Today in Music (1865): Wagner's Tristan und Isolde opera premiered

Tristan and Isolde Richard Wagner (composer)

Recorded: 1857-1859 Premiered: June 10, 1865 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > opera

Parts/Movements: Act I: Prelude "Hab acht, Tristan!" (Kurvenal) "Doch nun von Tristan!" (Isolde) "Wie lachend sie mir Lieer singen" (Isolde's Narrative and Curse) "So reihte sie die Mutter" (Brangane) "Begehrt, Herrin was ihr wunscht" (Tristan) Act II: Prelude a. "Isolde! Geliebte! Tristan! geliebter" (Tristan, Isolde) b. "O eitler Tagesknecht!" (Isolde) c. "O sink hernieder" (Beide) a. "Einsam wachend" (Brangane's Waming) b. "Lausch Geliebter!" c. "So sturben wir" (Tristan) d. "Lass' mich sterben!" (Isolde) "Tatest du's wirklich?" (King Marke's Monologue) "Konig... Wohin nun Tristan scheidet" (Tristan) Act III: Prelude "Die alte Weise - was weckt sie mich?" (Tristan) "Dunkt dich das?" (Tristan) "Wie sie selig" "O diese Sonne!" (Tristan) "Ha! Ich bin's, ich bin's" (Isolde) "Mild und leise" (Liebestod) (Isolde) "Prelude und Liebestod" (Concert version, arr. Humperdinck) Total Running Time: 222:30

Rating: 4.525 out of 5.00 (average of 2 ratings) Quotable: “One of the peaks of the operatic repertoire” – Wikipedia Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: “Wagner once explained it was his need to ‘vent his feelings musically’ that led him to compose Tristan und Isolde.” TM “This is a work of surprising sensuality – each bit of simmering musical tension becomes an integral part of the narrative.” TM He was inspired by his affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, his patron’s wife to whom he wrote poems which became the basis for five of the opera’s songs. JH The opera is largely based on Tristan, a 12th-century romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. Wagner “stated in his 1860 essay The Music of the Future, he wanted to compose an opera of more modest scale with a chance of being produced.” JH It premiered on June 10, 1865 at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich with Hans von Bülow as the conductor. WK It “was notable for Wagner’s unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension.” WK Many view Wagner’s opera as the onset of a movement away from “common practice harmony and tonality” WK which launched musical modernism and “the direction of classical music in the 20th century.” WK Wagner’s “libretto style and music” served as enormous influences on 19th and early 20th century symbolist poets as well as Western classical composers, proving inspirational to Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Karol Szymanowski, Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg and Benjamin Britten. WK “The harmonic language of Tristan…not only enacts musically the sexual tension between the opera’s two central characters, but also points to the liberation of dissonance from the constraints of tonality that Arnold Schoenberg and others in the twentieth century would champion. The Prelude to Tristan fully exemplifies Wagner’s forward-looking approach to both harmony and the issue of musical form – or, some would say, formlessness – that operates centrally in his music-dramas.” JH Wagner also used instrumental music to introduce “central motives which correspond with characters and ideas.” JH “The famed ‘love duet’ in the second act…is not just another memorable opera moment…It’s larger than life, a meeting of big voices that spirals into something of a marathon. When the first act ends, Tristan has ingested what he believes is a death potion, served up by the spiteful Isolde in a moment of vengeance. Unbeknownst to either, Isolde’s maid has swapped the cocktail for a love potion, and in Act 2 the pair marvel at and celebrate the circumstances that have brought them together.” TM

Resources and Related Links: JH Jennifer Hambrick, AllMusic.com TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 838. WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: Last updated 2/25/2026.

Dave's Music Hall of Fame: Album Inductees (August 2024)

The Top Operas Originally posted 8/22/2024. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the 23rd group of album inductees. These are the top 10 operas of all time (see the full list here). Four were already inducted in previously classes: George & Ira Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and Don Giovanni, and Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle (Der Ring Des Nibelungen). See the full list of album inductees here.

Georges Bizet Carmen (1874) Inducted August 2024 as “The Top Operas.”

Carmen is “one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon.” WK Bizet based the four-act opera on a Prosper Mérimée novella of the same name with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. WK The music “has since been widely acclaimed for brilliance of melody, harmony, atmosphere, and orchestration, and for the skill with which Bizet musically represented the emotions and suffering of his characters.” WK Read more.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) (1791) Inducted August 2024 as “The Top Operas.”

