Newsletter Vol 14 No 2 April 2010
Editorial
A few domestic matters may be highlighted here. Firstly, we have had many favourable comments from around the world about our recent Journal. Secondly, the production costs of that publication and the funding of our Bayreuth Scholarship are the Society's largest financial outgoings, and so raising cash is ever on the agenda! I sincerely hope that you will support our fund-raising Reception on 17th April either by attending, by buying a ticket even if you can't be there, or a ticket for a friend, and by donating a prize for our 'Wagner Raffle'. Thirdly, please note that the dates for our Study Weekend have been altered to the last weekend of June. This was to enable us to have exclusive use of the first class accommodation in Carberry Tower and of the drawing room for our study and film sessions. Accommodation is luxurious, although limited in comparison to Stirling, but the advantages of being in one building for eating, sleeping and studying are considerable. This will be our first summer event at Carberry since its impressive restoration, so please - book soon!
Forthcoming Events
Saturday 17 April at 7pm: Champagne Reception
We are delighted that Dame Anne Evans will be present for this informal reception along with some of our Scholarship winners and other distinguished guests. Your ticket entitles you to a welcoming drink, a selection of the Scottish Arts Club's magnificent canapés and an entry for the Raffle. Prizes are of Wagnerian interest or may take a bibulous form! To donate a prize, please bring something along or contact Derek Watson for its collection.
Scottish Arts Club, 23 Rutland Square, Edinburgh (near west end of Princes Street)
Tickets: £20.00 each, from our Secretary, Will Scott, whose address is on the back page.
Sunday 18 April at 8pm: Beecham and Wagner - A Discussion with John Lucas
Wagner performance played an important part in Sir Thomas Beecham's remarkable career. His most recent biographer will introduce and play some splendid recordings from the Beecham legacy and there will be some rare recorded footage too!
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road.
Admission £5 members; £6 guests.
- Book offers! Since this will be an opportunity for John Lucas to sign copies of his book, along with his acclaimed biography of Reginald Goodall, we are repeating the book offers from our November Newsletter (see below).
- Start Time! Please note the later than usual start-time for this Sunday event. This is to enable those attending the matinee of La Bohème at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre to include our event with time to spare.
- Accommodation Offer: As is clear from the dates above, this is a special 'Wagner Weekend' for us. Those travelling some distance may welcome an offer of discounted accommodation for the night of Saturday 17th April. This would be at the Melvin House Hotel in the west end of Edinburgh: quiet, comfortable and ideally situated to attend both events. The special rate can only be arranged through Derek Watson (contact details below).
With this mailing we enclose the brochure and booking form for our Summer School on Tannhäuser, 25-27 June at Carberry Tower.
Members are reminded that they will always be welcomed at Wagner Society events in London. Please visit their website for details: www.wagnersociety.org
Special Book Offers
The Genius of Valhalla: the Life of Reginald Goodall by John Lucas
The Boydell Press, 2009. ISBN 0781843835172 (paperback)
RRP £14.99 Our special price to members £11.99
(+ £2.00 postage and packing)
Thomas Beecham: An Obsession with Music by John Lucas
The Boydell Press, 2008. ISBN 0781843834021 (hardback)
RRP £25.00 Our special price to members £20.00
(+ £3.00 postage and packing)
If you would like to reserve copies of any of the above, please order through
Derek Watson (address below) enclosing a cheque made payable to 'Linton Books' for the total amount, including postage.
Alternatively, items can be reserved for collection at the event on 18 April.
Bayreuth Scholarship
The Wagner Society of Scotland Bayreuth Scholarship for 2010 has been awarded to Rosemary Sims. Rosemary was born in Scotland and is currently a design student in the Technical and Production Arts Department of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. This is the fist time our Scholarship has been awarded to a student in training to be a set and costume designer. Our committee has always felt it important to comply with Richard Wagner's intention that young people interested in all aspects of theatre (not only singers) should have the opportunity to attend his Festival without cost. In previous years, since we were able to fund a scholarship, we have sent an instrumentalist, a conductor, and four singers to experience the Bayreuth Festival. Rosemary Sims celebrates her 20th birthday this month and so is at an ideal age, at this point in her studies, to gain great benefit from observing the magnificent technical and design resources employed at Bayreuth. We wish her a happy and rewarding trip to attend Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Lohengrin, and Parsifal. She will also have the opportunity to enjoy the company of young Scholars from all over the world and enjoy the other events laid on by the Scholarship Foundation.
The Wagner Society of Scotland has also contributed a donation to The Reginald Goodall Academy, set up for the training of advanced Wagner voices (see item in our last Newsletter).
Recent Journals
We acknowledge with gratitude receipt of the latest issues of:
- The Wagner Journal (Volume 4 Number 1) with articles on Liszt on Lohengrin by David Trippett, Therese Malten by Michael Letchford, and Wagner: The Making of a Brand by Nicholas Vazsonyi;
- Wagneriaani, the Journal of the Wagner Society of Finland;
- Wagneriana, from the Associació Wagneriana in Barcelona; and
- The Newsletter of The Wagner Society of New Zealand.
News in Brief
- The Lübeck Ring Cycle, under the musical direction of Roman Brogli-Sacher, comes to completion with Götterdämmerung and the first entire Cycle in September this year. Further Cycles will be given in February and May 2011. The series, combining the Wagner presentations with stage adaptations of works by Thomas Mann under the general theme Wagner-Trifft-Mann [Wagner Meets Mann], has been overwhelmingly praised both for staging and musical quality. Further details from Derek Watson.
- The Edinburgh International Festival has again announced no staged Wagner, but there are two Usher Hall concerts of interest on consecutive evenings, both with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under Sakari Oramo. In programmes otherwise highlighting music by Nielson, the Wesendonck Lieder will be sung by Petra Lang on Sunday 15th August. The Prelude to DieMeistersinger von Nürnberg opens the concert on Monday 16th August, and Juha Uusitalo will sing the Dutchman's Monologue and Wotan's Farewell from Die Walküre.
- The Wagner Society of Frankfurt am Main celebrates its centenary this autumn, and has planned a festival programme from 5 to 7 November, which will include a performance of Die Walküre. Full details, and of special hotel deals, from Derek Watson.
In our Next Newsletter...
...details of our events in May, July, September and October, and some CD offers!
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 & Membership Secretary: John Holcombe, 4 Galleon Court, Lamer Street, Dunbar, East Lothian, EH42 1GX; e-mail john@holc.wanadoo.co.uk
