Newsletter Vol 12 No 1 February 2008
Editorial
Last week marked the 125th anniversary of the Master's death. It was remembered with a commemorative concert in Bayreuth attended by Wolfgang Wagner and his daughter, Katharina. At our first two evenings this year we had impromptu tributes from both our speakers to the personality and work of the late Gudrun Wagner: Helen Lawson, a member of the Bayreuth Festival chorus for several seasons and who lived in Bayreuth for many years before coming to teach at the RSAMD, and Keith Warner, who eloquently expressed his ideas on how Wagner production must represent theatre and acting at the contemporary forefront, and who was the second ever British director at Bayreuth. They both stressed the very special nature of Wagner's concept as made possible in his own festival theatre. Keith's earlier career included a season as an associate director with Scottish Opera. Helen (who deserves all honour for giving a brilliant talk at 2 days' notice, when all the expected student singers pulled out with winter infections, and who further delighted us with her Lieder singing and with a performance of a Fliegende Holländer arrangement in which she accompanied herself on the Northumbrian pipes!) gave us the excellent news that half a dozen members of the 2007 Bayreuth Festival chorus were graduates from Glasgow's Alexander Gibson Opera School. Another Glaswegian of distinction will have the attention of the opera world focussed upon him in April/May. David McVicar directs his first Ring cycle, beginning with Die Walküre, in Strasbourg. And one of our foremost sculptors working in the west of Scotland, Alexander Stoddart, takes on the metaphysics of Wagner's art at our next lecture in March. It certainly won't be a dull year on the Wagner front, and I know that more Scots than ever will be at Bayreuth, on both sides of the 'magic abyss'.
Membership Matters!
Our membership numbered a healthy 377 at the close of last year. You will be aware that subscription rates for 2008 increased (our first price rise ever!) and we are grateful to all of you who have renewed at the revised subscription rates, i.e. £20.00 (single) and £25.00 (joint). Perhaps inevitably however, a few members, or rather their bankers (!), did not adjust the amount. If you are unsure of what sum you paid, do please take a moment to check that it was at the new rate, and if you have any doubt just contact our treasurer John Holcombe (details below).
Forthcoming Events
Sunday 2nd March at 7.30pm: An Evening With Alexander Stoddart
Alexander Stoddart makes architectural sculpture and monumental statuary in his studios at the University of the West of Scotland at Paisley. His work in the public realm often derives from studies conducted in the lonelier territories of metaphysics, and it is on this course of enquiry that Professor Stoddart proposes to speak, in an illustrated talk. The two greatest non-sculptural influences on his work are the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer and the music and scenographic intentions of Richard Wagner. The technical analysis by the philosopher, and the full demonstration by the composer, of art's power to still the Will, is regarded by Stoddart as a triumph of culture, betrayed by the modernist appropriation of Wagner as a prophet of vitalist dissonance. In a wide-ranging survey of his own works, the sculptor will draw our attention to the various oblique and direct references there to the sages of Frankfurt and Bayreuth, hoping to shed light on the essential quietism of his oeuvre, and seeking by that means to account for the fury with which it is often greeted.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge)
Admission £5.00 (members); £6.00 (guests)
Sunday 6th April at 7.30pm: Siegfried's Amnesia: An Attempt At An Explanation. A Lecture by Ian Robertson
The cause and nature of Siegfried's sudden loss of memory at the Gibichung Hall in Act I of Götterdämmerung, and his disastrous recovery from that amnesia in Act III, have repeatedly troubled commentators. Dr Ian Robertson will, with the aid of musical illustrations, examine possible medical explanations, and debate whether these considerations enhance our insight upon, and enjoyment of, the opera.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge)
Admission £5.00 (members); £6.00 (guests)
In May and June we are hoping to offer both live music and a film event, and details, along with those of a future lecture, will appear in our next Newsletter.
