This is a special presentation of WNYC, New York Public Radio.

Opera people are all nuts.

The right of the Valkyrie is my theme song.

I'm trying to work it into my memorial service.

I figure, well, if opera people are all nuts, then what makes Wagner writes special?

There are more nuts and more intense.

Probably because Vagner was more nuts and more intense.

His desires. There are more nuts and more intense. Probably because Vaghan was more nuts and more intense. His desire to change his audience, not just to entertain them,

but to change them, to get inside of him and stir him up.

I just was so moved by that thing.

This is what he was doing.

This is what he did, and he succeeded.

I could still just think about it, still makes me kind of tear up.

But, you know.

The man was an absolute horror when it came to stealing money, stealing women, but he never

once compromised his artistic vision.

What I always tell people when they recoil at the idea of watching the Ring or other operas is

these are mirrors of us.

When you see a lot of people making a huge fuss over a work of art or an event or a happening,

you get curious.

The Ring Cycle is one of the biggest works of art ever created by one of the most

controversial artists to ever live.

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