The Magic Flute is a two-act opera with both singing and spoken dialogue, or libretto, by Emanuel Schikaneder. Jakob August Libeskind’s story “Lulu or the Magic Flute” is considered a possible source for Schikaneder’s libretto. AM “Although overwhelmed by many adversities, Mozart found great joy in working” AM on the opera. It premiered at Schikaneder’s Theater auf der Wieden in the suburbs of Vienna on September 30, 1791. WK Read more.

Giacomo Puccini La Bohème (The Bohemian Life) (1896) Inducted August 2024 as “The Top Operas.”

Puccini’s opera was inspired by the “nineteenth century cultural fad of Bohemianism” AM and the “theme of Parisian starving artists.” AM While the opera world sometimes suffered “recklessly wordy narratives in search of musical anchor and gorgeous music lacking plot lines” Puccini “achieved a very happy medium” TM with La Bohème. His “musical decisions were informed by the necessities of the drama” TM and he offers “genuinely memorable melodies, songs that would be deeply affecting independent of any narrative.” TM Read more.

Giacomo Puccini Tosca (1900) Inducted August 2024 as “The Top Operas.”

When Puccini started writing Tosca, he’d already composed four operas, including the popular La Bohème. In “a marked change from the late Romantic sentimentality” AM of that work, Tosca was an exploration of “the dark side of human emotion.” AM It “premiered in 1900 at Rome’s Teatro Costanzi to a temperate critical reception.” AM Read more.

Gioacchino Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) (1816) Inducted August 2024 as “The Top Operas.”

The Barber of Seville “has proven to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music.” WK It is “widely considered the greatest of comic operas.” AM It is an opera buffa in two acts. The Italian libretto, by Cesare Sterbini, was based on the 1775 French Comedy Le Barbier de Séville by Pierre Beaumarchais. WK in which nobility were depicted as buffoons dependent on their servants. AM “After two hundred years, it remains a popular work.” WK Read more.

Richard Wagner Tristan Und Isolde (1859) Inducted August 2024 as “The Top Operas.”

“Wagner once explained it was his need to ‘vent his feelings musically’ that led him to compose Tristan und Isolde.” TM He was inspired by his affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, his patron’s wife to whom he wrote poems which became the basis for five of the opera’s songs. JH The opera is largely based on Tristan, a 12th-century romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. It premiered on June 10, 1865 at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich with Hans von Bülow as the conductor. WK Read more.

