Julian Wachner, music director of the Washington Chorus, had such positive response from his earlier concerts focused on the “essential” Puccini and Rachmaninoff that he has followed them up with a look at “The Essential Wagner.” During World War II, the composer fell into disfavor in the United States because his music was used by the Nazis to stir up crowds, but he is once again a darling of American opera and the concert hall.

“Bernstein had a lot to do with his acceptance,” Wachner said. “Because his background as an American Jew did not deter his love for Wagner, he was able to regenerate audience admiration for one of the great men of music. Wagner is the last stop before you get to atonality. His harmonies, orchestration and cinemascopic imagination are not surpassed. We all think of Wagner as big and bombastic, but his music covers the full spectrum. The program closes with a semistaged ‘Die Meistersinger’ to give an extra flair.”