Wednesday is for Music Geeks

Do you like opera? What? No? Well, you are in good company. I would have to say it was an acquired taste for me, and there are still things about it that I find kind of ridiculous. But, I bet you couldn't throw a stick and not hit a movie that uses a scrumptious little number from some opera or other. I definitely have my favorite opera composers. Wagner isn't one of them. Wagner and I have had our differences in the past. First of all, the man is all: "I'm so great, I think I'll make people sit and listen to my music for four hours and that's just part one!" Seriously? You couldn't say all that in, say, two and a half hours? But all our differences aside, he does make some incredible music (amidst all that tedium). Check out this tasty little number from the end of Tristan und Isolde:*

*Just to catch you up, a long tragic love story has ensued, Tristan is dying, and waiting for the arrival of his love, Isolde. She gets there (of course!) as he kicks the bucket with Isolde's name on his lips. In a fit of delirious grief, Isolde sings Liebestod and then, (of course!) dies. Everyone dies in opera. Not before singing a piece with the vocal acrobatics that no dying person could do, however. At least the good looking characters die. If you're ugly, you've got a good shot at living. But I digress. This piece is so lovely, so dramatic, so grandiose. All the good things about Wagner.