Verdi vs Wagner: the 200th birthday debate with Stephen Fry

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Think opera and you think Verdi. Verdi created some of the most beloved operas of all time, from the romantic tragedy of La traviata and Rigoletto to the Shakespearian dramas of Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff.
Verdi's music transcends the barriers between high and low culture. Many of his arias count among the greatest songs ever written, streaming out of opera houses and into football stadiums and even the charts. Verdi was also the outstanding cultural figure at the heart of the unification of Italy, the musical father of the Risorgimento. Who needs Wagner when Verdi offers such richness?
People who truly appreciate great music, say the Wagnerians. Wagner's music is on an altogether more intellectual sphere. You hum Verdi; you think Wagner. Here is opera, and music, at its epic, definitive height.
To know The Ring is to be fully immersed in opera at its greatest technical brilliance and compositional originality. To appreciate Wagner's music is not to forgive his political views, but to cast them aside in the face of irresistible, unassailable genius.

Пікірлер: 433

  • @Horichdaslicht1858
    @Horichdaslicht18582 жыл бұрын

    Much as I love Verdi, Wagner plumbs the depths of what it is to be human in all it's nobility, frailty and self-contradiction like no other composer i have ever encountered.

  • @MartyMusic777
    @MartyMusic7778 жыл бұрын

    The thing that struck me as funny was when the comment was made "where would John Williams be without Verdi?" ... Have you EVER listened to Star Wars? Williams' scoring is near-identical to a Wagnerian orchestra, and there are explicit quotations from Tristan in there. This is not to say that other influences aren't there (Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Richard Strauss in a few spots), but to suggest that Verdi had any influence on film score is just ludicrous. More than anything, Verdi more strongly influenced how musical theatre would develop, especially in how songs were written, and this is an enormous influence and shouldn't be ignored. But let's face facts: any modern orchestral score composer takes at least a couple cues from Wagner, especially due to his development of leitmotifs in concurrence with the action.

  • @Djembe908

    @Djembe908

    7 жыл бұрын

    John Williams is a lover of Wagners compositions.

  • @classicalmusic1175

    @classicalmusic1175

    7 жыл бұрын

    You forgot to mention Gustav Holst. Williams drew enormous inspiration for his scores from Holst's Planet Suite.

  • @MartyMusic777

    @MartyMusic777

    7 жыл бұрын

    Classical Music11 Well...I'm not saying that he was "directly" quoting Holst's Mars near the beginning of Star Wars Episode IV...but he totally was. I had completely forgotten about Holst, but you're absolutely right.

  • @lenircotia

    @lenircotia

    5 жыл бұрын

    If I remember correctly, John Williams used the idea of a Leitmotiv as Wagner invented it. Without Wagner's Leitmotiv invention we would not have the Leitmotiv of the Force Theme when Luke looks into the distance of the twin-sunset

  • @rickhenderson2970

    @rickhenderson2970

    5 жыл бұрын

    Yeah, it's not just Williams. Pretty much all of film scoring descends from Wagner's conception of leitmotifs, and this long precedes Williams. Perhaps the most famous early example is Preminger's Laura.

  • @oscargordon
    @oscargordon10 жыл бұрын

    I don't see pompousness in Wagner's music at all. Nobody before or since has been able to plumb the emotional depth or inner turmoil of the characters like Wagner. As was pointed out, even the minor characters are well conceived. Mr. Hensher failed to point out that Wagner did not include box seats in Bayreuth and refused to give any privilege to the aristocracy. He was most definitely a man of the people.

  • @mikewalsh6168

    @mikewalsh6168

    3 жыл бұрын

    Unless you happened to be Jewish. No box seats for them

  • @TheYopogo

    @TheYopogo

    Жыл бұрын

    Well... In fact Wagner always had Jewish admirers and Wagner was delighted by this, many of them were his friends and saw his operas performed at Bayreuth. Wagner's extreme antisemitism was appalling but it was political in nature, not a matter of personal prejudice but of ideological commitment.

  • @jasonsampson1301

    @jasonsampson1301

    Жыл бұрын

    Shut up

  • @dikferrari1396

    @dikferrari1396

    4 күн бұрын

    Try Bruckner or Mahler, both Wagner inspired but both are able to dive deep into that emotional depth you speak about.

  • @tittletattle100
    @tittletattle1009 жыл бұрын

    I'm afraid 'Tristan' makes this a non-contest. 'The death of Isolde' is simply incomparable in its power to move. That would be my introductory piece every time.

  • @AlexanderArsov

    @AlexanderArsov

    9 жыл бұрын

    Is there something fundamentally wrong with a person who is more moved by Philip's soliloquy, Otello's death, the final duet in "Aida", Violetta's "Addio del passato" or Rigoletto's "Cortigiani"? I should think not.