The Top 50 Classical Composers

Classical Composers: Top 50

This list was originally presented as a note on the DMDB Facebook page on February 2, 2011. That original post was prompted by Anthony Tommasini, who in January 2011, undertook the two-week task in the New York Times of selecting the top 10 classical music composers in history. That list, and 13 others (see sources below), have been aggregated to create the official Dave’s Music Database list below. As always, the goal is to present an objective list based on others’ opinions. Besides, I’m less informed on classical music than any other genre, so I couldn’t compose a list of my own if I wanted to. My apologies for any misspellings. Note: this list was updated on March 9, 2012 to aggregate a total of 22 lists focused on classical composers. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories. 1. Ludwig van Beethoven 2. Johann Sebastian Bach 3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 4. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 5. George Gershwin 6. Franz Schubert 7. Richard Wagner 8. Joseph Haydn 9. Johannes Brahms 10. Igor Stravinsky 11. Frederic Chopin 12. Gustav Mahler 13. George Frideric Handel 14. Antonio Vivaldi 15. Giusseppe Verdi 16. Claude Debussy 17. Robert Schumann 18. Sergei Rachmaninoff 19. Dmitri Shostakovich 20. Antonin Dvorák 21. Felix Mendelssohn 22. Béla Bartók 23. Hector Berlioz 24. Kurt Weill 25. Maurice Ravel 26. Franz Liszt 27. John Phillip Sousa 28. Edward Elgar 29. Jean Sibelius 30. Sergei Prokofiev 31. Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina 32. Anton Bruckner 33. Claudio Monteverdi 34. Arnold Schoenberg 35. Modest Mussorgsky 36. Richard Strauss 37. Ralph Vaughan Williams 38. Henry Purcell 39. Charles Ives 40. Giacomo Puccini 41. Domenico Scarlatti 42. Gioacchino Rossini 43. Jean-Philippe Rameau 44. Oliver Messiaen 45. Gaetano Donizetti 46. Ferde Grofe 47. Aaron Copland 48. Camille Saint-Saens 49. Georges Bizet 50. Samuel Barber Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories Amazon.com: Essential Artists Consists of two lists: one of popular music’s essential artists and another of classical composers. Links take you to short bios and more links to works by the artist/composer. Classical list has 52 entries, unranked. Answers.com Greatest Classical Composers. By del_icious_manager (date?) A user posted a question asking for people to list 7 of the greatest classical composers and state reasons for choices. The best answer, as chosen by the asker, was from del_icious_manager who listed seven composers chronologically with sentence-long bios/justifications. BiographyOnline.net Greatest Classical Music Composers of All Time. (date?) Top ten ranked list with brief paragraphs on each entry. Cleveland.com Who are the 10 greatest classical-music composers of all time? You decide. By Donald Rosenberg. (1/30/2011) Response to Anthony Tommasini’s top 10 list in the New York Times. Picks seven composers himself, but doesn’t rank them. DigitalDreamDoor.com The 100 Greatest Classical Music Composers. Edited by Guy/Brian. (12/31/2006) Top 100 ranked list. No commentary. eHow.com 10 Most Famous Classical Composers. By Amber D. Walker. (1/3/2010) This article focuses on ten composers with paragraph entries on each. No ranking. HubPages.com Top 5 Classical Composers of All Time. By Isabella Snow. (date?) This article focuses on five composers with paragraph entries on each. No ranking. Jaltcoh.blogspot.com The Top 10 Greatest Classical Composers. By John Althouse Cohen. (1/22/2011) A personal top ten ranking with detailed entries on each composer. Inspired by the New York Times article. Legends of American Music stamp series (1993-1999) This series of stamps started in 1993 covering various genres. Eight classical composers/conductors were introduced in 1997. Listverse.com Top 15 Greatest Composers of All Time. By FlameHorse. (12/17/2009) Top 15 ranked list with detailed entries and video posts. NYTimes.com The Greatest. By Anthony Tommasini. (1/21/2011) The original post which inspired the DMDB list and several of the other entries in this category. He undertook a two-week series to select the top 10 classical musical composers in history. He laid out the list via articles, videos, and blog posts which garnered more than 1500 responses. Squidoo.com The Best Classical Composers of All Time. By ?. (date?) Unranked list of five composers with links to purchase music and other related products. Writer and date unidentified. The-Top-Tens.com Greatest Classical Composers. By ?. (date?) Users post lists here and then others vote on them. This top ten list has expanded to 23 entries as added by users. Original list generator and date of creation unidentified. Very few commentaries. First posted 7/28/2012; last updated 1/26/2022.

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Music Maker Inductees (March 2021)

Originally posted 3/22/2021. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog! To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This ninth class of music maker inductees is comprised of the top 10 classical composers according to Dave’s Music Database. See the full list of music maker inductees here.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer born in Eisenach, Germany. Recordings of his Cello Suites and Goldberg Variations have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Those two and his Mass in B Minor are also in the National Recording Registry. Those works as well as his Brandenburg Concertos and St. Matthew Passion all rank amongst the top 100 classical works of all time and the DMDB’s top 1000 albums/works of all time. Read more.

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer and pianist born in Germany. Recordings of his Violin Concerto in D Major, Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Piano Concerto No. 5, Symphony No. 7, Piano Sonatas (32), and The String Quartets (16) have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Those works, as well as Symphony No. 3 in E-flat "Sinfonia Eroica" Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral", and Symphony No. 9 all rank amongst the top 100 classical works of all time and the DMDB’s top 1000 albums/works of all time. Read more.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer born in Hamburg, Germany. His Symphony No. 4 in E minor ranks as one of the top 100 classical works of all time and the DMDB’s top 1000 albums/works of all time. A recording of his Piano Trio No. 1 in B major been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Read more.

