Newsletter Vol 11 No 4 September 2007
Editorial
Richard Wagner ever courted controversy. And his heirs have continued to do so till this very day. Latest in line, Katharina, Wolfgang Wagner's only child by his second marriage and his choice to inherit control of the Bayreuth Festival, could hardly have succeeded better in conjuring-up a storm of controversy on the Green Hill this season. Her Meistersinger von Nürnberg, despite overall musical excellence, aroused a furore unparalleled even by Bayreuth standards, easily outmatching the hue and cry stirred up once upon a time by Patrice Chéreau or, more recently, by Christoph Schlingensief. The intensity of the hullabaloo is not only on account of her production of course, but because she is the heiress apparent - and a decision is to be made about that very soon. Another aspect of the clamour is the unmistakable spectre of the Third Reich that colours her conception of Die Meistersinger. That dark era is also the subject of an 'historical novel' published last month by one of Britain's most prominent writers. The Nazis feature inevitably too in the book that is the special offer to members in this Newsletter. Jonathan Carr's The Wagner Clan is far from being fiction. For that one might or might not be grateful. Some of his opinions and conclusions are as debatable and controversial as any that have been aired in print, onstage or off-stage this stormy summer. The clamour will continue.
Important Membership Information!
(1) At the Annual General Meeting on September 22nd it was resolved that members who use e-mail should be invited to receive future Newsletters in that form. This will represent a considerable saving in postage and stationery costs. Certain items, e.g. the Journal and the brochures for Study Weekends, will continue to be posted. To effect this change we need to know your e-mail address (as we have not hitherto filed such information). We give the assurance that, in accordance with the Data Protection Act, your e-mail address will be used only to send you the Newsletters or other occasional information about the activities of the Wagner Society of Scotland, and will never be divulged to any third party. Also please be assured that if you do not wish to receive our communications in this way, you will continue to receive them by post, and you need take no further action. If you wish to receive future news from us by e-mail then please inform the Secretary, Will Scott, using his e-mail address below!
(2) At the Annual General Meeting on September 22nd it was also resolved that subscription rates for membership shall be raised. There has been no increase in these since our formation in 1984! The new rates are:
| Individual membership: | £20.00 |
| Joint membership | £25.00 |
| Overseas membership | £30.00 |
| Full-time Students aged 25 or below | £ nil |
You need take no action about renewing now! The new rates for 2008 will be confirmed and explained in our next Newsletter.
(3) Please note that the address of John Holcombe, our Treasurer & Membership Secretary has changed! His telephone and e-mail details remain the same, and his new postal address appears below.
Forthcoming Events
Sunday 7th October at 7.30pm: Wagner and Elgar - an illustrated lecture by Ian Beresford Gleaves
Our contribution to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Elgar brings the return to Scotland of an authoritative speaker on both composers, who is from Elgar's native Worcestershire. His theme is an exploration of the artistic relationship between Wagner and Elgar, and the influence of the former on the latter. Recorded extracts will be taken from Parsifal and The Dream of Gerontius, and there will also be illustrations at the piano.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge)
Admission £5.00 (members); £6.00 (guests)
Sunday 4th November at 7.30pm: Richard Wagner's Zurich - a lecture by Professor Chris Walton (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
When the people of Dresden rose up in May 1849, Richard Wagner turned overnight from Royal Kapellmeister to republican revolutionary. He gambled everything; so when the uprising collapsed, he lost it all. He fled on a false passport to Zurich in Switzerland - the only free, stable country left in Central Europe. Years later, he wrote in his autobiography that Zurich was 'completely devoid of any public art form' and full of 'simple people who knew nothing of my work as an artist'. Later commentators followed Wagner's lead in depicting these as his 'wilderness years', a mere prelude to the greater glories of Bayreuth. But he lied. Zurich in the 1850s boasted a greater concentration of radical intellectuals than any other city in the world. The local music scene was vibrant too. Wagner was accepted there with open arms - and, more to his taste, with open bank accounts and wine cellars. We warmly welcome back Chris Walton, former music librarian of Zurich, and none better to tell us of his researches into many hitherto untapped sources to investigate the influence that Wagner exerted upon the musical life of Zurich, and the impact that the city - its geography, its institutions and its people - had upon the composer. If, upon fleeing Dresden, Wagner had been free to choose a city where he might seek heightened intellectual stimulation amongst the like-minded and the similarly gifted, he could in fact have come to no more perfect place. [Richard Wagner's Zurichby Chris Walton, published this autumn, will be featured as the book choice in our next Newsletter.]
