Richard Wagner's Ring operas

I'm pondering buying tickets for this... Seattle Opera is hosting these in August.

I'm not really into opera, in fact the only opera music I've ever been really able to get into in the past has been Rossini's stuff, because his stuff I've seen is so damn animated and full of personality.

But they were playing one of these Wagner operas (not sure which, there's 4 I think right?) on the classical station here and I gotta say... Wagner's compositional style is some seriously powerful stuff. I'm sure everyone is familiar with that Flight of the Valkyries work probably popularized in that famous scene in Apocalypse Now. But every ten minutes segued into equally earth-shaking moments.

Then again, these moments of epic composition seem to happen in occasional bursts, with a good lot of the operas, of course (probably most operas in general), being dialog with minimal amounts of music. And I certainly as hell don't know any German so I'm wondering if I'm just going to be dumbfounded and lost for the most of 5-7 hours of the four days wondering what the hell is going on because they're speaking in kraut.

Or will the stage acting make it relatively easy to make educated guesses as to what the characters are speaking about? Is it possible they might be doing it in English?

Has anyone seen this opera in person, care to give any insight from personal experience?

itll probably have an english project above the stage

do it!

I'm almost certain that it'll be in German, and you really should hope that it is. Find the libretti in English to read beforehand if you're concerned. I'd like to see the cycle but Lyric Opera isn't doing any Wagner this year. They are, however, doing Puccini's Tosca and Janacek's Katya Kabanova which I'd like to see. You should look into Puccini if you haven't. He's definitely an easier transition for those who aren't familiar with opera.

obviously the characters will speak in german, and there won't be any translation. too bad because the meaning of the lyrics is essential. basically it's like watching LOTR in german with no subtitles: you get the emotions, the atmosphere but what the heck are they talking about??

i've seen parts of the tetralogy on tv, with subtitles. it is damn exciting, the music in itself is epic but with the whole thing it's like a journey through the land of mordor.

fun fact: if you want to see the tetralogy at the festspiele of bayreuth, you have to book your seats 8 years in advance!!

Siegfired's Funeral March is one of the most amazing pieces of music ever, but I just can't get past the pompousity of it all.

  Brian Tregaskin said:

the whole thing it's like a journey through the land of mordor.

that's just because the LOTR composer was heavily influenced by Wagner

I just found out the lowest price I can get for a ticket for the entire Cycle is $748. All the seats for the second tier section, the furthest-back and least expensive at $350ish, are sold out on all three cycles of the Ring.

Orchestra-level seating is about $640 but from the looks of it, those seats aren't very popular -- they sell out the slowest. Is there a reason not to sit there?

I don't think I can justify spending that much money on an event.

It would be amazing but it's very expensive. Buy them on cd.

I'd say find a video recording of the opera instead of spending all that money. Most opera houses can justify charging a ridiculous amount of money for Nibelunglied because they know Wagnerians will go apeshit for it. Although I've never seen it in person, I did watch the Ring Cycle on Laserdisc with my father when I was younger, and seeing as I was also interested in Lord of the Rings, it was kind of a great experience. On a side note, if you're looking for some short opera to familiarize yourself with the form, Leoncavallo's Pagliaccio and Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana are relatively short, but good.

its worth it if you get in for free, or have a lot of money

i once attempted to lsiten to 14 hours of wager at once.. and i got up to 6 hours and almost wanted to hang myself.

carmina burana is still my all time favourite opera its so damn amazing.

i like der rings des nibelungen, i'm in vienna right now beyotches

Never much cared for Wagner.