July 11th - 15th : A Residential Study Weekend at Stirling University on Tristan Und Isolde
Please note that this is your last chance to book a residential place on this course!!! We have had a very good response, but we must now give our final room requirement to the university. Please apply now, if this is one of the tasks you put off till the New Year! Either return the Booking Form enclosed with the last Newsletter, or you can download it from our website, or just contact directly our booking organiser, John Holcombe (details below).
A September date for your diary is our Annual General Meeting. This will take place at the Edinburgh Society of Musicians on Sunday 21st September at 7.30pm. If you are one of the lucky ones to be attending Bayreuth this summer, then please accept our warm invitation to come along that evening and air your impressions at our Bayreuth Report. (If you can't come along, then at least send in your reactions.)
The 2008 Bayreuth Scholarship
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2008 Wagner Society of Scotland Bayreuth Scholarship is Fiona Sarah Scott, an outstanding soprano, currently a postgraduate student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and studying (with Pat Hay) for the M.Mus (Opera) degree. Fiona graduated with B.Mus.(Hons) at the Royal Northern College of Music in July 2004, and holds diplomas in performance (RNCM) and in opera studies (RSAMD). Her previous awards include a Dame Eva Turner Scholarship for Dramatic Sopranos (2005-06) and the Clare Croiza French Song Prize (2006). Fiona will attend three performances at this year's festival and enjoy other events provided there by the Scholarship Foundation. And we look forward to meeting (and hearing) her at a future meeting.
News in Brief
- To the list of cinemas currently showing live relays from the New York Metropolitan Opera (see last Newsletter) we can add Cineworld in Renfrew Street, Glasgow. The showing of Tristan und Isolde is on Saturday 22nd March at 4.30 pm. www.cineworld.co.uk/metopera for more details.
- Penelope Turing and David Stannard present a week-long course Wagner's Bayreuth at the Lodge Hill Centre, Pulborough, West Sussex, from 21st August to 7th September. For a brochure and booking form, write to Penelope at 411 Beatty House, Dolphin Square, London, SW14 3PL
- We note with sadness the recent passing of our longstanding member Professor Graham A. Runnalls, and send condolences to his wife and family.
- St Fillans Music Circle in Perthshire again present the Ring cycle on film (New York Met production), with introduction, & all catering included. More information from John Southorn on 01764 670135 or Email johnsouthorn@yahoo.co.uk
- A Gala Evening of Opera with Nelly Miricioiu will be given at Dundas Castle, South Queensferry on Wednesday 16th April. The event, with black-tie dinner, is in aid of the charity Hospices of Hope. Details from Malcom McVittie on 0131 524 3989 or Email Malcolm@hospicesofhope.co.uk
- Longborough Fesival Opera in Gloucestershire again present their production of DasRheingold on 15, 17, and 19 July. Sir Donald McIntyre will sing Wotan on the final evening. For details the box office is tel. 01451 830292; full information on www.lfo.org.uk
Special Book Offer
La Nilsson: My Life in Opera by Birgit Nilsson
Translated by Doris Jung Popper
Northeastern University Press. Hardback. 295pp. ISBN 1555536700
First published to great acclaim in Sweden (1995) and in Germany (1997), the autobiography of the great Birgit Nilsson (1918-2005) is at long last available in an English translation. From her humble roots in rural Sweden to her artistic triumphs in Stockholm, Bayreuth, Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera House, this candid and utterly charming memoir reveals the personality behind one of the greatest dramatic sopranos of the last century. Foreword by Sir Georg Solti. This is a great read, and warmly recommended.
RRP £22.50. Our price to members: £19.00 [postage extra = £2.50]
If you would like to reserve a copy, please order through Derek Watson (address below) enclosing a cheque made payable to Linton Books for £19.00, and your book can be collected at our March or April meeting. If you wish the book to be posted please send a cheque for £21.50.
With our April Newsletter...
...full details of our events for May & June and some more Book or CD offers. Our June Newsletter will contain our autumn programme and a report on the International Congress of Wagner Societies in Geneva this May.
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