  • @LazlosPlane

    @LazlosPlane

    9 жыл бұрын

    Nonsense.

  • @hertzair1186

    @hertzair1186

    Жыл бұрын

    And the ‘Tristan Chord’ is forever being musically analyzed.

  • @donkeychan491

    @donkeychan491

    2 ай бұрын

    Tristan has to be one of the dullest operas ever written, with more shameless repetition than any other.

  • @johnjones6601
    @johnjones6601 Жыл бұрын

    His citation of Wagner's anti-semitism should have no bearing on the task at hand.

  • @karlavonhuben1381
    @karlavonhuben13813 жыл бұрын

    When Lebrecht called Desdemona "all bling and handbags" I wanted to kick him. I found some of his statements close to racism, and very offensive, and his "jokes" amused no one. Verdi deserved a better champion.

  • @ShaneyElderberry
    @ShaneyElderberry10 жыл бұрын

    The moments of fruitless rebuttal were a desperate attempt to scorn the artist and ignore the works of art - the true measure of this event. It's a pity that Verdi's music was not examined and explained as well as Wagner's was. I'm one of Wagner's rapturously devoted fans, but Verdi deserved a much better presentation.

  • @pmrossetti1
    @pmrossetti16 жыл бұрын

    Fry's face when Verdi guy is talking cracks me up.:)

  • @jacac
    @jacac9 жыл бұрын

    The BBC documentary on Verdi made a much better case for the composer than this guy. The Wagner advocate did a great work, on the other side.

  • @gillianomotoso328
    @gillianomotoso3284 жыл бұрын

    *When you realize Fry looks like Wagner when he’s shaven*

  • @vitogeraci7146

    @vitogeraci7146

    3 жыл бұрын

    I thought the exact same thing when I didn’t know Fry until I clicked on this video.

  • @mikeinkc

    @mikeinkc

    3 жыл бұрын

    Fry is Jewish, watch his documentary Wagner and Me, he wrestles with Wagner's anti-semitism, and his love of his music. It is well done, and thought provoking.

  • @WBradJazz
    @WBradJazz Жыл бұрын

    I wish we had such an intelligent discussion in the U.S.

  • @Hojotoho.Yall504

    @Hojotoho.Yall504

    7 күн бұрын

    We’d never. American debate is “this is my thesis and I support it with points A, B, and C,” and the response is just something vaguely related to one phrase used in point C.

  • @bingbongtoysKY
    @bingbongtoysKY11 ай бұрын

    what a BLAST!!! I love both of them- of course! this is such a good time! thank you,

  • @ollenyren9842
    @ollenyren98425 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely one of the best shows I've ever watched, and I've gone back to it over and over again, and I get more and more convinced of Wagner's brilliance every time. The way that it is broken down and explained in detail in 1:00:22 is simply astounding and pedagogically superb!

  • @TheYopogo
    @TheYopogo5 жыл бұрын

    I'm personally disposed to agreeing with the Wagnerian side of the argument here, and that side is argued much better in this debate; but I feel I must say: Verdi is a much better composer than this debate makes it seem. People are drawn to the instantly memorable, beautiful, singable melodies which are everywhere in his work, and he undoubtedly had a great talent for them, but this is nothing like the be all and end all of his value. Verdi's music is profound and magnificent and utterly serious. The similarities his music has with the melodramatic vocal flourishes and sloppy orchestration which sometimes appear in Italian opera are cosmetic only. His music is utterly refined and meticulously balanced and it will plumb the depths of your soul every bit as much as Wagner can, if you have only the ears to listen and the heart to feel.

  • @GazmendCeno

    @GazmendCeno

    Жыл бұрын

    That is true. Yet, even if better areas were offered, still you can't go against W.

  • @hochang927
    @hochang9278 жыл бұрын

    both were great opera composers no matter what.

  • @pensiring7112
    @pensiring71125 жыл бұрын

    Wagner loves power? The whole ring is about rejecting power and greed in favour of love, it literally shows how greed and lust for power and laws and contracts and all that which symbolizes and manifests power lead to the destruction of the whole world, as in the end, Valhalla burns down and the Rhine floods the rest of the world... Wotan gets his power by cutting of a branch of the world tree, and writing his law in runes on it, but that kills the world tree and poisons the spring flowing beneath it. The whole world slowly gets corrupted because of this act. The speaker obviously confuses the canvas (gods, princes) with the words written on it.

  • @elainemurray8994

    @elainemurray8994

    9 ай бұрын

    #

  • @madsgram8437
    @madsgram843711 ай бұрын

    What I found in Verdi was an elegance , compassion and sensistivity unmatched. But I must say, that just the prelude to Tristan and Isolde filled me with a prism of fellings. Clairty, confussion, joy, dread, desire, a sense of lightness and the same time a glimpse of a dawning abyss. And that was just the prelude.

