Gotterdammerung by Richard Wagner

John Lennon once made the observation that, "Genius is pain." Maybe he should have said "GENIUSES are a pain," since so many geniuses seem to have been just that. Take Richard Wagner. This week on At the Opera, we'll discuss one of his greatest works, Gotterdammerung, or Twilight of the Gods, to prepare for a broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera. It's a stunning drama, written by a man with an ear for melody, an eye for beauty -- and the personality of a King Cobra facing off against a mongoose.

Surely, Wagner wasn't the only composer who had some less than admirable personal traits. Puccini and Stravinsky both professed misguided enthusiasm for the Italian dictator Mussolini. Richard Strauss was once recruited by Joseph Goebbels to head up a group searching for a Nazi musical ethos. And that's to say nothing of the unfortunate personality types we find among popular musicians.

But Wagner takes the cake. Here's a guy who lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous. The thing is, he did it with other people's money. And how did he repay those patrons? Well, he tended to show his heartfelt appreciation by sleeping with their wives. And Wagner was the type who probably thought his cuckolded supporters should have felt obliged by his largesse in making himself available. As for his own wives, Wagner dumped the first one. His second wife, Cosima, was once married to Wagner's biggest musical supporter - until Wagner came along and made her a better deal. And that was his good side, considering some of his truly reprehensible behavior - in particular the virulent anti-semtism Wagner expressed both in his writings and his music, both of which which were greatly admired by Adolf Hitler.

Yet, we are going to play you this guy's opera, right? So now is when we should tell you that the sublime music Wagner produced, and the transcendant listening experience it offers, outweigh the man's unfortunate personal failings. Well, maybe so - and maybe not. We thought we'd let you decide.

So this week on At the Opera, we'll look into Wagner's controversial personality; Will Berger, author of Wagner Without Fear, will help us deal with Wagner's dark side while still getting the most - and best - from his music. Then, author Phyllis Chesler will clue us in on Brunnhilde. She's the heroine of this week's opera, TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. She's also the source of all manner of operatic stereotypes - you know, the blonde-braided, brass- breastplated, horned-helmeted fat-lady-singing - not to mention being one of mythology's great warrior-maidens.

For all this and more, join Lou Santacroce on NPR's At the Opera, half-an hour before curtain time at the MET.

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