# Verdi vs. Wagner



## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

FYI

http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/verdi-vs-wagner-200th-anniversary-stephen-fry/


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## sharik (Jan 23, 2013)

dionisio said:


> http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/verdi-vs-wagner-200th-anniversary-stephen-fry/ "To appreciate Wagner's music is not to forgive his political views"


- thus Fry endorses to be not forgiven for his own poltical views, doesn't he?


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Wagner and Verdi - apples and oranges . Let's just be grateful for both of them .


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## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

If there had been a public poll on the webpage, the winner would be Verdi.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

marinasabina said:


> If there had been a public poll on the webpage, the winner would be Verdi.


...and I'm sure Wagnerites would respond, but if there had been an intelligence test ...!!


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## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> ...and I'm sure Wagnerites would respond, but if there had been an intelligence test ...!!


I've always found public polls very dangerous...if one is to be made about who's the greatest in music through all the ages, probably some Justin Bieber or One Direction would take the lead!

Honestly i find this debate quite weak. Except of some "depthness" about some works of these composers, the discussion was the same as always: One cannot listen to Wagner because of his antisemitism or Verdi put to music true human feelings while Wagner's music is for the inteligent people, etc.

Also the orchestra was dreadfull.


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## Revenant (Aug 27, 2013)

If one held a poll on favorite ice cream flavors, the probable winner would be vanilla. That would carry no weight with me (no pun intended). Although I like vanilla, I much prefer other flavors. Taste, I think, is what it boils down when it comes to choice. When it comes to critical appreciation and knowledge of music, well, that might be a different story altogether. Since I'm no expert, I would repair to that Stephen Fry-hosted You Tube Verdi or Wagner video to find out what the intelligentsia thinks. I also enjoy visiting the zoo.


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## Pip (Aug 16, 2013)

superhorn said:


> Wagner and Verdi - apples and oranges . Let's just be grateful for both of them .


dumb debate - Superhorn put is as succinctly as anyone could. we need them both, end of line.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Revenant said:


> I also enjoy visiting the zoo.


................Me too!!


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

I know it works for some, but I've never seen opera - and music/art in general - as a sort of pyramid with milestones to scale and a pinnacle to reach. It's a more horizontal journey for me, like a path in the woods, with many diverging branches. Today you go down this path, tomorrow down another. The next day you return down the first path and discover it anew, then you arrive at yet another fork in the road etc.


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