Newsletter Vol 14 No 1 January 2010
Important Bayreuth Ballot Information!
- 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 decided that anyone who has been successful twice in attending with tickets from our ballots must wait three years since their last visit before applying again.
- We have not quoted seat prices for the forthcoming ballot. The 15 sets of seats for the Ring cycle allocated to us vary slightly in cost. 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 first communication of 2010, we bring the good news that the Society has been allocated 15 sets of seats for Der Ring des Nibelungen (Cycle II) at this year's Bayreuth Festival. And we are delighted to enclose with this mailing the 4th Volume of our Journal. As news of the ticket allocation came late in the year, and the published journals were ready only very near to Christmastime, we decided to wait until after New Year to send everything out to members. Thus our declared 'penultimate' Newsletter of 2009 (XIII/4, November) became the 'ultimate' one! Our apologies if this has caused any confusion. The fundraising event proposed in the last issue is now expected to take place in April. Meanwhile we wish you happy reading - and look forward to your continued support for our events throughout this new year.
Forthcoming Events
Sunday 31st January at 7.30pm: Wagner and Berlioz - The "Enemy Brothers - Beethoven's Bastard Offspring"
A Lecture by David Cairns
An account of the relationship, both personal and artistic, between these two great composers. David Cairns is the author of an acclaimed two-volume biography of Berlioz and has translated and edited the composer's Memoirs. He was chief music critic of the Sunday Times from 1983 to 1992, having earlier been music critic and arts editor of the Spectator, and a writer on the Evening Standard, the Financial Times and the New Statesman. He has been Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of California at Davis, a visiting scholar at the Getty Center in Santa Monica, and a visiting fellow of Merton College, Oxford. In 1991, in recognition of his services to French music, he was made Officier de l-Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has always been involved in practical music-making, and conducts regularly.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road.
Admission £5 members; £6 guests.
Sunday 28th February at 7.30pm:
The Art Of Max Lorenz
With audio recordings, film, and readings of letters and documents, this evening is designed as a tribute to the great Heldentenor Max Lorenz (1901-1975) whose career uniquely spanned the Bayreuth Festivals of both the Winifred Wagner years and the post-war era. He also sang at the Metropolitan before and after the war, and for two seasons at Covent Garden in the 1930s. At Vienna and Salzburg he created a number of roles in contemporary operas in the 1950s and 1960s. Celebrated as Tristan, Siegfried and Walther, he was also a magnificent Otello, Florestan, Herod, and Bacchus in Richard Strauss's Ariadne.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road.
Admission £5 members; £6 guests.
Tickets will also be on sale at the meeting on Sunday 8th November.
Monday 15th March at 7.00pm:
Visit To The National Library Of Scotland
An introduction to and viewing of some special books of Wagnerian interest held by the National Library. Among these is a very fine copy of the remarkable biography of the composer by The Hon. Mrs Mary Burrell (limited edition of 100 copies, 1900). A description of the book and its history will be provided. Also on view will be some books translated and compiled by Adolf Wagner, the composer's philologist uncle, which have a Scottish connection, plus other rare items of Wagneriana.
National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EW. Admission to this event is by ticket only (£5.00 members; £6.00 guests). These will be on sale at our January and February meetings or may be had by post on sending a cheque for the appropriate amount (made payable to Wagner Society of Scotland)to Derek Watson (address below).
The dates for this year's Summer School on Tannhäuserare 9-12 July (venue to be confirmed). We will issue a brochure and booking form with the next Newsletter.
Members are reminded that they will always be welcomed at Wagner Society events in London. Please visit their website for details: www.wagnersociety.org
News in Brief
- edition ebenos [www.ebenos.de] have published The Wagner Tuba: A History. The author, William Melton is a distinguished hornist and scholar. His book Engelbert Humperdinck: An Odyssey through Wilhelmine Germany is also to be published shortly by Toccata Press. We hope to review both these books in the future.
- Longborough Festival Opera in Gloucestershire continues to build its full Ring cycle: there are performances of Die Walküre on 24, 27 & 31 July. For details and booking (opens March 8th): tel. 01451 830292.
- Our Society was represented at the launch in London on 6th December of a new venture: The Reginald Goodall Academy is to be devoted to the training of advanced Wagner voices in Britain. It is supported by three charities: London Wagner Society, The Mastersingers, and the Sidney Nolan Trust at whose premises at The Rodd in Herefordshire the first 3-week residential course will take place. Our Society is pleased to support this venture and we hope that there will be projects/showcases at the RSAMD in Glasgow, as well as elsewhere. We will keep members informed of this very significant development in the availability of advanced vocal tuition. When young singers leave a college or academy it should never be a case of "that's that" - a sink or swim attitude that has been too prevalent. More news of this project soon.
- Oper Halle presents a new production of Tannhäuser [Dresden version] on 30 January, 7, 21, 27 February, 6 March, 2, 10, 24 April. For booking details and accommodation offers contact Derek Watson.
- The Richard Wagner Festival at Wels, Austria presents Tristan und Isolde 30 May and 10 June (new production) and a revival of Lohengrin 1 and 5 June. www.wagner-festival-wels.com
- The Los Angeles Opera perform three cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen: May 29 - June 6; June 8-16; June 18-26. For booking details and accommodation offers contact Derek Watson.
In our Next Newsletter...
...the announcement of our Bayreuth Scholar for 2010, details of our Summer School, and further events for your diary.
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