  • @erandeser5830
    @erandeser5830 Жыл бұрын

    Verdi was the perfection of a past era, romantics and esthetics. Wagner traces back to Beethoven, he is expression, he opened new fields where Mahler, Stravinsky and many others rooted their music.

  • @donkeychan491

    @donkeychan491

    2 ай бұрын

    Stravinsky despised Wagner's music and adored Verdi's. He considered Rigoletto and Falstaff the two greatest operas ever written.

  • @erandeser5830

    @erandeser5830

    2 ай бұрын

    @@donkeychan491 Stravinsky had jewish reasons to despise Wagner. And for Rigoletto, imo he was right.

  • @donkeychan491

    @donkeychan491

    2 ай бұрын

    @@erandeser5830Stravinsky was himself an antisemite, so that certainly wasn't the reason he disliked Wagner: he just found Wagner's music turgid, overwrought, and repetitive: which it is. Wagner certainly opened new fields for exploration - but not for Stravinsky who, like Verdi, reinvented traditional forms in their own distinct ways.

  • @haydenbarnes5110
    @haydenbarnes51105 жыл бұрын

    Gogh once said (and I'm paraphrasing) that there has been no one who had done for his art [painting] as had Wagner done for composing.

  • @philiproseel3506
    @philiproseel35067 жыл бұрын

    A fan of both composers, but I do believe Wagner was more influential. Rather difficult to pick a "winner". They are both giants in opera. They both feature very early in my appreciation of music, listening to old Caruso records of Verdi with my mother, and discovering Wagner's Tannhauser a few years later.

  • @julianburgess6947

    @julianburgess6947

    2 жыл бұрын

    Wagner was more influential but Verdi has given more pleasure, at least to me.

  • @philiproseel3506

    @philiproseel3506

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@julianburgess6947 For me, I would say they were both equally influential, but at different times of my life.

  • @menukjau
    @menukjau9 жыл бұрын

    This is a very interesting conversation, sounds fun. However, what's the point of comparing different composers, they were all fantastic in their own right. There are no bad operas, it's your personal taste. I enjoy both Wagner and Verdi as well as other operatic composers such as Donizetti, Bellini and Messenet.

  • @tonirose6776

    @tonirose6776

    11 ай бұрын

    Massenet, and Puccini.

  • 3 жыл бұрын

    What a pleasure to hear intelligent people talk (and in complete sentences)

  • @Yaarbiriah
    @Yaarbiriah9 жыл бұрын

    loved it! Thanks, terrific show and S.F. enjoyed as always. Staying with Verdi, and NOT because of the antisemitism issues. Verdi delights and enchants me.

  • @j.langer5949

    @j.langer5949

    Жыл бұрын

    Antisemitism is not an issue, but a reaction.

  • @OldSchopenhauer
    @OldSchopenhauer10 жыл бұрын

    I honestly think the Verdi advocate just had a grudge against Wagner for being an antisemite. How else can he extol Mahler, and then downplay Wagner's influence?

  • @MrThomasdichmont
    @MrThomasdichmont9 жыл бұрын

    Roger Scruton should be here!

  • @Operafreak9

    @Operafreak9

    5 жыл бұрын

    Scruton would have added so much. He gets Wagner.

  • @jasonsampson1301

    @jasonsampson1301

    2 жыл бұрын

    No he shouldn't..and you don't know him so stay out of other people's lives..

  • @brucellowayne4853

    @brucellowayne4853

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@jasonsampson1301 get out of the wrong side of bed today Jason?

  • @hayleys1260
    @hayleys12606 жыл бұрын

    This is fun, because now I know a bit more than I did before, but music debates are really impossible, it's purely a matter of taste.

  • @martinstremlow2997
    @martinstremlow29972 жыл бұрын

    What a wonderful discussion of three brilliant connoisseurs. And John Tomlinsom is just am amazing highlight.!

  • @brucellowayne4853
    @brucellowayne48536 жыл бұрын

    The Verdi guy's jokes at the start of his speech.. awkward. Leaving a gap for no one laughing

  • @jasonsampson1301

    @jasonsampson1301

    2 жыл бұрын

    No it didn't..why don't u go up there and do somethin..loser

  • @ElSmusso
    @ElSmusso4 жыл бұрын

    Lohengrin & Rigoletto would be my suggestions to first listeners

  • @PrinsTan

    @PrinsTan

    3 жыл бұрын

    Tristan

  • @MrXtuba

    @MrXtuba

    3 жыл бұрын

    PrinsTan Tristan is too difficult to grasp for first time listeners

  • @rocketrob68
    @rocketrob6811 ай бұрын

    The moment I heard the opening to Das Rheingold 30 years ago I fell in love 😊 I went to a symphonic performance of the ring in '98 and the look on Bernard Haitink's face seeing me in the front row with a mohican was priceless 😂

  • @tonirose6776

    @tonirose6776

    11 ай бұрын

    How fantastically funny!!

