Incomplete And Utter History Of Classical Music

THE WHOLE WAGNER

Q

uite. Quite. I agree. What a fantastic subject - the whole Wagner thing, phenomenon, bit. Or whatever. Absolutely. Couldn't have put it better myself. Nail-on-head-hitting mission accomplished, I think. Because to call Wagner a romantic is not really accurate. You can't just say Wagner was a romantic - I mean, he was. But he was much more than that - he was… well, he was just… Wagner. A one-off. There had been nothing like him before, and there would never be anything like him again. Thank goodness, some might say. But not I. Oh no. I will come right out of the Bayreuth closet and gladly shout, Peter Finch-like, from the windows, 'I'm a Wagnerian, and, as a result, I'm clearly as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more!' Well, something like that, anyway. What I mean, really, is that I think we need to look into this whole Wagner thing a little bit deeper. So put your horned helmet on - we're going in.