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge)
Admission £5.00 (members); £6.00 (guests)
Sunday 16th December at 7.30pm: Christmas Party
Our traditional end-of-the-year event will feature live music, including clarinet and piano works with Cara Bleiman, this year's Bayreuth Scholar, a quiz, raffle and finger buffet with wine & soft drinks. If you are happy to make a small contribution to the food, please indicate this on the booking form and a committee member will be in touch nearer the time. Contributions of raffle prizes are also very welcome!!!
Please return the booking form: tickets are £12 per person, which includes all refreshments.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge)
Dates confirmed for 2008 (all at the venue above at 7.30pm):
January 13th - Christopher Underwood, head of vocal studies at the Alexander Gibson Opera School in Glasgow, introduces his work with a group of talented young singers.
February 3rd - An Evening with Keith Warner. The director of the recent Bayreuth Lohengrin and the current Royal Opera House Ring cycle will discuss these, and his plans for future Wagner productions.
March 2nd - An Evening with Alexander Stoddart (please note change of date from last mailing).
April will bring a lecture from Dr Ian Robertson; for May we plan another evening of film rarities and a report on the International Congress of Wagner Societies in Geneva earlier that month; and looking further ahead our Residential Summer Study Weekend is now confirmed at the University of Stirling from 11th to 15th July when we will study in detail Tristan und Isolde. A brochure & booking form will issue with our next Newsletter.
Book Offer
The Wagner Clan by Jonathan Carr.
Faber & Faber. Hardback. 384pp. ISBN 9780571207855
"A stunning, epic and hugely controversial new biography of Germany's most notorious musical family." Jonathan Carr has served as foreign correspondent and as a bureau chief of the Financial Times and Economist in Germany. He has written biographies of Helmut Schmidt (1985) and of Gustav Mahler (1997), and received the CBE in 2000 for services to British-German relations.
RRP £20.00. Our price to members: £17.00 [postage extra = £2.50]
If you would like a copy, please order through Derek Watson (address on back page) enclosing a cheque made payable to Linton Books for £17.00, and your book can be collected at a future meeting. If you wish the book to be posted please send a cheque for £19.50.
News in Brief
- Our patron Donald Runnicles has had a busy year conducting Wagner cycles in Europe, and many will have enjoyed his magnificent account of Götterdämmerung from the Albert Hall on 12th August, with Christine Brewer as Brünnhilde.
- The London Wagner Society has announced that it will not after all be hosting the International Congress of Wagner Societies in 2010. The Congress will, we understand, take place instead in Rostock. The chairman of the London Society, Malcolm Spence, is standing down.
- Staatsoper Stuttgart continues its long tradition of new Wagner production with Der fliegende Holländer, to be the first Wagner opera under the direction of Calixto Bieito: January 28 till April 20. staatstheater-stuttgart.de
- The Royal Opera have been "shocked and surprised" by Bryn Terfel's sudden withdrawal from their current Ring cycles, on account of a "stressful family situation". Sir John Tomlinson nobly fills the breach.
- Our website has had a smart new overhaul during the summer, and reached a new record number of visitors - 1,919 - in July.
- For information about the Wagner in Budapest Festival and its 4-day Ring Cycle [19-22 June], members can find further information from ccontacttoursbud@axelero.hu
- The talented young Scottish conductor, Rory Macdonald, is assisting Antonio Pappano on the ROH Ring, conducting 'Das Rheingold for Students' - a full performance of the work in Keith Warner's production. He is also conducting Albert Herring with Glyndebourne on Tour.
With our next Newsletter...
Full details of our 2008 events, Book & CD offers, and a brochure for the Study Days on Tristan und Isolde.
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