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer and pianist born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin in Duchy of Warsaw, Poland. Recordings of his Nocturnes for Piano, Waltzes, and Mazurkas have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. A recording of Polonaise, op. 40, no. 1 ("Polonaise Miltaire") is in the National Recording Registry. Read more.

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer and pianist born in Rohrau, Austria. He has been called “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet.” He composed more than 100 symphonies and nearly 70 string quartets. He was influential in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio. Read more.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer and pianist born Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart in Salzburg, Austria. His operas The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) rank among the top 50 operas of all time. Those works as well as Symphony No. 40 in G minor, Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter", Requiem Mass in D minor, Clarinet Concerto in A major, and his Piano Concertos (27) all rank amongst the top 100 classical works of all time and the DMDB’s top 1000 albums/works of all time. Read more.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer and pianist born in Himmelpfortgrund, Vienna, Austria. His works Piano Quintet in A major ("Trout"), Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished"), Winterreise, Symphony No. 9 in C major ("The Great"), and String Quintet in C major all rank amongst the top 100 classical works of all time. Read more.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer born Oranienbaum, Russia. His ballets Pétrouchka (aka "Petrushka") and Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Those and The Firebird (L’Oiseau de Feu) rank amongst the top 100 classical works of all time. Rite of Spring is also one of the DMDB’s top 1000 albums/works of all time and is in the National Recording Registry. Read more.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer (Swan Lake) born in Votkinsk, Russia. Wrote Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, and the 1812 Overture, which all rank amongst the top 100 classical works of all time as does his Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, which is also one of the DMDB’s top 1000 albums/works of all time and is in the National Recording Registry and Grammy Hall of Fame. Read more.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Inducted March 2021 as a “Top Classical Composer”

Classical composer and pianist born Wilhelm Richard Wagner in Leipzig, Germany. His operas Tristan Und Isolde and The Ring Cycle (Der Ring Des Nibelungen) rank among the top 50 operas of all time, the the top 100 classical works of all time, and the DMDB’s top 1000 albums/works of all time. They are also both in the National Recording Registry and Grammy Hall of Fame. Read more.

Box Sets: Top 100

First posted 11/16/2020; updated 11/20/2020.

