 1989. Why go again? Well, maybe one day I'll take my son to Cedar Point.

Regards,
Tim B.

[OperaTenor]

Hey, will somebody send me a couple? I need a pair...

[bswarms]

Be careful what you ask for OT, you just might get it.

[lliam]

Originally posted by Benito Of Denver:


Sounds like a hard game because you may do as much damage to your own conker by strking. Also sounds difficult!
====================

Do tell, what of your childhood days of Conkering, lliam!?

-Benito

=========================
Well Ben,
I was the same as any other kid, we used to bake them in the oven, soak in vinegar to make them harder. The best conker I ever had was a Twelver.
lliam.
=======================================
Hey you New England Guys here's an Idea for you.
The game is played in the fall so, it keeps you warm trying to swipe each others conkers. As you can see below the game is still going strong in England UK.
-------------------------------------------

Hail the conkering heroes
============================
England has two new world champions following a fiercely fought sporting contest in Northamptonshire.
Richard Swailes and Liz Gibson beat off an international field of competitors to claim respectively the men's and women's world conker championship titles in the village of Ashton.

Mr Swailes, the hometown favourite, took the 38th annual championship on Sunday, replacing the previous top hitter Neil Fraser.

Ms Gibson, from East Sussex, ensured an England double and brought to an end the reign of French champion Celine Parachou.

Sexism row

The tournament, played on a knockout basis, took place on Ashton's village green.

The 400 competitors were split into men's women's and children's sections.

However, men and women are not allowed to compete against each other.

This triggered a row in 2001 when officials prevented Ms Parachou striking a blow for female players by taking on her male counterpart.

Among those aiming for conker immortality were players from China and New Zealand, as well as a strong European contingent.

To ensure fair play, organisers supplied the conkers, thus preventing the use of banned supplements such as vinegar.

About 1,000 conkers were picked for this year's championship, all of which were drilled and laced by the officials.

<small>[ 06-07-2003, 01:07 PM: Message edited by: lliam ]</small>

[dkm32]

Originally posted by operatenor:
Hey, will somebody send me a couple? I need a pair...

Ooops! I take back everything I ever joked about you!!!

[shostakovich]

That strange game was apparently Biblical. A chorus by Handel states, "See, the Conk'ring Hero Comes".
Shos

[shostakovich]

I just re-read your note Lliam. It looks like you beat me to the pun(ch).
Shos

[treebeau]

Whatever happened to Mr. Parrothead, the Jimmy Buffet fan? Now there was a conch-er.

Regards,
Tim B.

[dai bread]

Thanks Lliam, for that article about conkers. I could have done with it 50 years ago when I was reading stories about British schoolboys and wondering what on earth conkers were. After several years I got it figured out, but it took a long time.

By the way, talking about British school stories, what is a "remove" form? The hero was always a fourth former, and often in the "remove" as well. I still haven't found an answer to that one, and the British people I've asked don't know either.

I do know that boys from "remove" forms (or classes; I'm not sure if some of our friends understand high school "forms") went on to populate the British motor industry. Whenever I wanted to work on any part of my British cars, I first had to "remove" some other part!

[Marye]

I saw Die Walküre yesterday.... magnificient! What a fabulous opera... And even after 4 and a half hours I could have heard more.

[Ajax]

Marye,

That is awesome. In October, I took a solo backpacking trip to Germany. One of my stops was in Wagners' hometown, Bayreuth. You can tour the house, which stores many interesting historical pieces. The collection was quite impressive, especially since America bombed the house during the war. I can only wonder what it looked like before the bombing!

[Serenity]

Can anyone explain what the Transformation Music in Parsifal is depicting? I know the overall story but I only have a couple of highlights on a CD and the music is alluring; what's happening during the scene?

[Serenity]

Found it! It's the Suffering Leitmotif that I find so fascinating!

[Catmando]

I wanted to resurrect this thread, because I'm curious about Wagner......

He is a mystery to me, the most mysterious it seems, of all composers.

While many in the music community (musicians, conductors, critics, musicologists, etc) place him at or very near the greatest of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, so little of his music seems to be played.

In other words, the only work I have heard or seen requested is the Ride of the Valkries from his Die Walkure opera.

Why isn't his music as "popular", for lack of a better word, as the Bachs, Beethovens, Mozarts?

How does one get into Wagner's music? Or should one dare even try? Does one go out and buy his complete Ring Cycle and lock oneself up for the weekend at the cabin? Or does one start off by only listening to excerpts of his operas? What else has Wagner done besides his operas?

Many questions......

[Shapley]

I've never been able to get into Wagner's music.

Besides Ride of the Valkyres, however, I do hear requests for excerpts from Lohengrin, Die Miestersinger, Tristan und Isolde, The Flying Dutchman, and Tannhauser.

I know he has written some non-operatic pieces including, I believe, a couple of symphonies, but I'm not familiar with them.

You might try getting one of those 'best of' albums of his and giving a serious listening to. If you don't like the excerpts, I doubt you'll be able to 'get into' the complete opera.

V/R
Shapley

[dai bread]

If you want to get into Wagner's music, there are some instrumental pieces around, but he's best known for his operas.

The trouble with them is that he wrote them as music-dramas, rather than a succession of recitatives & arias, which most operas are. This means that the music is totally woven into the action (or non-action at times!) and one needs the other to enhance it, rather like film music, only more so. There are few good tunes in Wagner's work, unlike Verdi or Puccini whose work is full of them.

Therefore if you want to try a Wagnerian opera, you MUST understand what is being sung. If you can't find a decent English version, and can't understand German, you need to sit down with the libretto and follow it line by line. You also need a good pictorial imagination.

[dai bread]

I'm not sure that I would suggest the "Ring" to a beginner unless the beginner is well versed in other composers' operas. Certainly the low E-flat that opens "Das Rhinegold" is attention-grabbing, but the work as a whole is very solid fare. The sanctimonious morality in "Tannhauser" annoys me intensely, but it's probably a better choice for a beginner. Then there's "The Mastersingers". That DOES have a couple of good tunes in it.

Why couldn't I post these as one message?

[Serenity]

Hey Cat,

Here's an album I've enjoyed: Twilight of the Gods (The Essential Wagner Collection) on Deutsche Grammophon, Released 08/11/1998
UPC 028945914121.