Newsletter Vol 10 No 2 May 2006

Editorial

As our honorary member Sir Brian McMaster relinquishes his tenure of the Edinburgh International Festival, grateful memories of many, many hours of shared musical delight will be in our thoughts. His inspired initiative in the area of Wagner repertoire alone secured us the second Scottish Opera Ring, culminating in its complete cycles, Parsifal from Salzburg, distinguished casts in concert performances of Lohengrin, Tristan and this year's Die Meistersinger. The Queen's and Usher Halls have echoed with voices, often young talents who have now become major figures in world opera, discovered and encouraged by him for us to treasure. As I write this there are no new Wagner productions announced in the future for any UK company (only revivals of stagings revered or reviled in recent years). Scotland has, all in all, enjoyed lucky years through visiting companies and performances and stagings of merit with our own orchestras and choruses. To Brian, who will remain an Edinburgh citizen and friend, we owe much of this, and we offer him thanks and very best wishes for his future.

Forthcoming Events

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).

Monday 9th October at 7:30PM: Organ Recital by Michael Bawtree

The Society's 2006 Bayreuth Scholar, the conductor and chorus master Michael Bawtree, will give a recital on the magnificent organ of St. Cuthbert's Parish Church at the west end of Princes Street, Edinburgh. His programme will include Wagner, Bruckner, and Elgar. Tickets will be sold in advance at the reduced rate of £11 (students £5), which includes interval refreshments, either at the AGM (see above) or by post using the enclosed Order Form. At the door, tickets will be sold at £12 (students £6). N.B. There are three entrances to St Cuthbert's Churchyard: on Princes Street, on Lothian Road and off King's Stables Road (the last is suitable for disabled access). Parking is available at the secure Castle Terrace car park and some on-street parking may be available after 6:30pm.

Sunday 5th November at 7:30PM 'Wagner and hte Art of the Theatre' by Patrick Carnegy

We anticipate with pleasure a return visit from Patrick Carnegy, who will introduce his long-awaited and ground-breaking stage history of Wagner's operas. For a full description of the book see our 'Book Offer' below. Formerly a music critic for The Times and dramaturg at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Mr Carnegy has lectured, broadcast and published widely on Wagner, opera and the theatre.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge). Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6

Looking Ahead

Our next newsletter will have details of this year's Christmas Party. On Sunday January 7th Heath Lees, Professor of Music, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and chair of the New Zealand Wagner Society, will give a lecture on 'Wagner and Mallarmé: Music and Poetic Language'. As well as several lectures planned for the early part of 2007 there will be a full showing of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's film 'Winifred Wagner and the History of Haus Wahnfried 1914-1975', with full English subtitles.

International Wagner Congresses

This year's Richard Wagner Verband International Congress took place in May in Tallin and Helsinki. For a full account by our Irish Wagner Society correspondent, Anthony Linehan, please see www.wagnersociety.ie/events/rwcongress2006.htm

Next year's Congress takes place in Weimar from 17th - 20th May and includes a full programme of lectures and tours, concerts, and staged performances of Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Verdi's Don Carlos, and Goethe's Torquato Tasso. For those interested, please request a brochure and a booking form from Derek Watson.

In future years, Congresses will be at Geneva in 2008, Dresden in 2009 and London in 2010.

A New Wagner Journal

Barry Millington and Stewart Spencer have announced plans to launch a new scholarly publication 'The Wagner Journal'. The UK subscription will cost £39 per year, for three issues.  Full details of how to subscribe and the contents of the first journal will be available in a future Newsletter. We wish this new venture every success.

Book Offer

Wagner and the Art of the Theatre, Patrick CarnegyWagner and the Art of the Theatre, Patrick Carnegy, Yale University Press.
RRP £29.95 OUR PRICE £26.50

Published this month, this is a lavish book of nearly 500 pages, with 138 illustrations. The production of Wagner's operas is fiercely debated. In this ground-breaking stage history Patrick Carnegy vividly evokes the - often scandalous - great productions which have left their mark not only on our understanding of Wagner but on modern theatre as a whole. He examines the way in which Wagner himself staged his works, showing that the composer remained dissatisfied with even the best of his productions.

