My profession has been literary criticism.  It is ignorant, for example, to 
separate Blake's art from his poetry, but it is not profoundly ignorant.  Each 
must be able to stand on its own---and it does.  It is better if you see it as 
a unified whole, and, I'm sure that's true of Wagner.  However, in my opinion, 
Wagner's librettos don't stand on their own.  I am not alone in that opinion, 
and, moreover, I see no reason to continue to argue about it.  I have no wish 
to convince you of this.  

I also don't care whether you ever see any similarities between German fascism 
and the TMO.  I mentioned it in the hope that there could be real discussion 
about it in this forum, but simply denying that it exists is not discussion.  
You don't see it. So you are not qualified to discuss it with me.  There are 
people who do see it and I shall discuss it with them. And with that I shall 
not waste any more posts on this.

authfriend <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:                               --- In 
[email protected], Angela Mailander 
 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
 >
 > There is a big difference between calling a person you are sharing 
 a forum with stupid and calling a libretto stupid.  I do not like 
 Wagner's librettos.  I am aware that he was into Gesamtkunstwerk, and 
 I have read all of them.  Hell, I've even gone to see some of them 
 performed at the Bayreuth Wagner festival when I was at the 
 university there. You need to reserve tickets years in advance, but I 
 have a fairly close friend who sang the female lead in many of them, 
 and so I got in free. You can't really assume that I don't know what 
 I'm talking about on the basis of a few emails, especially when 
 you've already decided that I'm silly.  a
 
 Angela, if I were encountering you for the first
 time, I'd decide you didn't know what you were
 talking about, because you don't. It doesn't take
 more than one major blooper to make that obvious.
 
 I grew up steeped in Wagner almost from the cradle.
 My father was an eminent Wagner scholar. I've
 attended the operas at Bayreuth, have seen them in
 New York at the Met, have listened to hundreds of
 hours of recordings following along in the score.
 
 I'm not a Wagner scholar myself, but I know more
 than enough of his work to know you're blowing 
 large volumes of hot air.
 
 Nobody "likes Wagner's librettos." To single them
 out for critical evaluation in isolation from
 the music is itself a sign of profound ignorance.
 
 
     
                               

 Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com 

Reply via email to