Newsletter Vol 10 No 1 March 2006
Editorial
British Wagnerism still flourishes! Since the era of Ernest Newman, who led the field for half a century, considerable scholarly and philosophical contributions have been made to Wagner studies by, to name a few, Mike Ashman, John Deathridge, Bryan Magee, Barry Millington, and Michael Tanner - all of whom have lectured to our Society. Another regular speaker, Chris Walton, contributes to our latest Journal. At our first event of this year Roger Allen's subject was a British Wagnerite of yesteryear, Houston Stewart Chamberlain. One of Dr Allen's doctoral students at Oxford, Gulliver Ralston, will include another figure from the same period in a talk to us in June, the Scot David Irvine (see Wagner Society of Scotland Journal, Vol.1, 2003, p.15). And later this month another British Wagner scholar and author of two books on the composer, Simon Williams, will visit us in Edinburgh. We are grateful to all our guests, past, present and future, for sharing their wealth of knowledge with us.
Forthcoming Events
[Important Note: for those who travel by car to our events at the Edinburgh Society of Musicians, please note that there is now no entry to Belford Road from the Queensferry Street / Dean Bridge end. Access is only possible from the western end of Belford Road or via Palmerston Place and Douglas Gardens.]
Friday 24th March at 7.30pm: 'Nietzche's Ideas of History and the Ring', A Lecture by Professor Simon Williams
Simon
Williams, born in Wales, is Professor and Chair of the Department of
Dramatic Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published
several books on German theatre, Shakespeare, and opera, including Richard
Wagner and Festival Theatre (Greenwood, 1994) and 
Wagner
and the Romantic Hero (Cambridge, 2004). He lectures widely on opera,
especially Wagner, and is a regular contributor to Opera News. In this
lecture he will stress that 19th century Europe experienced such radical
change in all facets of life that, as if in denial of this, in much of
its art and culture it attempted to recreate the experience of past ages.
Utilising Nietzsche's ideas as expounded in some of his early essays,
and in Untimely Meditations, Simon Williams will explore how
Wagner's works, and the Ring especially, reflected the various
attitudes of the 19th century towards history: attitudes that, as the
century advanced, became increasingly troubling. The 'trouble' with history
can be seen as one of the major preoccupations of the Ring.
Please note that this is a FRIDAY event! Edinburgh Society
of Musicians, Belford Road (by Dean Bridge). Admission at the door: members £5;
guests £6.
Sunday 2nd April at 7.30PM: 'Richard Strauss and Wagner', A Lecture by Michael Kennedy
In this lecture we will hear about Richard Strauss's admiration for Wagner,
his uneasy friendship with Cosima, and the burden of being dubbed 'Richard
the Third'. Michael Kennedy has been a music critic for over 50 years,
and recently retired as chief critic of the Sunday Telegraph,
a post held since 1989. He has written 2 books on Strauss, as well as
studies of several British composers and conductors.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6
Sunday 7th May at 7.30PM: 'Wagner and Venice', an Audio-Visual Presentation, with Derek Watson
Following our glances last year at cities associated with Wagner's earlier
career, Leipzig and Dresden, we turn to the city of his death, and the
place that made a profound impression on his creative mind from the late
1850s. Wagner's association with Venice was in turn to inspire many other
composers, writers and visual artists.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6
Sunday 11th June at 7.30PM: 'Richard Wagner and the “Satire of Art ”: Scottish Wagnerism, George Bernard Shaw, and the Religion/Science Dialectic', A Lecture by Gulliver Ralston
Among the figures to be considered in this survey of a fascinating era
of Wagner reception is the Scot David Henderson Irvine (1856-1930). Gulliver
Ralston studied music and musicology at New College, Oxford, before receiving
a graduate award to study for a D.Phil at St Peter's College under Roger
Allen. He organised a conference on 'British Wagnerism in the fin
de siècle' in Oxford in 2004, and has been co-editor of Wagner.
He is director of music at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin
and works with choirs in Britain and Italy.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6
Friday 7th to Monday 10th July: Study Weekend on Lohengrin
For details please refer to the brochure (Word 56Kb) enclosed with the Newsletter together with an application form (Word 36Kb) or use this link for an application form in Acrobat pdf format 60Kb). Early booking is recommended.
Sunday 17th September AT 7.30PM: Annual General Meeting and Bayreuth Report
Notice is given of the Tenth Annual General Meeting of the Society. Any
member wishing to serve on the committee should advise the secretary
in advance, with the names of a proposer and seconder. After the official
business and refreshments, all those who attended Bayreuth this
year will be invited to share their impressions with members.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission free to members (donations will be invited to cover room costs).
