Hoyotoho! Hoyotoho! Heiaha! Heiaha!

May 20, 2007 11:09 AM

WagnerFilter: Tomorrow, Monday May 21st, CBC 2 broadcasts the Canadian Opera Company's performance of The Ring in its entirety, starting at 8 a.m (in all time zones) and running until midnight. Grand opera at its grandest; tune in for one of Western music's greatest achievements.
posted by jokeefe (33 comments total)

*wonders when US will broadcast 16 hours of opera*
*cries*
posted by Cranberry at 11:36 AM on May 20, 2007

There is also a comprehensive links page at the CBC 2 site for background, information, etcetera. Me, I'm spending the afternoon polishing my viking helmet (the one with the big horns) and attaching fake blonde braids. Next: standing at attention with my spear and practicing my Valkyrie vodels.
posted by jokeefe at 11:51 AM on May 20, 2007

Well, I for one am glad they are playing The Ring, instead of reading aloud his essays.

Great composer, but a rather wretched man.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:01 PM on May 20, 2007

"Oh Bwunhilde, you'w so wuvwy!"
"Yes I know it; I can't help it!"'
posted by sourwookie at 12:07 PM on May 20, 2007

I love the smell of Wagner in the morning!
posted by Pendragon at 12:11 PM on May 20, 2007

"in all time zones" meaning in five of the six time zones in Canada.
posted by winston at 12:23 PM on May 20, 2007

That's just Gotterdammerific!
posted by Flashman at 12:24 PM on May 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

"in all time zones" meaning in five of the six time zones in Canada.

Okay, okay, half an hour later in Newfoundland. How could I forget that part?
posted by jokeefe at 12:27 PM on May 20, 2007

I just phoned in to my boss and told him I QUIT cause I have to listen to the Ring...wring what, he asked.
posted by Postroad at 12:29 PM on May 20, 2007

My fellow music major friends and I have often talked of holding an all-day Ring Cycle marathon. This is awesome.
posted by rossination at 12:30 PM on May 20, 2007

Astro Zombie, I wouldn't class him as a rather wretched man based on those sentiments. It correlated with a very specific part of his life and even the text itself takes more of a pop-sociology approach to the matter than a deterministic one. Not to deny that the conclusions/assertions therein are indeed wretched, nay, horrid.
posted by Firas at 12:51 PM on May 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Any chance of an iTunes-friendly link?
posted by roll truck roll at 1:14 PM on May 20, 2007

There is just not enough caffiene in the world....

Oh well, at least it's not a marathon of early twentieth century operas.
posted by ilsa at 1:58 PM on May 20, 2007

You know who else liked Wagner?
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 2:03 PM on May 20, 2007 [6 favorites]

For me, listening to opera is like listening to a movie: it's just not compelling without the theatrical experience. Opera was meant to be multimedia, and even if I have the libretto in front of me, following the story without the staging is hopeless. Certainly many people don't have this problem and love listening to opera, but I think a lot of people who think they dislike opera music would have a great time if they went to a well-staged opera and saw it in all its glory.
posted by rikschell at 2:04 PM on May 20, 2007

Too many notes.
posted by LordSludge at 4:26 PM on May 20, 2007

Wrong century, LordSludge. Heh.
posted by jokeefe at 4:45 PM on May 20, 2007

I agree with you, rikschell, although I do like listening to recorded opera, but I don't really try to follow along with the plot.

Part of the problem, too, is productions that are almost willfully uninteresting.
posted by roll truck roll at 4:51 PM on May 20, 2007

For those Wagnoobs who are too daunted to dip even their pinkie toes into Ringrheinwaßer, Anna Russell offers a primer:

"The story opens in the River Rhine. In it."
. . .
"[Siegfried is] very strong and he's very brave and he's very handsome and he's very stupid."
. . .
"[The Valkyries] are the noisiest people. They're all of them virgins, and I'm not the least bit surprised."
. . .
"Erda says to Wotan: 'Weiche, Wotan, Weiche,' which means 'Be careful, Wotan.' She then bears him eight daughters."
. . .
"I'm not making this up, you know."

posted by rob511 at 5:48 PM on May 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

And before the Internet, where else could you go for good brother-sister incest stories?
posted by rikschell at 5:53 PM on May 20, 2007

*directs rob511's attention to the "She's his aunt, you know" tag*
posted by jokeefe at 5:57 PM on May 20, 2007

The Ring is intended to be heard on consecutive nights. If you listen to 16 hours of opera non-stop just so you feel like a special flower, you are very silly.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:13 PM on May 20, 2007

Spoken as if you were Wagner himself, which you are not, EMRJKC94.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 7:00 PM on May 20, 2007

Oh my dear jesus god in heaven no. Please, I'll talk. Just not the Wagner marathon again.
posted by spitbull at 8:44 PM on May 20, 2007

*wonders when US will broadcast 16 hours of opera*
*cries*

Anyone remember watching the entire ring cycle on PBS in the summer of 1989 from the Metropolitan Opera? I was renting a room in a frat house that summer and it was hilarious describing the incestuous plot to those guys.
posted by girlhacker at 10:52 PM on May 20, 2007

Here's Anna Russell's Rheingold synopsis on Google video.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:41 AM on May 21, 2007

Anyone remember watching the entire ring cycle on PBS in the summer of 1989 from the Metropolitan Opera? I was renting a room in a frat house that summer and it was hilarious describing the incestuous plot to those guys.

I sure do. I was in college too and got a few of my dormmates into it.

I still remember Matti Salminen being an awesomely evil Hagen.
posted by dfan at 7:43 AM on May 21, 2007

For those of you who don't have 16 hours to spare, here's 3 minutes of Kirsten Flagstad as Brünnhilde. Ah, the good old days.
posted by dfan at 7:45 AM on May 21, 2007

If you've missed the beginning of the CBC cycle, I'd like to call your attention to Podderdammerung, a set of on-demand podcasts of historical performances of the Ring music dramas. (parterre.com is my site, so I do hope you'll forgive my blowing of my own Wagner tuba!)
posted by La Cieca at 9:00 AM on May 21, 2007

La Cieca, self-links in comments are just fine. And it looks awesome, to boot.

I'm just settling in here for hour two. I have plenty of supplies-- tea, toast, leftover takeout from last night-- and am spending 10 minutes every hour doing exercises on my giant plastic ball thingee. I think I'll make it through the whole day.
posted by jokeefe at 10:05 AM on May 21, 2007

....
I just wanted to say that I thought the FPP said "Wangerfilter."
I'll go now.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:25 PM on May 21, 2007

Anyone remember watching the entire ring cycle on PBS in the summer of 1989 from the Metropolitan Opera?

Our high-school crowd was hooked. There were a few "Rocky Horror Goes To The Opera" moments, like yelling "Sweat more!" at Siegfried Jerusalem-- but we wept buckets during Wotan's Farewell. Damn, James Morris was good.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:52 PM on May 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

Dear God. There's still almost four more hours of this thing. Wish me luck.
posted by jokeefe at 8:21 PM on May 21, 2007