Verdi and/or Wagner

Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, the two greatest opera composers of their time, had everything – and nothing – in common.

These equally matched Titans offer us a choice between two kinds of art, two ways of life, two opposed philosophies of existence. During their lifetimes Verdi and Wagner helped to define the identity of their emerging nations; their music still dramatizes the light and dark sides of every human being’s character and consciousness.