Spellbound | 30 July 2011

Die Walküre (Bridgewater Hall, Manchester)

What is the best way to introduce someone to Wagner, granted that, for assorted reasons, his art is thought to be exceptionally forbidding? I have always found that it’s enough to provide a few dates, to place him in respect of his forebears and contemporaries; to say a few things about his artistic aims — which involves saying a little about how he thought art, opera in particular, relates to society — give a brief outline of the plot of whichever opera is to be performed, and make sure that the tyro follows the words. And that is all. Anyone who takes to Wagner’s music-dramas is likely to want, in the first place, to hear and see more of them, and then to find out more about the man who wrote them. It’s at that stage that some guidance from a reasonably knowledgeable person will come in handy.