My Wagner Page

Standard Wagner Disclaimer

This page is dedicated to my favorite composer, Richard Wagner. Now please don't email me telling me what a shmuck Wagner was, or how he was Hitler's favorite composer (actually, Hitler's favorite composer was Bruckner). I already know all that. Wagner, the man, was a Grade AA Loser. Wagner's music, on the other hand, is arguably the most sublime, the most dramatic, and the most complex ever composed. This page is not an endorsement of Wagner's views on anything. It is merely my way of expressing how much I enjoy Wagner's music.

Standard Digital Music Disclaimer

All the musical excerpts on these pages are encoded in Windows Media format at 20 kb/s. They are not CD quality as I have neither the disk space to host files of that size nor the desire to be accused of pirating music. If you like what you hear, please consider buying the CDs. I repeat, if you download these excerpts expecting high-quality music, you will be disappointed.

Now that all that is out of the way...

The Wagner Operas

Richard Wagner wrote eleven operas during his lifetime. Actually, you can argue that the Ring Cycle, which is composed of four operas, is actually a single work: a really big single work, but a single work, nonetheless. The Wagner operas are as follows in rough chronological order of composition:

  1. Rienzi
  2. Der Fliegende Hollander
  3. Tannhauser
  4. Lohengrin
  5. Das Rheingold
  6. Die Walkure
  7. Siegfried
  8. Tristan und Isolde
  9. Die Meistersinger
  10. Gotterdammerung
  11. Parsifal

I am really only familiar with the last seven operas in this list. I don't own any of the first four, although I have heard excerpts of Hollander, Tannhauser, and Lohengrin. Consequently, I only summarize on these pages the operas that I know well and of which I own recordings.

While you're here, please visit my Wagner board.

Aaron Ginn