A very happy 200th to the mad genius Richard Wagner, whose immense contributions to art remain fresh and relevant today. Wagner wasn’t just a composer. He was a conductor, a dramatist, a librettist, even an architect. Few artists in history have possessed such all-encompassing vision for their work. Click the portrait above to enjoy a ‘Bicentennial Roast’ assembled by Alex Ross of The New Yorker.

And if you have 4 or 5 hours to spare, enjoy this complete performance of Parsifal from the Beyruth Festspielhaus, the theatre Wagner conceived and built for his Ring Cycle.