Day 7

Today was the second act of Siegfried by Wagner, directed by Wilhelm Furtwangler, in 1950 at La SCALA in Milan.

The first part of the act was much more subdued that I would have expected; since reading the synopsis states that the main charter (Siegfried) kills a dragon. But hey, maybe killing a dragon to him isn't all that big of a deal for him? The strings play a vital tonal role here, and are often set in the background, leaving the bellowing tenor free range to tell his tale.

The second side starts with a hollowing brass solo (baritone, trombone, french horn not certain which), which leads to a discussion between vocals, which quickly lost my attention. I will say by the end of the record I needed to jump in the shower to rid my self of the large amounts of perspiration that had collected on my skin. But this was do more in part to the 90 degree weather and the airlessness of the room where my stereo is located than the emotional intensity of the music.

Lessons learned in the first week of my 10,000 days: opera is not as bad as I once thought, though still not as good music written without the intention of telling a tale. Wagner does dramatic well, and subtle not so well. My cats now jump on the dining room table as soon as the needle hits the vinyl, knowing that it is time for a brushing and attention. No matter how hot the weather, the neighbors will still point and dial the cops when you lay about the room naked listening to German opera on full blast. And finally, it still feels weird picking up removing a copy Bowie's Diamond Dogs and replacing it with Die Walkure.