Steve Schwartz wrote:

>Wagner, I repeat, is not about glorifying power, but showing the limits
>even of gods.  That's why he wrote tragedies.  That's what makes what
>he wrote tragedies.  I really do think it's time to look at what Wagner
>actually wrote, rather than what we all know he wrote.

Precisely right.  The whole idea of the Ring is that thirst for absolute,
unlimited power leads to the corruption of even a well-meaning (even if
slightly imperfect) person like Wotan.  But people who have no patience
for Wagner's music will hardly have the patience to sit down and study
the whole libretto to see what he is really saying.  I think we just have
to admit that this kind of long, complex art work appeals to some people
and horrifies others.  As in so many of these furious quarrels over
aesthetics, it's just a question of taste, at bottom.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]