Ep. 110 Das Liebesverbot by Wagner

Opera For Everyone

Richard Wagner’s style is one of the most distinctive and recognizable in all of opera. But Wagner wasn’t always the Wagner we’ve come to know. The earliest of Wagner’s operas to be performed in his lifetime was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Das Liebesverbot, where he is still developing his craft and working on his relationship to German opera. The result is an opera which does not shy away from Italian styles. It even makes the villain of the piece the one German character among a multitude of Italians bumping up against the moral codes of their city, Palermo, Sicily! Discover this infrequently performed opera with us, learning about how Wagner became Wagner… and experiencing a lively story of the conflict between personal morality and the enforcement of communal rules.

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For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.