After Wagner's death the scenic challenge was taken up by the Swiss visionary Adolphe Appia, by Gustav Mahler and Alfred Roller in Vienna, and by Otto Klemperer and Ewald Dülberg in Berlin. In Russia the Bolsheviks reinvented Wagner as a social-revolutionary, while cinema left its indelible imprint on the Wagnerian stage with Eisenstein's Die Walküre in Moscow in 1940.

Hitler famously appropriated Wagner for his own ends. Patrick Carnegy unscrambles the interaction of politics and stage production, showing how post-war German directors sought a way to bury the uncomfortable past. He contrasts the bare-stage scenic strategy of Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner at Bayreuth with that of the East German Joachim Herz who presented the Ring as an allegory of 19th-century capitalism. The book concludes with a brilliantly perceptive critique of the iconoclastic interpretations by Patrice Chéreau, Ruth Berghaus and Hans-Jürgen Syberberg.  Drawing on unfamiliar source material, much of it unavailable in English, Wagner and the Art of the Theatre will be an essential point of reference wherever the operas are performed and their stage production comes under discussion.

"I really believe this is one of the best documented publications in all the recent literature on Wagner". - Pierre Boulez

"a work of major scholarship, richly illustrated... packed with fascinating detail [this book] is lucid and illuminating, and will last. No Wagner-lover, or would-be Wagnerite should be without it". - Sir Jeremy Isaacs

To reserve your copy at our special Society price of £26.50 please write, fax, or email Derek Watson (address details here). You can collect your copy at the AGM or at Patrick Carnegy's talk to us about his book on November 5th, when he will be happy to sign copies. If you would prefer to have the book posted to you please write enclosing a cheque for £29.95. All cheques payable to 'D. Watson'.

News in Brief

  • The Edinburgh Players Opera Group, leader Philip Taylor, conductor Mike Thorne, with professional soloists, will rehearse and perform Parsifal The complete performance is on Sunday 1st October from 10:30am to 5:00pm at Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh, and members are welcome to attend (a voluntary £10 donation would be appreciated).
  • Penelope Turing and David Stannard will present a course, Wagner at Bayreuth, from 28th August to 4th September at Lodge Hill Centre, Pulborough, West Sussex. Some places are still available: contact Penelope Turing on 020 7828 6712.
  • Ian Beresford Gleaves presents a course on Tannhäuser, 15th to 17th September at Farncombe Estate Centre, Broadway, Worcestershire. For details telephone 0845 230 8590.
  • A new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg takes place at the Grand Théâtre, Geneva, from 10th to 31st December. Details: www.geneveopera.ch
  • Two distinguished singer friends of our Society have launched websites which are worth a visit. Jane Irwin can be found at www.janeirwin.co.uk Linda Esther Gray, who continues to coach and advise aspiring artists, can be found on www.singbelcanto.com
  • Our Study Weekend last month on Lohengrin found us at Carberry Tower, and most participants enjoyed its lovely grounds and the enthusiastic atmosphere of the assembled company. Next year's course will feature Rienzi around early July and we hope to use the same venue. The weekend course in 2008 will feature Tristan und Isolde.
  • The journal Wagnerspectrum, 2006 Part 1, features 'Der Ring des Nibelungen'.  Articles in English include Barry Millington on the Ring in Britain 1970-2006, and Roger Allen's article on Houston Stewart Chamberlain and the Ring, which was the subject of his lecture to us in January. To subscribe, contact:
    wagnerspectrum
    c/o Richard-Wagner-Museum - Dr. Sven Friedrich
    Richard-Wagner-Str. 48
    95444 Bayreuth
    Tel.: 0921-757 28-0, Fax: -22
    Email: redaktion@wagnerspectrum.de
    www.wagnerspectrum.de

In our next Newsletter: details of our Christmas Party, our events in early 2007 and we will include a special offer featuring Wagner CDs and DVDs.

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

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