Newsletter Vol 12 No 5 December 2008
Important Bayreuth Ballot Information
- Please note that with this Newsletter you should receive your Bayreuth BallotApplication Form.
- In order to ensure that the maximum number of our members who wish to attend the Festival have the fairest chance of doing so, the Committee has altered the rules of entry so that anyone who has attended with tickets from our ballot in the last three years is disqualified from entering the ballot for 2009.
- We have not quoted seat prices for the forthcoming ballot. The 20 sets of seats allocated to us range in price from 77 Euros to 120 Euros. Those successful in the ballot will be billed in pounds sterling, allowing for the cost of the seats individually allocated, the exchange rate pertaining at the time, and including a sufficient amount to cover the Society's administrative costs and bank charges.
Editorial
With this last communication of 2008, and with such an amount of financial gloom being flung at us by the media, let me strike an optimistic note. The arts are not just a consolation but a spiritual necessity in troubled times. Opera is an extravagant art, so more expensive than most others, but no less necessary. Thus it is heartening to see that Scottish Opera has survived very troubled times and is making ever bolder plans. As our first meeting of the new year will celebrate a Scottish singer from the early golden years of our national company (see below), the thoughts of some reading this will inevitably stray to the hope that Wagner will again feature in their repertory. A glimmer of encouragement appeared in the Herald a month or so back, in an interview with the company's new music director, Francesco Corti. This is the wee glimmer of hope: "He [Mr Corti] will not be drawn about next season, though in general he refers to German operas by Weber, Hindemith and even Wagner that would be appropriate to Scottish Opera. 'Wagner's Lohengrin would be a great opera for here...'" Oh, yes please, Maestro Corti!
Christmas Party
Below is a map showing the whereabouts of the Scottish Arts Club at 24Rutland Square, Edinburgh EH1 2BW. Guests are requested to arrive between 6pm and 6.30pm.
View Larger Map
Forthcoming Events
Sunday 25th January at 7.30pm: The Artistry of David Ward by Will Scott
Amongst the finest exponents of his day of the major Wagner roles for bass-baritone, Dumbarton-born David Ward is now comparatively unknown, probably because he left no complete commercial recordings of these parts. This evening's talk is an appreciation of David Ward's command of the roles of Wotan and the Wanderer, illustrated with substantial extracts from Scottish Opera's first Ring cycle, given in December 1971. These have been transferred from the original reel-to-reel tapes to CD especially for this event. They also serve as a welcome reminder of Alexander Gibson's pre-eminence as a Wagner conductor.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge)
Admission £5.00 (members); £6.00 (guests
Sunday 22th February at 7.30pm: Wagner and the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848: a Lecture by Roderick Swanston
Wagner was involved in Dresden's part in the European uprisings of 1848/9 and had to flee Germany under threat of imprisonment or worse. But this was not his first encounter with widespread civil outbursts. In the wake of the July 1830 revolution in France, youthful German aspirations were set alight, not least the 16-year old Wagner's. This lecture will examine these two uprisings and put Wagner's reactions into context. It will also explore how far these permeated his operas, in particular Rienzi, Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge)
Admission £5.00 (members); £6.00 (guests)
The 2009 Study Weekend on Der fliegende Holländer will take place at the University of Stirling, 10th -13th July. A brochure and booking form will be issued early next year
Wagner Society Events In England
The Wagner Society in London reminds our members that they are most welcome at any meetings should they happen to be in London. Details of their programme can be found at www.wagnersociety.org/Events.htm
Special Book & CD Offers
The Cambridge Companion to Wagner: edited by Thomas S. Grey
Cambridge University Press. Paperback. ISBN 9780521644396
Pre-ordered copies of this important book will be available at the meeting on 25 January
RRP £19.99. Our price to members: £15.99 [saving £4!]
This book will be reviewed in the context of recent Wagner scholarship in the 2009 edition of The Wagner Society of Scotland Journal. Contributors include John Deathridge, Stewart Spencer, Barry Millington, Stephen McClatchie, Dieter Borchmeyer and Arnold Whittall.
If you would like to reserve a copy, please order through Derek Watson (address below) enclosing a cheque made payable to Linton Books for £15.99. If you wish the book to be posted please add £2.50 to your cheque.
Wagner: Parsifal
Reginald Goodall. The Royal Opera. 4 CDs : ROHS012. BBC recording, 8 May 1971.
Following the hugely welcome release of Goodall's The Mastersingers,here is another from the archive, particularly special for Jon Vickers in the title role, Norman Bailey's Amfortas, Donald McIntyre's Klingsor and Amy Shuard as Kundry. Anne Howells and Kiri Te Kanawa are among the flower maidens.
In shops at up to £39.99. Our price to members: £32.99 post free [saving £7!]
Order as above, with a cheque made payable to Linton Books for £32.99, or add this to your total.
News in Brief
- Jonas Kaufmann will sing the title role in the new production of Lohengrin at Bayreuth in 2010.
- Fiona Scott, our Bayreuth Scholar for 2008 will sing Fata Morgana in the forthcoming performances by the RSAMD, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, of Prokofiev's The Love of Three Oranges. She will also take the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos in some of the performances (Glasgow only) of Strauss's opera: March 21-26.
- Katharina Wagner, co-director of the Bayreuth Festival was in a car on the Autobahn A9 when the driver died at the wheel. Stefan Mueller, a 32-year-old lawyer for the Bayreuth Festival, suffered a heart attack while driving with her from Berlin to Bayreuth on 13th November. She managed to bring the car to a halt, and suffered no injuries.
- Derek Watson will talk to the Wagner Society of Ireland on Thursday 26th March in Dublin.
Wagner Journals Received
We have gratefully received the latest Journals from the societies in Finland, New Zealand, and from Barcelona. Also The Wagner Journal (Volume 2 number 3) - which continues to flourish under Barry Millington's editorship: you can find out how to subscribe by emailing thewagnerjournal@btinternet.com or write to The Wagner Journal, PO Box 57714, London NW11 1DL
The Wagner Society Of Scotland Bayreuth Scholarship 2009
Application for the scholarship is open until the last day of this year. Details can be had from the Administrator: Mr Iain Millar, 46 Easter Hermitage, Edinburgh, EH6 8DR
Or application forms can be downloaded here.
With our next Newsletter...
Our next Newsletter will contain further details of our programme for 2009, more book and CD offers, and news of the Society's summer Study Weekend.
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
