13 APRIL 2002, Page 29

Wagnered out

From Mr A. Malcolm

Sir: Can Michael Henderson (Arts, 6 April) explain why he thinks Wagner was a greater composer than, say, Bach, Haydn, Mozart or Schubert? Is Parsifal a greater work than the St Matthew Passion or The Magic Flute? Didn't the pianist Andras Schiff say that there was more drama in the final lines of Schubert's 'Der Doppelganger' than in five or six hours of Wagner?

However, I think the best comment on Wagner came from Woody Allen in the film Manhattan Murder Mystery. Asked why he was leaving a performance of The Flying Dutchman early, his character replied, 'If I listen to that much Wagner, I get the urge to conquer Poland.'

Anthony Malcolm

London SW13