Lord of the Ring

RICHARD WAGNER was both loved and loathed in his lifetime and his music has been received in similarly polarised fashion ever since. People tend not to react mildly to his outpourings: last year, the Brighton Argus ran a headline screaming ‘Wagner made our lives hell’ when a family complained bitterly about their neighbour playing Tristan und Isolde. Admittedly, any music, from Beethoven to Bananarama, played loudly and at antisocial hours, could prove unpopular, but Wagner does have a way of inspiring either passionate devotion or violent antipathy.

‘As a personality he was overwhelming; he demanded the impossible of himself and of others’

As a personality he was overwhelming; he demanded the impossible of