The Forbidden Naiad of Wagner’s Music

But quite apart from the magnétiseur and fresco-painter Wagner, there is another Wagner who lays aside small gems: our greatest melancholiac in music, full of glances, tendernesses, and comforting words in which nobody has anticipated him, the master in tones of a heavy-hearted and drowsy happiness.

The hypnotist Wagner from Prelude to Act III of Wagner’s Meistersingerconducted by Hans Knappertsbutsch where a man who has not slept all night, has witnessed his beloved town falling into chaos and riots.

Tonight I was at the Concert-Gebouw for Wagner’s die Walküre conducted by Jaap van Zwede, Singers Stuart Skelton (Siegmund), Anja Kampe (Sieglinde), and bariton Kwangchul Youn (Hunding). It was a brilliant performance, way above my expectation.