  • @oscargordon
    @oscargordon10 жыл бұрын

    No matter how much I enjoy Verdi operas, if Verdi had never lived, I doubt the future of music would have been altered in any way, whereas Wagner shook music to its core.

  • @tritonusseitan6601
    @tritonusseitan66016 жыл бұрын

    Loved the discussion, loved the performances more.

  • @lauracipollone294

    @lauracipollone294

    Жыл бұрын

    I'm sorry but Tomlinson is just awful here

  • @borisvandruff7532
    @borisvandruff75326 жыл бұрын

    I love Verdi, but Lebrecht’s tactics are disgusting here. “Verdi is good because he’s not anti-Semitic. Wagner is bad because he’s anti-Semitic.” There are much better metrics for gauging the genius of a composer.

  • @WTF3585

    @WTF3585

    5 жыл бұрын

    Well he was also a mysoginist and a racialist :/

  • @aydenpostigo2910

    @aydenpostigo2910

    4 жыл бұрын

    Wagner rules but I like Verdi

  • @beurksman

    @beurksman

    4 жыл бұрын

    I was afraid that this is what would happen

  • @WTF3585

    @WTF3585

    4 жыл бұрын

    @Kookman yeah well thanks cap obvious I'm not thaaaaaaat thick hahaha

  • @Rayve1609

    @Rayve1609

    4 жыл бұрын

    Wagner had his faults, but he was a great composer. One has only to listen to the Entry of the gods into Valhalla. And i am not so much with the pagan or germanian or aryan something bullshit. I just like a good piece of music, and i can recognize it, when it gets to me. Compared (and thats something of the point in this debate) to Wagner, Verdi is a teenager, who's just not settled, who makes quite a mess of everything, its all a bit loud and fast and untidy.

  • @ricardobauer8335
    @ricardobauer83357 ай бұрын

    As some other comments mention, the fact that Wagner wrote his own libretti has a huge impact on this question. Also the way Wagner uses his Leitmotive is just beyond impressive. In Parsifal, every emotion, every thought, every idea has its own motif, or theme, and more than that, they interact with each other in an incredibly complex way. E.g. the grail and the spear, which both have a individual short ascending melody, and at the end, when they're united, come together to form a larger ascending melody that in a way fulfills the piece, thematically as well as musically. I also find it quite ironic how it was argued for Verdi that his ouvertures are not just snippets of the opera, but for some of his works this is exactly the case (e.g. Nabucco, which is a magnificent opera by the way, where we even get to hear the melody of Va Pensiero in the ouverture). Wagner's ouvertures on the other hand are their own pieces of work. They use the Leitmotive from the objects and emotions in the opera to "set the scene" of the piece and almost in a way give the backstory, without a single word sung. Again, I think Parsifal is a great example, where the Leitmotives appear in the ouverture to recount how Amfortas lost the spear and got his injury after being seduced by Kundry. Also in the ouverture to the second act, you can hear the fight music of Parsifal fighting his way up to Klingsor's evil castle. Still a very good case presented by Philip Hensher! Especially the statement that because Wagner was an ethically way more questionable person than Verdi, he could sympathize with the villains much better and create such incredibly complex antagonists really blew my mind and got me thinking.

  • @theurbangentry
    @theurbangentry10 жыл бұрын

    Amazing. Even though I am named after a Wagner Opera and I love his music... I cant betray my paisano Verdi.... Nothing moves me like Verdi.

  • @nightwish1000

    @nightwish1000

    3 жыл бұрын

    your name is Parsifal?^^

  • @FrankEdavidson

    @FrankEdavidson

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@nightwish1000 It's not Isolde.

  • @nightwish1000

    @nightwish1000

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@FrankEdavidson i thought that it might be Tannhäuser^^

  • @hertzair1186

    @hertzair1186

    Жыл бұрын

    Tristen

  • @claudiopeli2774

    @claudiopeli2774

    Жыл бұрын

    PAESANO, non 'paisano'.

  • @uffo03
    @uffo0310 жыл бұрын

    Grazie per questa splendida serata!

  • @burtcollins239
    @burtcollins2397 жыл бұрын

    Give me Verdi.. Tunes you can remember. Glorious for the voice and orchestra.

  • @Quotenwagnerianer

    @Quotenwagnerianer

    Жыл бұрын

    Funny, considering that the entire Ring is constructed around memorable motifs that help you understand what is going on. If they were not memorable, the whole thing had no point. ;)

  • @azitakheradvar544
    @azitakheradvar5443 жыл бұрын

    Thank you!!!!! What an ending!!!!

