The great Anna Russell--reminds me of the "wonderful" times in college--I would listen to Ms. Russell with my friends while in undergraduate school--what great memories I have from these times--

I used to listen to Anna Russell as a child and have been looking for this ever since .

Loved this since I was a kid!!!

Absolutely brilliant and timeless :)

She was a brilliant pianist, too,. I'd forgotten!

Love this woman, she was a diamond among sand...

They were marketed as farewell concerts, and she performed many of her other routines as well.

Used to listen to this in college. "Sort of an aquatic Andrews Sisters..."

Wagner wasn't just retelling existing myths. He synthesized a bunch of sources. The story he told is pretty much his own (influenced by various myths).

"She then proceeds to bear him eight daughters!"

kudos to anything Anna Russell

fa la la fire why have i never met this legendary content

I saw TWO of Ms Russell's "Farewell Performances," and now I crack up whenever ANYBODY says, "She's his aunt"!

Best line? Remember Fafner? He is now a dragon! LOL LOL LOL

She had more than a comedic gift for timing and delivery. She was also blessed, you might say, with an elephantine body and a face that resembled melted rubber. I don't mean that cruelly; her physical appearance enhanced her act and made her endearing, like the tutu-wearing hippo lumbering gracelessly to Ponchielli.

She is funny, and epitomises the fact that the English are at best suspicious of, and at worst downright hostile to intellectualism. A thinker like Wagner would never be trusted by such a people. Her skillful fun-making at the expense of this masterwork perfectly illustrates this.

"Be careful, Wotan!" She proceeds to bear him eight daughters.

Please, activate the automatic subtitles!!! I can't stop laughting

Wonderful!!!

Anna Russell was hilarious and musically knowledgeable.

I love Wagner's Ring and can make lots of sense out of it however this lady is marvelous. Very funny.

He didn't copy the myths verbatim, though -- he took what he wanted and filled in the gaps how he pleased. Not creation ex nihilo, but I'd say creation of a kind. Regardless, he bears a certain responsibility for the plot, too. But this is perhaps semantics now.

FYI, Wagner wrote both the music and the libretto of his Ring Cycle.

"I'm not making this up you know!"

It's only really funny if you know the RING well, otherwise you don't get the jokes. Alberich is SIMPLY FURIOUS!!!!

Although he wrote the libretto he didn't create the plot. That already existed as germanic myth.

بالتوفيق دائما

Well it might help to be intelligent enough to know something about Wagner's music. If you know that, Rusell makes total comedic sense.

Kick back and enjoy the humor of Ms Russell, how bouts? Chill.

@evelyneverettgreen Is this an English audience?

@evelyneverettgreen The English aren't hostile to intellectualism. They have a sense of irony about themselves and intellectual ideas--something sadly lacking in Wagner and German art generally.

from which year is this ?

@childewaters well, I Ihave lived in England, and in several countries in north, south and eastern Europe, and while there is probably a similar degree of intellectual "activity" from place to place, it is only in England that the intellectual practitioner is largely derided as superfluous.

Am I missing something, or do we have Germans posting here to try and prove the old cliche about not having any sense of humour? Anyway, as an American, I very much resent the implication that "only in England is the intellectual practitioner is largely derided as superfluous." We Americans stand behind no on as anti-intellectuals!

It was a 'thinker like Wagner' who was responsible for the holocaust. I know RW cannot be held responsible for what his music was used for after his death, but he did himself hold rabidly antisemitic views. How thoughtful is that? We can say that he was a visionary and emotive, but possibly not a great thinker. Anyway, what Anna Russel ridicules is not the music (indeed she clearly loves it and points out uses of different leitmotifs), but the plot, something RW did not create.

lol

I guess you have to be on snuff to enjoy this.

You obviously don't know much about Anna Russell.

By this time, she'd lost her high register. But who cares?