Newsletter Vol 10 No 3 August 2006

Editorial

May I urge you all to respond to our two enclosures? Good causes both! Our Christmas Party is always an important fundraiser for our Bayreuth Scholarship Fund. A new Wagner Journal is also an event of importance. Stewart Spencer, a supporter of our Society since its inception and sometime editor of the London Wagner Society's journal Wagner, and Barry Millington, who has twice lectured to us and is well known for the breadth of his Wagner writings, are the moving forces behind this new publication, which fills a real gap in scholarship in English. I do hope it will receive from you the support it merits.

Forthcoming Events

Sunday 10th December at 7.30PM: Christmas Party, with Guest of Honour Professor Richard Demarco, OBE

The arts world in Scotland would have been a much duller affair over the past 4 decades or so but for the flamboyant, multi-talented and controversial figure of Richard Demarco OBE, HRSA, HRSW, SSA, who was awarded an honorary doctorate this year by the University of Wroc?aw. Tirelessly active in mounting both exhibitions and theatre performances, he may be described as the greatest Edinburgh Festival Director we never had. His involvement in the arts and in next year's festival continues unabated as he approaches his 77th year. In the first half of the evening Richard Demarco will talk about his enthusiasms and about Wagner as creative artist. Our Christmas quiz will, appropriately, take the theme 'Wagner and the Visual Arts'. Please note that the cost of the ticket includes a finger buffet and a selection of wines and soft drinks.
[Any member who is willing to donate quiz/raffle prizes or to provide some food for the buffet, please let Derek Watson know.]

Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Tickets at £12 each must be bought in advance using the enclosed form.

Sunday 7th January 2007 at 7:30PM: 'Wagner and Mallarmé - Music and Poetic Language', A Talk by Heath Lees, Professor of Music, University of Auckland, New Zealand

The title of this presentation is from Heath Lees' forthcoming book, to be published by Ashgate UK in a few months' time. Wagner's reception in France is one of the most fascinating aspects of Wagnerism since, in the early stages, most of the country's musicians were lukewarm towards the composer, yet writers and artists were ardent admirers from the start. Many of them welcomed Wagner's music, stage-poems and prose writings as blueprints for the artistic renewal of the French language. Stèphane Mallarmé, one of France's great 19th century writers and poets, was influenced by Wagner's music and ideas, and Heath Lees has revealed how deep this influence ran. Till now, scholars have tended to dismiss Mallarmé's understanding of his music, suggesting that his envy of Wagner's later success made him suspicious and critical of the German composer.

In his book, Professor Lees shows that Mallarmé was highly informed in musical matters, and that he actually devoted most of his life to fashioning a resonant ("Symbolist") approach to French poetry that based itself on music, and particularly the music of Wagner. Using a wide variety of musical examples, Professor Lees will illustrate how this all came about, and how 'secret' connections within Mallarmé's words act like Wagnerian 'leitmotifs' to make the music come alive in performance, transforming the minds and emotions of the audience. In this talk, you can enjoy not just the ideas and the examples, but also the thrill that comes from piecing clues together, and it finishes with a new and exciting view of Wagner's huge influence over the artistic world that followed him.

Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge). Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6

SUMMER STUDY WEEKEND 2007 ON RIENZI
Our residential study weekend next year will look at Wagner's third opera, Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes. The venue will again be Carberry Tower and the course will commence on the evening of Friday 22nd June and disperse after breakfast on Tuesday 26th June. A brochure with details, prices and a booking form will issue with our next Newsletter.

News in Brief

  • A complete cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen will be given at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe from 4-9 April next year. Anthony Bramall conducts, and Denis Krief is director/designer. For booking details, please contact Will Scott.
  • Derek Watson visited Dublin on 5th October to address the Wagner Society of Ireland.
  • Our patron Donald Runnicles conducts two cycles of Götz Friedrich's production of the Ring at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 9-18 February and 20-25February 2007. Member Tony Simpson has 2 tickets each for Siegfried and Götterdämmerung for sale at c. £40 per ticket. If interested, contact him on 01740 620958 or email Tonysimpson11@aol.com
  • Ian Beresford Gleaves will give a study day on 'The Fortunes of Nothung' in London on 10th March, and a study weekend on Das Rheingold in Worcestershire on 1-3 June. For details, contact him at Holland Cottage, Broads Bank, Great Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 2HP.
We regret to announce the deaths of two of our most regular supporters. One of our longstanding members, Bernard Barrett, for many years a lively participant at our study weekends, died at his home in Surrey in September. We send all our best wishes to his wife Valerie and family.
Ann Turner Thomson, who also died during the summer, was a good friend to the Society and will be much missed at our Edinburgh events.

Wagner Society Of Scotland Bayreuth Scholarship 2007

The Scholarship enables a singer, musician or other artist with a professional interest in the theatre to attend performances at the Bayreuth Festival, supported by an allowance of expenses (£700 in 2006) and participation in special events hosted by the Richard Wagner Stipendiatstiftung in Bayreuth.

Information about the 2007 Wagner Society of Scotland Scholarship, and how to apply for it, is available here. It will be open to anyone aged 35 or under in July 2007.

Next year's Scholar will attend Parsifal on 13th August, Tannhäuser on 15th August and the new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on the 16th.

CD and DVD Special Offers

With each Newsletter we will now offer either a recent book, CD or DVD at special prices which represent a considerable saving on most shop prices. This month:

Lohengrin Opus Arte 0964DLohengrin Opus Arte 0964D. DVD, 279 minutes. Nikolaus Lehnhoff's Baden-Baden production, conducted by Kent Nagano; with Klaus Florian Vogt, Solveig Kringelborn, Hans-Peter König, Waltraud Meier, Tom Fox and Roman Trekel.
Our price £38.00 including postage.

Die Walküre Naxos HistoricalDie Walküre Naxos Historical, 3 CDs, 8.111056-58.
The first complete studio recording of the opera, made with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1954, under Wilhelm Furtwängler. With Martha Mödl, Leonie Rysanek, Ferdinand Frantz, Ludwig Suthaus, Margarete Klose, Gottlob Frick.
Our price £12.99 including postage.

Send details of your order with your full postal address and a cheque made payable to 'D. Watson' to Derek Watson (address below).

And a last reminder! Don't forget your contact for Christmas Party tickets is Graeme Arnott, 3 Maclaren Place, 673 Clarkston Road, Netherlee, East Renfrewshire G44 3RZ. Early booking would be appreciated, as numbers are limited!

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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