  • @pablosantander5739
    @pablosantander5739 Жыл бұрын

    Every composer was important for the identity for their countries in the way of an unification, one inspired in the identification with the regular ppl, the mirro for all the italians, the other in the ideals, besides musical style, Wagner created Wanfreid, the multimedia state, a new mytology, in musical advances, he touched the future of the 20th century with Tannhauser and the begining of Tristan and Isolde.

  • @stephenschimmel463
    @stephenschimmel463 Жыл бұрын

    I....LOOOOOOVE both of them.

  • @shosha1878
    @shosha18784 жыл бұрын

    I love both in theirs total different worlds. Opera vs. Musical Drama.

  • @BirdArvid
    @BirdArvid5 жыл бұрын

    Desdemona; such a good choice! If a Martian suddenly came walking down the street and said: Excuse me Sir; I struggle with the human concept of Innocence: what is it, what does it mean?" I'd say go listen to Desdemona's Willow Song and especially the Ave Maria. It's all in there. I think it's true to say that Verdi was a true Humanist in practice; Wagner was one in spirit, in theory. I couldn't choose between the two; impossible! I'd feel as though I'd broken my own heart if I chose to discard Verdi, but we'd surely have no Alban Berg without Wagner; and that would be the truly great loss.. Thankfully, no choice need be made!

  • @womenfrom0202
    @womenfrom02022 жыл бұрын

    I’ve got a photo of Verdi’s statue in Verona in my living room, that enough said

  • @newadam573
    @newadam5733 жыл бұрын

    This isn't a debate over who's music is more accomplished but over which composer was more tolerant.

  • @garylysaght1579
    @garylysaght15793 жыл бұрын

    All over in one word: Parsifal

  • @parkerstevinsson6724
    @parkerstevinsson672410 жыл бұрын

    I'm not so sure about the word "debate" except to draw one's attention. Both Verdi and Wagner are big-time winners within the musical world. One would have to say ultimately though that the influence of Wagner forever changed they way classical music evolved. His work comes down today in how movies are scored, how plays are produced, how Broadway works and many. many composers use his thought processes even unconsciously. I am not one could say that for Verdi. In terms of the individual personality, I think Verdi would win a debate within the realm of Western European ethics.

  • @shostakovich99
    @shostakovich995 жыл бұрын

    All this talk about Verdi being a novelist glossed over the fact Wagner wrote his own libretti but Verdi didn't. That doesn't matter to the viewer, but it matters if you're assessing them as novelists or artists.

  • @kitheskethharvey3576

    @kitheskethharvey3576

    3 жыл бұрын

    Verdi had Shakespeare.

  • @Edeskenney
    @Edeskenney7 ай бұрын

    They are both wonderful, I will always love them both. I can listen to Verdi and be very moved even to tears and then walk away and be very satisfied. Wagner on the other hand is different, you can listen to Wagner but forget walking away, his music becomes part of your DNA, a lifetime of being in love.

  • @SatchmoSings
    @SatchmoSings10 жыл бұрын

    Very good point; thank you.

  • @daviddemar8749
    @daviddemar87495 жыл бұрын

    Be advised that as much as I love mr. Fry (a great deal) it's really unfair to have him as the moderator of this debate bc he has been an unabashed lover of Wagner's music since the age of 13 I recommend that you view the absolutely amazing documentary Wagner and Me( the me in the title being mr. Fry) I myself am not a Wagner fan but the documentary is soooooooo excellent and mr. Fry is soooooooo wonderful in it that he almost made a convert out of me.....almost. I grudgingly admire Tristan and Isolde. I remain still a puccini-ite

  • @tonirose6776

    @tonirose6776

    11 ай бұрын

    As do I.

  • @djgualtiermaldeCO
    @djgualtiermaldeCO11 ай бұрын

    Watching again this 10 years later i see how wrong was Lebrecht in his arguments and exposed constantly...i jumped more than once with more than one of his assertions...i should add that Verdi was like Spielberg but Wagner was Kubrick... that's a simple way to explain both composers to people not familiar with them

  • @ZombifiedGod
    @ZombifiedGod9 жыл бұрын

    1:47:15 gets me every time. incredible

  • @laurabenamots8717
    @laurabenamots87173 жыл бұрын

    1. the fact that there are other anti-semites is irrelevant! 2. Stephen Fry's inability to be the arbiter rather than advocate is extremely disappointing... badly done.

  • @bodnotbod
    @bodnotbod10 жыл бұрын

    I've only just started watching but it seems odd to have Fry in the chair: he's a HUGE Wagner advocate and has done a programme about him.

