# Wagner vs Mussorgsky vs Debussy



## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

From a previous poll.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Apparently Boris is not Goodenuv.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Bizarre question


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Rogerx said:


> Bizarre question


The link is Debussy.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Boris Godunov doesn't belong here. This is really about Pelléas vs. Parsifal and I voted for the former because, as much as I like Wagner, Debussy is higher up in my top 10. 

:tiphat:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> The link is Debussy.


Please accept an A+ for solving the riddle we didn't know you had posed.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> Please accept an A+ for solving the riddle we didn't know you had posed.


Wodduck - crucifying TalkCalssical members since 2014.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

^^^ Why, thank you, Terror! Actually, RW's post was a hint, and mine was an acknowledgement. Debussy was strongly influenced in composing _Pelleas_ by both _Parsifal_ and _Boris_. That makes him a link between Wagner and Mussorgsky.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> The link is Debussy.


In that case: Pelléas et Mélisande.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Debussy wins the game, as in Patisserie vs Bratwurst


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

NLAdriaan said:


> Debussy wins the game, as in Patisserie vs Bratwurst


Bratwurst might still be preferred  .


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

annaw said:


> Bratwurst might still be preferred  .


Of course, there is no absolute taste.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

I do think Boris, at least musically, deserves more recognition.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> I do think Boris, at least musically, deserves more recognition.


Boris is a great opera, but its popularity may be affected by the fact that it lacks a clear and definitive musical and dramatic shape. We knew it mainly through Rimsky-Korsakov's version until recent decades, but Mussorgsky himself revised it, and a production has to decide which version or versions to use, which scenes to include, and in what order to play them. For example, do we include the "Polish act," which could be felt as something of a distraction but does provide a nice female role? How much relative emphasis do we give to the Russian people, the politics of the period, and Boris himself? The opera tends to come off as a series of tableaus rather than a tightly structured plot. It also needs a powerful, charismatic bass for the title role. Given these problems, I think it's a tribute to Mussorgsky's musical genius that the opera is performed as often as it is.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Red Terror said:


> Wodduck - crucifying TalkCalssical members since 2014.


Only those who warrant it!


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I love both Peleas and Boris; Parsifal less so (sorry Woodduck). I have to admit to a guilty pleasure fondness for Karajan's recording, which both conflates both versions and uses Rimsky's orchestration (very un-PC on two levels), but any recording that has both Nikolai Ghiarov and Marti Talvela is like going to a restaurant and having Filet Mignon with Prime Rib on the side.


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