Mats Norrman writes:

>I agree that Mime is a comic figure, and this part (Akt II of "Siegfried")
>is one of the parts I most appreciate for its humor.  I used to say that
>there are much humor in Wagners works - and I really don't mean just
>"Meistersinger"!  I will launch an exkurs on this if anyone is interested!
>
>So far I agree with Webber, but where he claims the Ring to be "great
>pantomime" (funny pun Mr. Webber!), I go with Mr. Akima!

Just to clarify, I was referring specifically to this moment in The Ring,
and couldn't resist the awful pun.  Of course I would never describe the
whole 15 hours or so of the work in those terms.  I only wanted to assert
the fine and varied theatricality of the cycle, and in particular Wagner's
very individual and underrated sense of humour, which Mats Norrman clearly
relishes too.

Personally I find "The Mastersingers" to be the least funny of his works
with the exception of "Parsifal" - which only goes to show that Comedy need
not be synonymous with Humour.

Similarly, Shakespeare's tragedies contain nearly as much humour as the
comedies - and of a broader kind.  If we're looking at a parallel with
Wagner, I think Shakespeare's histories (probably his most distinctive
achievement) offer a closer model than either: though unlike Wagner, he
wasn't interested in following Greek models.

>So the question of how much Schopenhauer influenced Wagner is not so easy
>to tell!  Wagner apparently mixed thoughts from Schopenhauer, with those of
>Bakunin, Proudhon, Feuerbach, and other contemporary philosophers, melting
>everything in a pot to something that was his very own.

Mats Norrman's qualifications are well made.  As he points out, Wagner was
a clever philosophical bee, confusedly sucking nectar from all sorts of
sources and turning it to his own, very practical and theatrical honey.

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"