  • @shabirmagami146
    @shabirmagami146 Жыл бұрын

    Wow!!! Sublime music....great debate...

  • @leecooper4213
    @leecooper42136 жыл бұрын

    Other comments posted here are correct, of course - this may seem to be downright "silly", as an out-and-out competition. But I don't think it was meant to be a REAL competition. It's simply a "fun" type of format in which they can discuss each composer & share a few facts about each one during this 200th Anniversary celebration....Facts that people may not know about Verdi & Wagner. If there's any debate about this being meant to be FUN, take a look at Stephen's socks. LOL.... (Love you, Stephen!) ;-)

  • @ralfrath699
    @ralfrath6998 жыл бұрын

    Who is Verdi? I am Beethoven and I am an expert and my opinion is Verdi is a very very good italain composer like all the others - very very good! And who is Wagner? In my opinion Wagner has changed music for ever!

  • @danglybit1
    @danglybit18 жыл бұрын

    I rediscovered Brunhilda's awakening (Siegfried Act iii..) on u tube..Having only had an old recording that I passed onto friend at a cross-roads. Gweneth Jones showed how easily she can make a grown man cry..

  • @ricardobauer8335
    @ricardobauer83357 ай бұрын

    If someone asked me what I would imagine Wotan to look like, I would say like Sir John Tomlinson.

  • @daviddemar8749
    @daviddemar87495 жыл бұрын

    Be advised that tragically the audio sucks

  • @notrueflagshere198
    @notrueflagshere198 Жыл бұрын

    That was fun. It is "apples and oranges," but I'm with Wagner. Verdi might be the greatest at what he did, but Wagner is the only Wagner.

  • @ZygimantasA
    @ZygimantasA4 жыл бұрын

    I just simply prefer Italian operas, so I am biased :P But Wagner is amazing too :)

  • @Quotenwagnerianer
    @Quotenwagnerianer7 жыл бұрын

    They are playing Verdi, yet the orchestra uses a Tuba instead of a Cimbasso? Heathens! Other than that I think it's not fair to try to prove your point about Verdi's greatness by picking as musical example the most sublime 15 minutes of music he has ever written. ;) His last three operas are a league of their own and to anyone who listens to them first his earlier works will hold many a dissapointment in store.

  • @conforzo
    @conforzo3 жыл бұрын

    Verdi had a simpler vision of music. Wagner was way more grand. Two different ways, your personality will determine which one you prefer.

  • @scotchwhisky6094

    @scotchwhisky6094

    3 жыл бұрын

    I have a taste for the sense of grand in music. My top 3 composers are Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Wagner

  • @jamorains
    @jamorains7 жыл бұрын

    Wow, Norman Labrecht should've worn a shirt that said "Verdi Scum" on it. (He was a pilgrim in an unholy land there...ha)

  • @BatteryExhausted
    @BatteryExhausted6 жыл бұрын

    So, who would win in a fight?

  • @TimothyJonSarris
    @TimothyJonSarris2 жыл бұрын

    Verdi arrives at his objective in half time that it takes Wagner. This is not a judgment on whose music is better or worse. It is simply a fact.

  • @omairagamboa7821
    @omairagamboa78215 жыл бұрын

    La música de Wagner traspasa todo entendimiento, es sideral...

  • @Elizabeth5291
    @Elizabeth52916 жыл бұрын

    Wagner vs. Verdi,why?It's a matter of preference,I prefer Verdi,but Wagner was unique.

  • @nejuw

    @nejuw

    2 жыл бұрын

    because its fun

  • @EM-qx3hx

    @EM-qx3hx

    Жыл бұрын

    Learning opportunity

  • @Waddehaddeduddedaa
    @Waddehaddeduddedaa Жыл бұрын

    First of Wagner, try Tannhäuser and let the Overture lure you into the world.

  • @xrmk--
    @xrmk--5 жыл бұрын

    Bravo Walton! 👏👏👏 Magnificent Performance.

  • @Will-zy3ru
    @Will-zy3ru3 жыл бұрын

    Verdi seems like a man of higher character. But I think Wagner's music is more interesting.

  • @Anton10or
    @Anton10or9 жыл бұрын

    The idea of this debate seems silly as you cannot compare apples to oranges, but the populist argument I believe would have swung the other way had the Verdi selections played and sung, been from La Traviata, Rigoletto, or Il Trovatore. I think Verdi wrote for the people, Wagner for himself, or at least to his ideals. I remember years ago when this same debate raged over Bach and Händel. Bach wrote for God (Pia Jesu) Händel for the people. Yet certainly the most recognized music of the Church belongs to Händel, Messiah. It is a futile argument, but I learned a great deal from listening to these two learned men talk and yes teach.

