Verdi vs Wagner the 200th birthday debate with Stephen Fry
Debates
•
1h 50m
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.
Up Next in Debates
-
Send them back The Parthenon Marbles ...
-
Trump: An American Tragedy?
It’s over two months since we woke up to the shock news that the next president of the United States will be Donald Trump, and the whole world is trying to read the runes and work out what the next four years will hold for America and the rest of the world.
Many are decrying Trump’s election as ...
-
The Battle Over Free Speech: Trigger ...
Many would argue that these are the fundamental goals of a good education. So why has Cambridge University taken to warning its students that the sexual violence in Titus Andronicus might be traumatic for them? Why are other universities in America and increasingly in Britain introducing measures...
