May 22 - Richard Wagner (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Last year I presented the Ring cycle in four limericks (click here), so this year I thought I'd present the others.

Wagner’s Non-Ring Operas as Limericks

Rienzi

You’d need to have a Wagner frenzy

To write a limerick on Rienzi.

The Flying Dutchman

A sailor arrives in a port

To look for a maiden to court.

He meets Daland’s daughter,

Who jumps in the water.

The romance, as it happens, was short.

Tannhäuser (Argues with Elisabeth)

"Forget my old orgies with Venus

You know there was nothing between us.

I’ll travel to Rome

And when I get home

I’ll no longer be ruled by my penis"

Lohengrin

When your husband won’t tell you his name,

Don’t treat it as sort of game,

Or soon he’ll be gone

On his boat with that swan,

And your life will be never the same.

Tristan und Isolde

Brangäne, preparing a potion,

Was suddenly struck with a notion.

She put back the brew,

Made a quick switcheroo,

And cause two acts more of commotion.

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

If you wanted to be in the guild,

You didn’t need looks or a build;

You could only take part

In the Great German Art

If they found you sufficiently skilled.

Though Walther took tips from Hans Sachs

(In that time before all those Bachs),

It was really his fervor

That moved the observer,

Although he was heterodox.

Parsifal

There are Knights who abide in the woods,

Who have plenty of shouldn’ts and shoulds,

And then there’s a lad

Who has never been bad

Who ends up in Act Three with the goods.

(If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.)
[Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Tales: Great Art Repurposed.]