Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Richard Wagner's Lohengrin

When I mention Lohengrin, I get three possible reactions: the opera, the chocolate bar, the wedding march. Lohengrin is the Wagner opera where you need a guide and a map to try and make sense of it. Richard Wagner concocted the libretto from poems, Greek mythology, and fake history. The end product has nothing the viewer recognizes as any story they ever heard. At the opera, they then spend hours in limbo or are busy rifling through the program they bought.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser

When you mention the name of Tannhäuser, people either look blankly at you or assume you refer to the famous opera by Richard Wagner. The opera is correctly called Tannhäuser And The Singers’ Contest on Wartburg, and Tannhäuser is the titular hero in it. Tannhäuser was also a historical knight and singer songwriter.