Thursday, January 13, 2011

Quote from The Composers- Richard Wagner




Ah, yes. Those of us who live between Smyrna, Ga., and Floyd, Va., were snowed in over the last two days due to a fluke snowstom which really hammered Spartanburg, SC, of all places, as well as the Atlanta and Charlotte metro areas.

This gave me a chance to catch up on reading as I somehow read the late Swedish author Steig Larsson's "The Girl Who Played with Fire" (the second book in the series) in its entirety, and it is a 750-page novel! I also watched all 13 episodes of the third and last season of "Arrested Development" which was on the air from 2003-05 (loved the part where they went to Mexico!).

So, this brings us to our quote of the day from a late, great composer. And, we are going with the ever-controversial Richard Wagner (1818-1883) who was admired by none other than Adolf Hitler because der fuhrer felt that Wagner's music embodied his imperial view of Germany. Thus, there have been misgivings about conducting Wagner's music live in Israel.

Wagner is also known for "The Ring Cycle," a series of four operas based on Germanic mythology. "Gotterdammerung/Twilight of the Gods" is the final opera in the series, and Wagner also composed the famous opera "Parsifal" in 1882.

Here is his quip:

"Achievements, seldom credited to their source, are the result of unspeakable drudgery and worries."

Classical music fans in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area might be interested to know that violinst Yura Lee will be giving two performances in the Gate City with The Greensboro Symphony on Jan. 20 and Jan. 22.

One can go to the sympphony's web site greensborosymphony.org for more information.

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