Catholic school bans Red Nose

[Swatopluk]

Of course with Wagner even explaining or reading the libretto might not do the job
I think surtitles can be helpful if done properly.
The ones they used for Falstaff last week were a lot more explicit than the lyrics usually used for libretto translations.
Sometimes they don't give the whole text but only essentials. That can be helpful if you lose the plot. That can happen even if you did do your homework but don't know the language especially in baroque operas (someone sings for 15 minutes what's going to happen, then 1 minute of action, then someone singing 15 minutes what has happened. Repeat cycle 5-15 times  )

[Bluenose]

Well, of course there's always the Warner Bros approach:

"kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!!!"

[Sibling Chatty]

Warner Brothers does all my favorite Wagner.

I'm just NOT a Wagner fan. At all. (The man didn't write a damn thing I can sing, for starters.)

[Bluenose]

Well, I don't know if I am a fan of Wagner, from what I have read it seems like he was not a particularly nice person, but he did write some great music.  I did once go round to a mate's place and we spent the whole weekend eating pizza, drinking beer (and the odd rum, single-malt and even some extra nice bourbon, it must be admitted) and listening to the entire ring cycle.  It was fantastic.

Even today, I still particularly enjoy Götterdämmerung, the way the music broods and builds to the finale is a powerful example of the way music can convey strong emotion.  Still I can see that it would not be everyone's cup of tea.

Which I suppose is a good thing, imagine how boring it would be if everyone like the same things...

[Swatopluk]

Another thing not to like about Wagner (apart from politics and his numerous character flaws) is that he produced tons of mindless imitators (Humperdinck about the only worth remembering). In comparision, Rimsky-Korsakov educated 2 generations of European composers but they all were/became stilistically independent of their teacher.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I agree with what Rossini said about Wagner: he has brilliant moments and terribly boring halfs of hour. Some of his vocal stuff is simply too heavy for my ears but his choral and orchestral interludes are -to my taste- great.

Pity he was an a--hole.

[Sibling Chatty]

You'll note my objection was made from the POV of a soloist...

Orchestrally, Wagner's fine. Not the most challenging bassoon parts, but OK with me. But, he seems to have hated altos. Mezzo sopranos on up? OK. Altos? Bleagh.

[Swatopluk]

In Western opera altos seem to be almost exclusively old women or evil ones (or both).
Another reason why I prefer Russian opera (except Tchaikovsky).

[Sibling Chatty]

Well, now that I am old, not just evil...I'm so far out of voice that I would need 6 months to get back to "doesn't make me puke when she opens her mouth" status.

I always did fine with oratorio and musical comedy, but there's something so satisfying about a good aria. (My Mom can transpose anything, basically on site, so I got to sing Mimi, just in the wrong key. And in the music room at home.)