The Ring of the Nibelung is a total work of art on a par with works of world literature such as Homer’s Iliad or Dante’s Divina commedia. It is astonishing how homogeneous this work appears to us, which was created over a period of 25 years and in a complex process of development. “Siegfried” is a huge heroic epic about a revolutionary. It ends with one of the great love apotheoses of the opera genre.
With “Rheingold,” Wagner depicts the worlds of the Rhinemaidens and the gods, the underworld of the Nibelungs and Valhalla Castle with masterful musical means. After a composer’s block of almost six years, the 40-year-old’s creativity exploded and he composed this colorful world within six months. It is inconceivable that the “Rheingold”, when it was heard for the first time 23 years later in the context of a Ring performance in Bayreuth, still convinced as a visionary work.
If the success of an opera were determined by its greatness, Macbeth would be at the forefront of the opera-goers’ favour. Perhaps it is the lack of a love story (Italians call Verdi’s Macbeth “l’opera senza amore”) that stands in the way of the popularity of this work. It cannot be the music. The work has no weak minute and captivates the listener from the beginning to the end. It is musically and artistically on a par with Verdi’s two other Shakespeare works, Otello and Falstaff.
Read Interesting facts and hear great YouTube Videos about the famous Aria “UNIS DÈS LA PLUS TENDRE ENFANCE “.
Together with his “Orfeo ed Euridice”, “Iphigenia on Tauris” is Gluck’s masterpiece. The melodies are straightforward and beautiful, the orchestration is gripping, the drama is coherent and the three main roles are captivating personalities and demand great, mature artists.
Don Carlos is an opera for great voices. Each of the six main characters receives a convincing dramatic foundation and development, and each singer has great musical highlights. Schiller wrote a brilliant literary model with his novel “Don Karlos” . It is a play about freedom and human dignity of the age of enlightement, which ignited the spark of inspiration in Verdi. No other work by Verdi has such a far-reaching plot and the power of five acts.
Norma is an effective opera written in the heroic spirit of its time. A story full of passion and with a tragic end. What Lucia di Lammermoor was for Donizetti is Norma for Bellini, it is his signature work and perhaps the greatest master work of the belcanto era.
Read Interesting facts and hear great YouTube Videos about the famous Aria “EINSAM IN TRÜBEN TAGEN”.
For a long time, Lohengrin was Richard Wagner’s most frequently performed work. King Ludwig II saw it in Munich in 1857 and left the theatre in tears. This experience should not only change his, but also Wagner’s life.
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Gounod’s Faust is one of the great operas. It is a masterpiece with many gripping scenes that have become famous. The role of Margeritue is one of the most beautiful and demanding roles in opera literature.
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