A Birthday

"Wagner's works are... more than mere dramas: they are revelations, attempts to penetrate to the mysterious core of human existence. They are not unique in this: Aeschylus and Shakespeare (to whom Wagner was indebted) also present dramas that are shaped as religious epiphanies. But Wagner's medium enabled him to present the individual passions of his characters simultaneously with their universal archetypes."

British philosopher Roger Scruton on Richard Wagner, born on this date in 1813. Read more here.

(I am not unaware of weighty objections to the celebration of the man and his work. Scruton deals with these well.)