# Which are the five greatest acts of Richard Wagner's stage works in your opinion?



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Polls on favorite/best operas by Wagner have been made here at TC in the past, but I believe that one that aims at the perception of greatness of their individual acts had never been done. To make the poll even more challenging, I limited the total options that can be selected to only five, therefore making it impossible to select only complete operas if a member uses all of them. There's a limit of 25 options per TC poll, so I had to leave some important works by Wagner out of it (I chose to not include any of the early operas, the second act of _Tannhäuser,_ and _Der fliegende Holländer_ in it's entirety. Members can select the option _Other(s)_ if they feel that one or more of Wagner's greatest acts belong(s) to these). Discussion about favorite performances/recordings of each act is welcome.

The works are ordered more or less chronologically. Define "greatest" as you wish. If you choose _Other(s)_, please tell us here in the comments section which work(s) you had in mind.

You may change your vote later.

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Top ten most voted acts that belong to Richard Wagner' five greatest according to the poll at the moment (in case of tie, later work gets priority in the ordering):

1. Die Walküre, Act I (11 votes)
2. Götterdämmerung, Act III (10 votes)
3. Tristan und Isolde, Act II (9 votes)
4. Die Walküre, Act III (9 votes)
5. Parsifal, Act II (8 votes)
6. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act III (8 votes)
7. Tristan und Isolde, Act III (8 votes)
8. Parsifal, Act III (7 votes)
9. Lohengrin, Act II (5 votes)
10. Götterdämmerung, Act II (4 votes)

Total votes at the moment: 22.

Last update: 09/08/2022.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

This poll belongs to a series about the "greatest" works of several famous composers. If you wish to participate, there have been polls for Johannes Brahms (link here), Ludwig van Beethoven (link here), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (link here) and Johann Sebastian Bach (link here) already.


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

Die Walküre III, Götterdämmerung III, Tristan III, Parsifal II and III


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

I vote for:

Die Wakure III,
Meistersinger III,
Götterdämmerung II 
Parsifal II and III.

I also want to include Götterdämmerung III, but the music of Act II is so dark that it is wonderful. Staring with the cinematic _Schläfst du, Hagen, mein Sohn?_ , then flooding with the barbarous Hagen's Call, Brunnhilde's wraths, and concluding with _Rache-Terzett_; the act is perfect. How something composed in the 1870s was that violent (more than Bartok, Britten, and Shostakovich could ever be) is beyond me.


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## RuggiràIntornoATe! (5 mo ago)

I voted for 

Die Walküre I
Meistersinger III
Tristan III
Götterdämmerung III
Parsifal III


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

OffPitchNeb said:


> I vote for:
> 
> Die Wakure III,
> Meistersinger III,
> ...


That moment in Götterdämmerung II when the horns enter after the Hagen-Alberich scene (sunrise, recalling the Rhine theme at the very beginning of Rheingold) is something else. Wagner's imagination just always stuns me.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tristan 3
Walkure 3
Gotterdammerung 3
Parsifal 2
Parsifal 3

As a friend of mine once said after hearing Act 3 of Siegfried (which I regret having to omit above), "He really knows how to end 'em!" Conrad Osborne wrote that with Wagner you can be confident that what comes at the end will at least not be inferior to anything that came before. Act 3 of _Tristan _is a devastating _tour de force_ of musical construction and pressurized emotion. Wotan's farewell to Brunnhilde is as nobly and sublimely tragic as anything in opera. The shattering power of the death of Wotan's progeny, Brunnhilde's ecstatic immolation, and the end of the gods, actually succeeds at the impossible of task of bringing the whole epic of the _Ring_ to a worthy conclusion. The solemn spell of Act 3 of _Parsifal_ is simply beyond words - my words, at least - and always leaves me feeling that I don't know how to get back to normal life, that maybe I don't really want to, but that I'd better do so quickly or I'll be lost forever.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Tristan 3
> Walkure 3
> Gotterdammerung 3
> Parsifal 2
> ...


The Perfect Wagnerite!


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

My votes: 

Die Walkure 3 
Tristan 2 
Meistersinger 3
Parsifal 2
Other 

It was physically painful to leave out Tristan 3 and Parsifal 3, I feel as though I have committed some crime.

The "other" is Tannhauser 2. One of the best-crafted acts in all of opera in my opinion, I don't understand why so many dislike the song contest. It's Wagner's earliest demonstration of masterful tension built over the course of an entire act.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

After several tries i gave up.
i cant do it.


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

Walküre 1; Tristan 1; Meistersinger 1, 2 & 3


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I love Die Walkure Act I : it takes forever to really take off, but when it does...wow!
Not an Act, but I love the Prologue to Gotterdammerung, especially the thrilling Dawn Duet . The three Norn section is very beautiful also.
Act III Gotterdammerung, especially Scene III. 
Parsifal, the big Kundry duet.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Included the top ten most voted acts' list in the first post.


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

A good case could be made for all of them, probably.


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