Box Sets: Top 100

This list was created by first aggregating best-of lists focused on box sets (see sources at bottom of page). Those figures were combined with the box sets’ overall status in Dave’s Music Database, which factors in sales, chart peaks, critic ratings, appearances on other best-of lists, and DMDB points of songs on the collection. The DMDB defines a box set as a compilation of three or more compact discs, or the equivalent, which would be at least 240 minutes, or four hours, of music. Box sets are most typically associated with efforts to compile a mix of hits and rarities from veteran artists. However, this list also includes compilations from various artists, classical works, larger-than-usual live collections, repackagings of multiple studio albums gathered together, deluxe editions of studio albums, and even one triple-length studio album. Note: The first date(s) listed in parentheses after the album title indicates the years covered by the box. The second date indicates when the box was released (hence the r.). Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live 1975/1985 (live box: 1975-85, r. 1986) Various Artists Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971 (1959-71, r. 1992) Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Sonatas (32) (1795-1822) Various Artists compiled by Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music (1926-32, r. 1952) Louis Armstrong The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (1925-28, r. 2000) Richard Wagner Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle) (opera, 1848-1874) James Brown Star Time (1956-84, r. 1991) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni (opera, 1787) Various Artists Atlantic Rhythm & Blues (1947-74, r. 10/15/91) The Rolling Stones The Singles Collection: The London Years (1963-71, r. 1989) Richard Wagner Tristan Und Isolde (opera, 1857-59) Various Artists produced by Phil Spector Back to Mono (1958-69, r. 1991) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) (1786) Led Zeppelin How the West Was Won (live: recorded 1972, r. 2003) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concertos (27) (1767-1791) Johann Sebastian Bach St. Matthew Passion (1736) Prince The Hits/The B Sides (1978-93, r. 1993) Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartets (16) (1798-1826) The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs (1999) Duke Ellington The Blanton-Webster Band (box set, recorded 1939-42, r. 1990) Elvis Presley The King of Rock and Roll: The Complete ‘50s Masters (1953-58, r. 1992) Eric Clapton Crossroads (1963-87, r. 1988) Bob Dylan Biograph (1962-81, r. 1985) Elton John Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (1970-2002, r. 2002) Various Artists The First Rock and Roll Record (1916-56, r. 2011) Béla Bartók The String Quartets (1908-39) Various Artists The Music of Disney: A Legacy in Song (1926-91, r. 1992) Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin (Box Set) (1969-79, r. 1990) Charlie Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings (1944-48, r. 2000) Velvet Underground Peel Slowly and See (1955-70, r. 1995) The Police Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings (1978-86, r. 1993) Elvis Presley Artist of the Century (1954-77, r. 1999) Bruce Springsteen The Essential: Limited Edition (1973-2002, r. 2003) Bob Marley & the Wailers Songs of Freedom (1961-83, r. 1992) Johnny Cash The Essential (1955-83, r. 1992) Various Artists Doo Wop Box: 101 Vocal Group Gems (1948-87, r. 1994) Chuck Berry The Chess Box (1955-73, r. 1988) Queen The Platinum Collection (1973-99, r. 2001) Ludwig van Beethoven (composer) The Symphonies (9) (classical, composed 1800-1824) Ray Charles The Birth of Soul – The Complete Atlantic Rhythm & Blues Recordings (1952-59, r. 1991) Elton John Diamonds (1969-2016, r. 2017) Bing Crosby Bing! His Legendary Years (1931-57, r. 1993) Various Artists Loud, Fast & Out of Control: The Wild Sounds of ’50s Rock (1948-61, r. 1999) Howlin’ Wolf The Chess Box (1951-73, r. 1991) Bing Crosby Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1938-54, r. 1954) Aretha Franklin Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings (1967-77, r. 1992) The Beach Boys Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys (1961-88, r. 1993) Bob Dylan The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (archives: 1961-89, r. 1991) Cream Those Were the Days (1966-69, r. 1997) Journey Time 3 (1975-86, r. 1992) Led Zeppelin The Complete Studio Recordings (1969-79, r. 1993) The Who 30 Years of Maximum R&B (1964-91, r. 1994) Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Sevens (1925-26, r. 1999) Various Artists No Thanks! The ‘70s Punk Rebellion (1973-81, r. 2003) The Jimi Hendrix Experience The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1966-70, r. 2000) Burt Bacharach (composer) The Look of Love: The Collection (1957-96, r. 1998) Charlie Christian with Benny Goodman The Genius of Electric Guitar (1939-41, r. 2001) Muddy Waters The Chess Box (1947-72, r. 1989) Stevie Wonder At the Close of a Century (1962-97, r. 1999) Elvis Presley From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential ‘60s Masters (1960-69, r. 1993) Fats Domino They Call Me the Fat Man: The Legendary Imperial Recordings 1949-62, r. 1991) Elton John To Be Continued (1965-90, r. 1990) Rod Stewart Storyteller (1964-89, r. 1989) Charlie Parker The Complete Savoy Sessions (1944-48, r. 2000) The Rolling Stones Grrr! (1963-2012, r. 2012) Ray Charles Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection (1949-93, r. 1997) David Bowie Nothing Has Changed (1969-2014, r. 2014) Elvis Presley Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential ‘70s (1970-77, r. 1995) David Bowie Sound + Vision (1969-80, r. 1989) Fleetwood Mac 25 Years: The Chain (1967-92, r. 1992) Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Playback (1973-93, r. 1995) Fletcher Henderson A Study in Frustration: Thesaurus of Classic Jazz (1923-38, r. 1994) Marvin Gaye The Master (1961-84, r. 1995) Billie Holiday Quintessential (1933-42, r. 1998) The Beatles The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2 (1962-65, r. 2006) Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (1970-77, r. 1991) Aerosmith Pandora’s Box (1966-82, r. 1991) Patsy Cline The Collection (1955-63, r. 1991) Nirvana With the Lights Out (1987-94, r. 2004) Kenny Rogers Through the Years: A Retrospective (1956-97, r. 1999) Paul Simon 1964/1993 (1957-91, r. 2006) The Byrds The Byrds (1965-90, r. 1990) The Beatles In Mono (1962-70, r. 2009) Michael Jackson The Ultimate Collection (1969-2004, r. 2004) Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times: Super Deluxe Edition (1981-87, r. 2020) The Cure Join the Dots: B-sides & Rarities (The Fiction Years) (1978-2001, r. 2004) Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers The Live Anthology (1978-2007, r. 2009) The Allman Brothers Band Dreams (1966-88, r. 1989) Lou Reed Between Thought and Expression (1972-88, r. 1992) The Beatles The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1 (1963-64, r. 2004) The Smiths Complete (1983-87, r. 2011) Various Artists Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the ‘80s Underground (1979-89, r. 2004) Simon & Garfunkel Old Friends (1965-75, r. 1997) B.B. King King of the Blues (1949-91, r. 1992) Crosby, Stills & Nash CSN (1968-90, r. 1991) Various Artists Now That’s What I Call Disney (1937-2011, r. 2011) Simon & Garfunkel The Collection (1965-70, r. 2007) Various Artists Country Music (1928-2002, r. 2019) Steve Winwood The Finer Things (1964-90, r. 1995) Bruce Springsteen Tracks (1972-95, r. 1998) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Compilations: The Top 100 Albums” (1-2 disc collections) Dave’s Music Database: other best-of-genre lists Amazon.com: “Best Sellers in Box Sets” AXS: “16 Classic Box Sets You Should Buy Right Now” Now dead link. Consequence of Sound (12/6/2013). “The 15 Most Essential Music Box Sets” Esquire.com (12/16/2015). “10 Box Sets for the Music-Lover in Your Life” Steve Hoffman Miusic Forums (8/15/2008). “Your top 10 musical box sets?” Multiple people weighing in on a discussion thread. LouderSound.com (3/20/2020). “The best CD and vinyl album box sets you can buy right now” The Manual (3/20/2020). “The Best Box Sets for the Aspiring Music Collector” Music Radar (12/22/2009). “12 brillian box sets for every music fan” RateYourMusic.com: “My 100 Favorite Box-Sets and Compilations” Personal list from user “yerblues.” Spy.com (1/7/2019). “Badass Boxes: The 10 Best Rock Box Sets You Need to Own” UltimateClassicRock.com (3/24/2013). “Top 10 Box Sets”