  • @Walker-ld3dn
    @Walker-ld3dn4 жыл бұрын

    Which raises the larger question: why is John Williams even in the same sentences with Verdi and Wagner? Am I missing something? His frame of reference should be 'composers' of commercials. Seriously, is it me, or do all of his 'scores' sound empty, repetitious, AND similar?

  • @henrymichael13

    @henrymichael13

    3 жыл бұрын

    Schindler’s List?

  • @garrysmodsketches

    @garrysmodsketches

    Жыл бұрын

    @@henrymichael13 writing pleasant tunes is not the same thing as being a composer. Anyone who has good ear and basic knowledge of music theory can write a tune and supply chords to it. That does not make you a good composer.

  • @henrymichael13

    @henrymichael13

    Жыл бұрын

    @@garrysmodsketches Genuinly intrigued and mean no offence, but I feel to define John Williams as someone who just wrote pleasant tunes is grossly unfair and plainly false. I think the main thing Williams can be accused of is at times imitating and borrowing from other composers, but this in itself is a skill to have a feeling for what is appropriate to match the on screen material and themes.

  • @garrysmodsketches

    @garrysmodsketches

    Жыл бұрын

    @@henrymichael13 no, borrowing is not an issue at all. For instance, Schubert regularly borrowed directly from Beethoven and Mozart, but he is still a great composer. I'm sorry, but Williams is really just a guy who writes lovely, charming, memorable melodies and arranges them for the orchestra, that's it.

  • @angelloperez7273

    @angelloperez7273

    Жыл бұрын

    @@garrysmodsketches then try writing one if you are so educated as you say you are, I bet you can't 🤭

  • @llochissimo
    @llochissimo10 жыл бұрын

    why want an actual italian scholar invited, this bloke knows about it s much as id o about verdi and we stop in middle school

  • @aquama444
    @aquama44410 жыл бұрын

    What are the exact movements performed can anyone tell me?

  • @kiantamar

    @kiantamar

    3 жыл бұрын

    They showed the name of the piece at the beginning of each performance. I remember the Verdi's the Willow song Wagner's Wotan's Farewell from Die Walküre and the opening of Tristan und Isolde Act 1.

  • @thedoc-eh7yj

    @thedoc-eh7yj

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kiantamar and the overture to La Forza del Destino

  • @LazlosPlane
    @LazlosPlane9 жыл бұрын

    Love Wagner, but Verdi is. . . after all, Verdi.

  • @marcolucca6241
    @marcolucca62416 жыл бұрын

    Verdi vs Wagner as Manchester - Liverpool The debate of drunks in a pub

  • @sesqui1rosso
    @sesqui1rosso Жыл бұрын

    magnifico.

  • @rgeorgiou4454
    @rgeorgiou445410 жыл бұрын

    The debate was too much concentrated on the personality of the 2 composers rather that in their music. It is known that geniuses escape the normal qualification of a good or decent person. But pompousness transpires throughout Wagner’s music making it horrendous. (But, very enjoyable indeed in Bugs Bunny “Kill the Wabbit” cartoon!!)

  • @Ceciliaseg64
    @Ceciliaseg646 жыл бұрын

    I grew up listening to Italian Opera, of course, Verdi was a favorite of my father's, but when Wagner came to our lives we immediately experienced something of a different nature; I could understand what was happening in the drama, thanks to his magnificent orchestration. Though I was a child this music moved me in such a way nothing else in life could match to this very day. Wagner, the artist is the real Wagner to me. It's the power of his music that produces emotions that I do not experience with other composers, saved for some brief passages evoke by others

  • @keatsgipsy9991
    @keatsgipsy99913 жыл бұрын

    💫 Marvellous

  • @bazcuda
    @bazcuda Жыл бұрын

    So strange to see Wotan wearing a suit and tie 🤣

  • @teresareixach9538
    @teresareixach95384 жыл бұрын

    Kaufmann Wagner - jonas kaufmann, The Verdi Álbum, Donald Runnicles, etc

  • @sigalius
    @sigalius7 жыл бұрын

    Summary - Verdi side: "Poor Jews. Wagner was not a nice man. I don't like him personally, and neither should you. Verdi wrote unaffected by the expectations of critics, who asked "Why not be more like Wagner?" Verdi captured the Italian spirit, but was never a nasty nationalist. You should like Verdi because he wrote a lot, was humble, and was a populist. Verdi is inclusive, Wagner is exclusive and elitist. No wonder he's so popular." Wagner side: "A good man can be a bad composer, as a bad man can be a good composer. Let's talk about the music and the genius of the work. Wagner penetrates with great insight into the human psyche. Wagner weaves complexity and innovation, using myths and gods, with the goal of encapsulating very human conditions. The epitome of his innovation is the Tristan chord, which serves as the pinnacle of 19th century music. The power of his work is gripping and transformative. Wagner is maddeningly captivating." I might add two things. 1. As other commentators have noted, the bit about Verdi and John Williams is astonishing, considering how many Wagnerian techniques John Williams uses. There's no equivocation. He argues for influence by exposure at the end, but the techniques and actual works on paper speak for themselves. There's nothing unequivocally identifiable of Verdi in John Williams. Of Wagner, the answer is easy if you just look at the structures and patterns. 2. Comparing the performance frequency of Verdi and Wagner is truly an improper comparison, because, very simply, Wagner's operas are extremely demanding (both production-wise and physically to the singers), whereas Verdi's operas (much like most composers) are sing-songy and relatively tame.

