#honestly more likely is i'll make a THIRD account and have blog a and b as sideblogs because i hate being happy

[aspectpriority]

ughh. having multiple accounts on things is kind of a bitch in the pettiest way possible. what do i post where? do i just yeet one and hope people move to the other? do i just. try and keep up with both? do i subject my audience from blog A to blog B content. why did i do this to myself, i hate thinking this hard.

[beckmessering]

This may be unoriginal, but pls rank Wagner operas? <3

rankings killllll me bc i'm an indecisive btch but let the fun begin! in order of least to most loved :)

- der fliegende holländer. i do not vibe with it. the story is fine but every time i heard it, the music felt too loud (ironic considering some of the later choices on this list). there are two (2) parts i like and that'll be it for me, sir.

- lohengrin. this is NOT a statement about the quality of lohengrin and rather a statement about my lack of exposure. what i remember was beautiful, i just don't feel i know it enough or listen to it enough to justify giving it a higher rating. but there's a HUGE gap between holländer and lohengrin, so lohengrin is appreciated <3

- tristan und isolde. same as with lohengrin. i only recently reintroduced myself to it after a slightly disastrous first exposure where i didn't understand anything at all, and now i'd love to see more of it but don't feel i've grasped everything about it yet. i want to, though.

- götterdämmerung. i find it gets progressively more fun - the first act is longggggg and drags just *slightly* but things get spicy in the second and third act, where all my favourite musical bits are. also v fun to watch chaos unfold.

- tannhäuser. aka sex, sin, and singing in medieval germany. it was my first wagner opera and not the one i listen to the absolute most right now but i'm very fond of it, especially in productions that go a bit wild (looking at u, bayreuth)

[ entering the territory of Stuff I Have Most Hot Takes About ]

- siegfried. pretty much on par with tannhäuser. the title character annoys me very much and i'm not one for one-act-long love duets (also ironic considering upcoming choices). BUT musically it's very fun and the side characters are smashing (hi, mime) and a well-acted siegfried makes it very enjoyable for me. and the hot takes begin, ofc.

- die meistersinger von nürnberg. this one is a part-time tenant in my head that drops by rather often. i'm very picky about productions here and it's not a good opera for switching off your brain to (stay awake while richard tries to indoctrinate you about GeRmAn ArT, guys) but when i fall in love with a production, i fall HARD. i named my blog after beckmesser, the antagonist of meistersinger, and i shall carry this mantle for ages to come. honestly, come for the baritones.

- das rheingold. is this a comedy? not really. but considering that meistersinger isn't funny once you account for the antisemitism, rheingold is a proper comedy. the decisions made are HILARIOUS when you come to think of it and it's such a weird breakneck adventure. once again, smashing side characters (hellooo, loge), and i personally think it's the most finger-snapping wagner opera. sure, it sets up serious things, but in the right mood it's just unabashedly fun.

- die walküre. walküre kicked lots of other operas in the shins and got this spot. i'll spare you the story of how i started to like it, but i am very in love with it. the irony is that it a) can get very loud in parts and b) consists of at least 30% love duets (and a love story you shouldn't mention in public), which i adore. it's the perfect mix of excellent characters and fucked up decisions and it now lives rent-free in my head 24/7. bonus points for being the second opera that makes me cry on the regular.

- parsifal. the first opera to make me cry on the regular. i'm not that choosy at which part. i genuinely like some themes it explores, unusual as they are, and characters go without saying. it feels like comfort - parsifal in the darkness of my room is tells me everything is okay right now. at the same time, it feels a bit other to me, likely because i've never found anything like it, and it's like briefly seeing the world through a veil. it's like my feet haven't touched the ground after parsifal ends, and i don't want them to.