January 27, 1857: Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor performed publicly for first time

Last updated August 29, 2018.

Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178 (LW A179) Franz Liszt (composer) Composed: 1851-53 First Public Performance: January 27, 1857 Sales: -- Peak: --

Quotable: “A pinnacle of Liszt's repertoire” – Wikipedia

---

Genre: classical > sonata

---

Parts/Movements:

1. Lento assai – Allegro energico
2. Grandioso – Recitativo
3. Andante sostenuto – Quasi adagio
4. Allegro energico – Stretta quasi presto – Presto – Prestissimo – Andante sostenuto – Allegro moderato – Lento assai

---

Average Duration: 29:40

Review: Liszt completed his Piano Sonata in B minor in 1953 – specifically on February 2, according to his notes on the sonata’s manuscript. It was published the next year with a dedication to Robert Schumann in return for that composer dedicating his Fantasie in C major to Liszt. WK He wrote the piece during his transition from performer to composer. WK It has been argued both that the piece is autobiographical and that it is related to the Faust legend. AMG It can be considered “the only work he wrote in an absolute sonata form.” AMG The work wasn’t well received by some of Liszt’s peers; pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein criticized the work and Johannes Brahms reportedly fell asleep during a performance of the work by Liszt in 1853. Eduard Hanslick said, “anyone who has heard it and finds it beautiful is beyond help.” WK In the German newspaper Nationalzeitung, Otto Gumprecht called it “an invitation to hissing and stomping.” WK The initial negative reception and the sonata’s technical difficulty meant it took a long time to become commonplace in concert repertoire. However, it became established by the early twentieth century and “has been a popularly performed and extensively analyzed piece ever since,” WK becoming “an enduring masterpiece even in the estimation of those listeners who tend to find Liszt’s music overblown.” AMG It is considered “his finest example of the musical technique of continuous ‘thematic transformation,’” AMG which would profoundly affect the future of music, especially later operas by Richard Wagner. AMG Wagner was one of Liszt’s peers who praised the sonata, calling it “sublime” and beautiful “beyond all conception.” AMG It wasn’t until January 27, 1857, that the work was publicly premiered in a performance by Hans von Bülow in Berlin. WK Review Source(s): AMG All Music Guide WK Wikipedia

---

Awards:

