The Ring of the Nibelungs: I'm not making this up!
April 9, 2009 11:56 PM   Subscribe

Anna Russell's marviously classic digest of The Ring of the Nibelungs. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3 (~1/2 hour of YT links)
posted by edgeways (12 comments total) 39 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is GREAT! I love the Ring of the Nibelungs, and this is fantastic as a way not to take it seriously and still enjoy it.

My favorite memory of this opera is being stuck in my car behind a parade little 5 points in Atlanta, with act 3 of Die Walküre on the local public radio station as my only comfort. And then a parade float that is a viking ship goes by me, and they all cheer when they hear what is on the radio.
posted by strixus at 12:10 AM on April 10, 2009 [7 favorites]


Transcription of the album version.
posted by horsemuth at 3:28 AM on April 10, 2009


Hah, fantastic, thanks for posting that.

Another show about the Ring Cycle: In january 2008, WNYC Radiolab published a very interesting one-hour program, "The Ring And I" (mp3), about Wagner's Ring Cycle and the Wagnerites who watch it as often as they can (e.g. the chef who had watched the 20-hour, 4-part Ring Cycle almost 40 times).
posted by Glee at 3:43 AM on April 10, 2009 [3 favorites]


"I'm not making this up, you know!"

Anna Russell was one of the funniest singing comedians I have ever heard. Such a wonderful dry wit. She was in a class with Tom Lehrer and Victor Borges (and maybe a little Florence Foster Jenkins thrown in, but Anna was intentional.) I used to have her Ring Cycle routine on one side of a tape and her "Make Your Own Gilbert & Sullivan" routine on the other ("...and then the funny little man comes out to sing the patter song, and he will sing three or four encores, whether you want him to or not.")

Thank you for these links. My Friend Erda indeed.
posted by Spatch at 5:23 AM on April 10, 2009


I've never much enjoyed opera, but always been fascinated with the Ring series. Just not enough to watch/listen to the whole thing. This was so funny and well done, I almost want to watch it all now.

Obligatory What's Opera Doc link, because you can't talk about the ring series and not mention the most famous adaption.
posted by inthe80s at 7:20 AM on April 10, 2009


Anna's Ring is great. And as long as we're listing musical comedians, don't forget Peter Schickele, aka P.D.Q. Bach. His version of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (Missa Hilarious S. N20) is truly hilarious, and I love Beethoven.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:23 AM on April 10, 2009


I definitely first heard about this from Metafilter, but maybe it was only from this AskMefi thread. No, wait...there is a "she'shisauntyouknow" tag. Who wouldn't think to search that?

I do appreciate the reminder of its existence.
posted by aswego at 7:23 AM on April 10, 2009


Oh man. I taped this off a classical radio station when I was a kid (about 5th grade or so). I've had it nearly memorized since then. Back in about '95 or '96 I finally got to see a whole live performance of the Ring here in Chicago - and several times during it, Ms. Russell's voice kept popping into my head! "He's a crashing bore, too!" "He has a tree with a sword stuck in it growing through his living room floor!" "Be careful, Wotan, be careful!"
posted by dnash at 8:04 AM on April 10, 2009


"Be careful, Wotan, be careful!"

She then bears him eight daughters.
posted by Spatch at 8:29 AM on April 10, 2009


This was nice to watch. Very funny.

I'm two parts into the LA Opera's Ring Cycle. So far, it's been amazing.

If you're in LA go see DIE WALKURE while it's up.
posted by paperzach at 10:26 AM on April 10, 2009


How come I only find out about these people when they've DIED??
posted by JHarris at 11:17 AM on April 10, 2009


OMG, this is delightful! Thanks for the joyful grins.
posted by nickyskye at 7:45 PM on April 10, 2009


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