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Wed, 5 May 1999 22:31:37 -0400 |
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Harry Davis wrote:
>There are many who listen to it for the music alone.
Wagner was a glorious composer, a lousy human being, and non-existent as a
thinker. The only sensible course, I think, is to listen to the music and
forget the rest of him.
>As for the Ring, it's a wandering and inconsistent juvenile fantasy,
>laden (as are other Wagner works) with heavy personal baggage related
>to incest and betrayal.
I think you're selling the Ring considerably short. If you are open to
this sort of thing, there is a lot of insight in it. Remember that, like
all mythologies, it contains lots of characters which would strike someone
who is determined to ridicule it as ridiculous: talking dragons, maidens
who swim and warble underwater, magic fire, etc., etc. If you find it hard
to keep from chuckling at this, then it would indeed be better for you to
throw it in the trash can. But keep in mind that others have read a good
deal more significance into it. Did your research by any chance include
Robert Donington's "Wagner's 'Ring' and Its Symbols"?
Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]
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