Wagner´s Ring part1

Anna Russell - The (First) Farewell Concert (1984) To end a long, hilarious career, classical music comedienne Anna Russell revived some of her best and funniest routines and took them on the road. This special PBS production, taped in Baltimore at the beginning of that 1984 tour, is a treasure for music lovers who understand that the thing they love can be charmingly goofy. The highlight of the disc, and the routine that most fans remember most fondly, is her discussion of the Ring cycle. She tells the convoluted story of Wagner's four-installment epic, with careful attention to its absurdities, and she sings all the roles in a voice ranging shakily but with determination through soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. She does the same in her parody of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, and the advantage of a video recording becomes obvious when she changes funny hats while singing to show whether she is acting the heroine, villain, or chorus.

[@NFNJP]

I was her Hair and Makeup Man for this actual performance. We stayed friends til her passing. What a gal !

[@FLYNNMBF]

The point about teaching is that she makes it very entertaining and still includes all the relevant information. I think she is masterful and I teach adults, college students, and adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities.

[@lewars1912]

I love Wagner's Ring and I also love this woman sending it up, lol. She's marvelous.

[@selini52]

I am always amazed by the content of Wagner’s operas, unfortunately the music is genius.

[@JimTLonW6]

Awesome performance, there's a lot more here than just being funny.

[@OLIVCHEN77]

Defenitely the very best of all opera-parodies.....so funny...so true...and SAUKOMISCH!!!

[@mikaelkenner]

this is better than the book i read "Wagner's Ring For Dummies" !

[@terryhammond1253]

🎹 Delightful. I saw Anna Russell perform this live in the early 80s in New York City at Lincoln Center. This video certainly brings back wonderful memories. 🎹

[@cynaraslover]

My late partner took me to see her at Symphony Hall in Boston for my 29th birthday in 1980. My parents had her records when l was growing up, but she needs to be seen as well as heard. Her autobiography, "I'm Not Making This Up!" is hilarious but deeply moving; she was the daughter of woman who loathed her from birth.

[@bach1369]

When I was an undergrad in the 80s we listened to the recording of this. Then we studied the entire Ring Cycle and listened to the recording again. It's funny and more or less accurate. She rocks. If you want to read about her life, she wrote an autobiography entitled "I'm Not Making This Up, You Know?" Read it...she was a remarkable person and one of my heroes.

[@jslasher1]

Anna Russell was a 'one-off' as we say in Australia. That is meant as a compliment. I attended many of her concerts over the years, in such far-flung locales as Chicago, London, San Francisco. She never disappointed. She passed away on 18 October, which just so happens to be my birthday. Not a happy present on the day.

[@jewelmarkess]

This is hilarious! Wow! LOL... She is great

[@zzzut]

Can you imagine Anna Russell and Victor Borge as a team? That would have been something!

[@SandrineAnterrion]

Thanks for posting.

[@NOSEhow2LIV]

Very good to see this here. I never managed to catch her in a live performance. This more than makes up for it!

[@MaskedMan66]

I've only ever heard "The Anna Russell Album" and some other earlier routines, and it's amazing how much her voice changed when she got older. Still wonderful, though!

[@chrisclr]

Brilliant!!! why isn't there more people like her???

[@CaffeineClown]

She's great, thanks for putting it online!

[@flouraki]

OOMG!! Hilarious!! Love her lol

[@kwgrid]

Outstanding! Moving on to part 2........ :)

[@enthusedtosing9655]

Years of listening to this, I'm now noticing that there _are_ people reciting along at certain points

[@ricksrenaissance]

Marvelous

[@feenie1186]

ahh! i love this! my music lit professor played this for us in class and then illustrated it with stick figures on the board. it was priceless!

[@McPrfctday]

This is my introduction to Wagner's The Ring Cycle... I just heard it mentioned on a comedy sketch show and got curious. I had a little search and I read that it took 26 years to write! This is going to be a brilliant experience for me!... I can feel it! Here goes... unpause (I'm 2:30 in, just as she sits at the piano...)

[@MaskedMan66]

@swimmerman1 I first heard it as an adolescent, and I loved it!

[@rakewell2]

"that's the wrong curse, isn't it?" LOL!!!!

[@Paolo8772]

Anyone complaining to Anna Russel for not doing the Ring is like the drunk woman who complained to Steve Vai for a live performance of a piece he composed where where he only played one sustained note on a guitar, because that person expected more. That person didn't know she was dealing with a composer more than a guitarist. Besides: If Anna Russel were alive today: She'd out do her detractors. The only reason Anna Russel is "damned" is because she conflates the end of Walkure with the end of Gotterdammerung; but after having gotten that off my chest: Anna Russel is a gem. Now I'd probably be a little upset if she didn't to her "Ring" if went out of my way to see her live too, but not that upset; I'd just be stoked to see her.

[@medouch]

hahaha overture to Rheingold is orchestra playing E flat major chord for about six minutes. Im sorry Ive never heard of this lady before but this is way too awesome

[@excalibur1812]

medouch unfortunately, Ms. Russell passed away just a few months after I had discovered her

[@MaskedMan66]

@Baccalaureus79 That's a riff that's been used everywhere for decades, usually to indicate spies or other shifty characters

[@robertlehnert4148]

Chuck "Kill the Wabbit" Jones said he never met anyone who had gone through watching all four of the Ring operas with their sanity entirely intact. And in a totally unrelated theme, Adolph Hitler saw all four operas multiple times...

[@MaskedMan66]

Can you just imagine if she, Victor Borge, and Peter Schickele had ever collaborated on something????

[@1968KWT]

@Baccalaureus79 It's the 'spear' motif indicating Wotan's contract with the giants, first heard when Fricka reminds him of it ('Die burg ist fertig'). The full-blown version of the motif occurs when Wotan warns Donner against using force ('Halt, du Wilder!').

[@MaskedMan66]

@McPrfctday "It's the only way!" LOL

[@PianoplayerPaul]

Hilarious. In my own opinion, it's more entertaining than Wagner's original!

[@MaskedMan66]

Truth!

[@1968KWT]

@Baccalaureus79 Perhaps the laughing members were seasoned Wagnerians who immediately realized that it's the wrong motif?

[@MaskedMan66]

@McPrfctday That I knew from Anna's punchline! :-) Just think: if only he had written one more chapter, you could fill up an entire day.

[@MaskedMan66]

@dido1916 Hey, laughter transcends all boundaries!

[@MaskedMan66]

@McPrfctday You mean Wagner's took 26 years or Russell's?

[@McPrfctday]

@MaskedMan66 Wagner's... and it takes up to 20 hours to put on the whole opera!

[@robinblankenship9234]

Victor Borge in pink.

[@felixbuzz]

@dido1916 yeah, it's funny. and I'm 18. what has age got to do with it?

[@McPrfctday]

That is (that genius) Benny from ABBA at 3.18 isn't it?

[@videogameguitar-matt]

@swimmerman1 I'm a teacher and i completely disagree with you. This can be useful to adolescents unless they're the kind that loot shops.

[@richtrophicherbs6463]

Ring DES Nibelungen

[@SomeBlokeLol]

A bit saggy but I might if I was drunk. Or an Australian. Ziiing!

[@MaskedMan66]

@PianoplayerPaul Certainly funnier-- and shorter!

[@AnimatedCrime]

Lovely, but I can tell from this performance she's sick of it.