---

100 years ago: Wagner's Ring Cycle completes its first full performance

Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle) Richard Wagner (composer)

Composed: 1848-1876 First Performed as a Cycle: August 13-17, 1876 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > opera

Works/When Composed (w)/When First Performed (p)/Average Duration: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), opera, WWV 86a (w. 1853-54, p. 9/22/1869) [148:00] Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), opera, WWV 86b (w. 1854-56, p. 6/26/1870) [220:00] Siegfried, opera, WWV 86c (w. 1856-71, p. 8/16/1876) [235:40] Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), opera, WWV 86d (w. 1869-74, p. 8/17/1876) [259:10]

Rating: 3.477 out of 5.00 (average of 7 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: Stretched out over 15 hours, Wagner’s Ring Cycle comprises “one of the most extended of all artistic creations.” AMG His series of four operas, created over a quarter century, are sometimes performed separately, but Wagner intended them as a series. The first opera, Das Rheingold, is the shortest, typically running about two and a half hours, while Götterdämmerung , the last of the four, can run five hours. WK He eventually premiered the full cycle from August 13-17 in 1876 WK at his Festival Theater in Bayreuth. TM1 The four-day event was seen by audiences as comparable to visiting a shrine. To this day, the staging and attending of the full Ring Cycle is considered “the most significant events in the lives of both opera companies and opera-going fans.” AMG The story centers around characters based on the Norse sagas, following three generations of protagonists. Alberich is a dwarf who, with gold stolen from the Rhine maidens in the river Rhine, fashions a magic ring which gives him the power to rule the world. WK Wotan, the chief of the gods, oversees the existing world order ruling through adherence to contracts, which he keeps on a spear. AMG He schemes to regain the ring and also sacrifices an eye to gain the hand of Fricka, the goddess of marriage. AMG Alberich and Wotan are opposites, in that one has sacrificed love for power and the other sacrifices for love. AMG Musically, there are suites of motives headed by the Ring which are marked by a simple pair of chords while “an imposingly-rhythmed downward major scale” AMG marks the motives ruled by the Spear. Nature, a third force from the beginning of the opera which represents the power between Man and Gods, “is represented by a single chord, unwound into a slow upward arpeggio.” AMG “The music of the cycle is thick and richly textured and grows in complexity as the cycle proceeds. Wagner wrote for an orchestra of gargantuan proportions, including a greatly enlarged brass section with new instruments such as the Wagner tuba, bass trumpet and contrabass trombone” WK and minimal use of a chorus. WK In the first opera, Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), greed and the lust for power are beginning to corrupt the world. The Ring, Wotan’s spear, and the renunciation of love are introduced. Wotan’s human children, Siegmund and Sieglinde, and the Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, inherit situations brought on by a series of “gods, nymphs, giants, and dwarves.” TM1 The second opera, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), is the one most often performed separately and is arguably Wagner’s best-loved work. The story focuses on the incestuous love between Siegmund and Sieglinde “and the father-daughter relationship of Wotan and Brünnhilde.” TM2 Wagner halted work on Siegfried, the third opera, in 1857 when the Ring project hit financial obstacles. Wagner moved on to other works, including Tristan and Die Meistersinger, before finally returning to the Ring in 1869, TM3 during which time Wagner moved from his initial intent to make Siegfried as the drama’s hero to a greater exploration of Wotan. He also developed a more pessimistic stance in which greed and corruption could not be overcome by the power of love alone. TM3 As the longest of the four operas, Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) is “one of the longest evenings of opera in the standard repertory.” TM4 “‘Siegfried’s Rhine Journey’ probably comprise the longest continuous stretch of music heard in any operatic work.” TM4 “Despite this, the drama is so compressed that events seem almost to race to their cataclysmic end.” TM4 “Musically, Wagner has gained such mastery of his drama and musical motives, that he treats both with superb fluidity.” TM4 Wagner completed the entire opera on November 21, 1874. TM4

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Richard Wagner AMG All Music Guide TM1 Theresa Muir All Music Guide (The Rhine Gold) TM2 Theresa Muir, All Music Guide (The Valkyrie) TM3 Theresa Muir, All Music Guide (Siegfried) TM4 Theresa Muir, All Music Guide (Twilight of the Gods) WK Wikipedia Last updated 4/17/2022.