  • @rickhenderson2970

    @rickhenderson2970

    5 жыл бұрын

    Yes, the Verdi side argued badly, and the shame of it is that Verdi is not embarrassed by Wagner either musically or as a musical-dramatist. As I briefly note above in my reply to Alexander Hay-Whitton, there's far more to Verdi than his accessible melodiousness. I've always thought the Verdi/Wagner comparison is not unlike the Shakespeare/Milton comparison. The difference between profoundly human artists vs profoundly spiritual artists. In a way, Meistersinger was Wagner trying to be Verdi and Aida was Verdi trying to be Wagner; as if Milton had tried to write The Tempest and Shakespeare had tried to write Paradise Lost. Do I feel Wagner is better? Yes. I actually feel his only challenge is Mozart rather than Verdi--after Tristan I feel the three greatest operas are Figaro, Don G, and Cosi. Still, I love Verdi and a much a better case can be made than was made here.

  • @user-ut3zn1en9o

    @user-ut3zn1en9o

    3 жыл бұрын

    Verdi operas aren't tame.

  • @angelloperez7273

    @angelloperez7273

    Жыл бұрын

    Communist detected opinion rejected.

  • @Chriswmagic
    @Chriswmagic9 жыл бұрын

    1:17:40

  • @deepthymukundan5358
    @deepthymukundan53582 жыл бұрын

    What's with the red silk in the background 🙂

  • @GoldenScarab45
    @GoldenScarab4510 жыл бұрын

    When he said Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata were all premiered in the same year I quite literally choked on my drink.

  • @darwinism14

    @darwinism14

    8 жыл бұрын

    no, he said "in 3 years in succession"

  • @littlekiwi9724
    @littlekiwi97246 жыл бұрын

    I'm not a fan of opera, so my rule of thumb is: If Maria Callas recorded it, it's worth listening to... Therefore Verdi

  • @Daniela-pr7rz

    @Daniela-pr7rz

    4 жыл бұрын

    She also did Wagner, ....before Verdi.

  • @kaloarepo288

    @kaloarepo288

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Daniela-pr7rz She sang Wagner's Liebestod but in Italian

  • @Daniela-pr7rz

    @Daniela-pr7rz

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@kaloarepo288 She did Brunhilde and Kundry as well.

  • @axelharge9540
    @axelharge954010 жыл бұрын

    Wagner.

  • @angelloperez7273

    @angelloperez7273

    Жыл бұрын

    Why don't you go to sniff Coke like every rock fan?

  • @antoniobento9055
    @antoniobento90558 жыл бұрын

    Sorry, Verdi died in 1901, not in 1891, by god.

  • @paolograndinetti7609
    @paolograndinetti76097 жыл бұрын

    per favore sottotitoli in Italiano

  • @lilliedoubleyou3865
    @lilliedoubleyou38654 жыл бұрын

    I wonder what a defense of Verdi would sound like without resorting to cliches and appealing to modern political sensibilities. "Oh, Nabuco is sort of nationalist, but in a good way, because it's not actually nationalist, because nationalism is bad, something-something marginalized something-something, inane emotional appeals. Poor Verdi deserves better. - a disgruntled Puccini fan, wondering why her guy is being completely left out

  • @danglybit1
    @danglybit18 жыл бұрын

    Well done orchestra well done Tomlinson sang Valkyrie beautifully. I know Wagner is good for me, It has healed me many times.

  • 3 жыл бұрын

    You no longer wait for a verb in a German sentence. This is not Thomas Mann or Robert Musil.

  • @afrendeiro
    @afrendeiro10 жыл бұрын

    Completely true.

  • @Ketston
    @Ketston10 жыл бұрын

    Why do people always have to choose? Enjoy that music and shut up!

  • @llochissimo
    @llochissimo10 жыл бұрын

    i find it facinating that they think it was not done on purpose, for us its common knowledge

  • @petatap
    @petatap5 жыл бұрын

    Vi piace di più la pesca o la pera?

  • @kralle-uw9mc
    @kralle-uw9mc10 жыл бұрын

    so Verdi got his music from the Jews...who would have imagined.