News in Brief
CD
news: The Alexander Gibson recording of Der Rosenkavalier from
1971 with Baker and Dernesch, referred to in the last Newsletter is
now available [Ponto; PO 1039]. McAlister Matheson Music also draw
our attention to the issue for the first time of a Siegfried set
from Bayreuth in 1955. Joseph Keilberth conducts a cast including Windgassen,
Varnay, Hotter and Neidlinger. [Testament; SBT4 1392]- Visitors to our website reached a new peak in January at 979.
- Cologne Opera present their Ring cycle this month, and as an exceptional extra they will also perform 'The Ring in Two Days' over the weekend of 1st & 2nd April. www.buehnenkoeln.de
- As if to trump that, Radio 3 are to broadcast the Ring in just one day on Easter Monday. A Big Valhalla House will be included on the Radio 3 website for listeners to comment, vote for their favourite character, etc. The Barenboim Bayreuth recording will be used. [Any major Wagner event such as this on UK radio must be warmly welcomed, especially if it brings the Ring to a new audience. But why, oh why, Radio 3, do we not get the Bayreuth transmissions that are heard elsewhere across the European network each year? Given the very variable quality of the weekly Met broadcasts, it would be a wonderful experience to hear the general musical excellence of Bayreuth. Something for you to ask the Big Valhalla House perhaps?]
- Or what about the Ring in four days (as the composer intended)? The Kirov company from St Petersburg will make an 'exclusive UK visit' to the Millennium Centre in Cardiff with their cycle, 30th November - 3rd December, conductor, Valery Gergiev. Booking opens at 10am on 27 March, telephone 0870 040 2000.
- This year's Bayreuth casts can be found on the festival website: www.bayreuther-festspiele.de [click on 'Besetzung' and then click on each opera].
- The new Palace of Arts in Budapest is the setting for two performances of Parsifal 10/17 June. Given in semi-staged concert form, with what are described as 'spectacular light and colour effects enriched with a variety of scenic elements'. Adam Fischer conducts (as he will with this opera in Bayreuth this season) and the cast includes Franz, Salminen, von Kannen, Konieczny and Németh. Derek Watson can supply brochures which also give details of plans for performances of the Ring operas in similar style in 2007-2008. www.jegyelado.hu
- The last event of this year's Edinburgh International Festival on 2nd September, is a concert performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. This will mark an appropriate farewell to our honorary member Sir Brian McMaster, who has brought so much Wagner to Edinburgh in his years as artistic director. Derek Watson will give the free lecture at the Royal Scottish Museum, Chambers Street, on Die Meistersinger at 1.15pm on 1st September. As this is a year rich in opera, Derek will also do a 4-week extension of his Introducing Opera class at Riddle's Court, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, and preview the festival fare: Wednesdays at 7pm from 19th April or Thursdays at 2pm from 20th April. To book, ring the WEA on 0131 226 9171.
Bayreuth Scholarship & Ballot
The winner of the 2006 Wagner Society of Scotland Bayreuth Scholarship is Michael Bawtree, a postgraduate scholar at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, studying orchestral conducting. He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1997 with a degree in music, and he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. His already considerable conducting experience has most recently been with the RSAMD orchestras, Edinburgh University Chamber Orchestra, Glasgow Chamber Choir, and the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union. He receives tickets for three performances at the Bayreuth Festival, funds to defray the cost of travel expenses, and attends various events organised by the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation.
Our Society has once again contributed 50% of the costs for a Scholar from the former Soviet bloc to attend this year's festival.
Appropriately Miss Jane Irwin, as a former Bayreuth Valkyrie, drew 20 lucky names at our Bayreuth Ballot which followed our most enjoyable evening in her company at the Society of Musicians last month. Congratulations to the fortunate ones, and to the others - better luck next time! 69 members entered the draw.
Chairman and Newsletter editor: Derek Watson, Deanfoot House, West Linton, Peeblesshire EH46 7EA Tel 01968 660339 Fax 01968 661701; e-mail derek@lintonbooks.plus.com
Secretary: W S Scott, 83 East Claremont Street, Edinburgh EH7 4HU; Tel 0131-556 2617; Fax 0870 0568159; e-mail will@elgar1.plus.com
Treasurer: John Holcombe, 4 Galleon Court, Lamer Street, Dunbar, East Lothian, EH42 1GX; e-mail john@holc.wanadoo.co.uk
