Composer of the Week

Donald Macleod discovers why Richard Wagner took a twelve year break from his work on the Ring Cycle. As the music fizzes back into life, Donald continues his journey through the epic music dramas, from the thunderous music of Siegfried to the monumental funeral music from Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods). Plus a look at Wagner's controversial legacy and his final work, Parsifal, described by one writer as "opera halfway between Mass and orgy".