Newsletter Vol 16 No. 1 January 2012
Editorial
We are sending a copy of this first Newsletter of 2012 to every Society in the Richard Wagner Verband International, by way of New Year Greeting, and also to enlist support in opposing the recent decisions on Societies' ticket allocations made by the management of the Bayreuth Festival.
Very best wishes for 2012 to all our members! It is a year that will bring many distinguished guest speakers to our Edinburgh meetings, a recital by Sir John Tomlinson with Lionel Friend, a celebration of Sir Georg Solti's centenary, our first ever Summer Study Week on the Ring, and – we hear – some Wagner at the Edinburgh International Festival. Of course every silver lining has a cloud: the one looming over all international Wagner Societies at present is the decision that no allocation of Bayreuth Festival tickets will be made to their members henceforth. There will therefore be no Wagner Society of Scotland Bayreuth Ballot for 2012. The bulk of this Newsletter is devoted to this serious, sorry matter and, as you will read, the resolution of the decision is by no means clear. To end on a considerably more uplifting note, we are about to make the final choice of our 2012 Bayreuth Scholar and candidate for this year's International Wagner Voices Competition (the final is in Karlsruhe in October). More news on this very soon!
Forthcoming Events
Sunday 22nd January 2012 at 7.30 pm:
'The Music Shines Through The Fog': a personal exploration of recordings and reflections on productions of Parsifal - by Christopher McQuaid
Our member Christopher McQuaid was founder of The Wagner Society of Ireland in August 2002, and in 2008 was elected its Honorary Life Vice-President. Parsifal is a work he holds dear, having attended many performances, and he will offer us a personal view of this sublime work, with several audio illustrations, and reflect on its ideal production and presentation.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission £5 members; £6 guests.
Dr Georg Heuser (1929-2011)
who has died at his home in Rothenburg ob der Tauber on 18December 2011 was Director of the Goethe Institut in Glasgow at the time of our foundation as the Scottish Branch of the Wagner Society in 1984. He was immensely supportive in helping to promote our first years' events. We owe him a great debt of gratitude and will retain the fondest memory of DrHeuser. Our condolences to his widow Brigitte and their family.
Bayreuth Festival Tickets
On 14December 2011 the management of the Bayreuth Festival wrote as follows to the non-German Wagner Societies:
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
We would like to inform you of certain important changes concerning the allocation of tickets for the Bayreuth Festival.
The modifications to ticket allocation procedure have been made following investigations conducted by the Bavarian General Accounting Office and the German Federal Court of Auditors, which are responsible for the Bayreuth Festival. The reports by both institutions explicitly criticised certain measures in ticket allocation, and proposed clear conditions to bring about tangible and lasting changes. With the aim, therefore, of introducing greater fairness in the allocation of tickets and excluding as far as possible the preferential treatment of certain groups or individuals, as well as to improve transparency, the supervisory committees of the Bayreuth Festival - the Supervisory Board and the Shareholders' Meeting – decided on fundamental and binding changes on 18 October 2011.
As a result of these resolutions it is unfortunately no longer possible for us to accord special interest groups or tour operators any privileges in the allocation of tickets. This means that you will not be sent an order form and any orders made via the Internet will not be processed. The members of your group or your customers, as the case may be, are of course still free to order tickets individually.
Thank you for the interest you have shown over the years and for the excellent working relationship.
With best wishes,
Eva Wagner-Pasquier Katharina Wagner
This letter caused great anxiety and offence. That Wagner Societies, with a proud tradition going back 140 years, should be referred to as 'special interest groups' and placed on a level with 'tour operators', is unacceptable. The timing of the letter raises four serious concerns:
- why were ticket order forms already dispatched to Societies if this decision was planned?
- why was the decision not made until 18October – two days after the deadline for ticket applications at Bayreuth?
- why was there a delay of about 2 months, from 18October until receipt of the letter from Frau Wagner-Pasquier and Frau Katharina Wagner on 15December?
- why was nothing of this discussed with the Praesidium of the Richard-Wagner-Verband International?
In a letter dated 21 December, the President of the International Association of Wagner Societies [RWVI] Professor Eva Märtson, expressed surprise at the decision, which she was able to discuss with Frau Wagner-Pasquier only on 15December. She pointed out the historic connections between the Wagner Societies and the Festival since its foundation in 1872, including the involvement of the Societies in the building of the theatre, the setting up of the Scholarship Foundation in 1882 and the significant level of unpaid, voluntary support still given to the festival, and to the promotion of interest in Wagner's music, by the 24,000 members of the Wagner Societies internationally. The letter also points out that the ending of the Societies' ticket allocation was first brought to the Verband's attention before any communication had been received from Bayreuth, and only when individual Societies were trying to find out from the box office what had happened to their applications. The Verband recognises that the Societies' activities carry with them no entitlement to tickets for the Festival, but nevertheless asks the members of the Administrative Board to re-think its resolution at its next meeting, and agree to provide a ticket allocation to the 'sponsoring associations'.
It would appear that the Verband's letter is specifically seeking the re-instatement of an allocation of tickets that would allow for the continuation of the long-established arrangement under which Societies that sponsored a Bayreuth scholar send one or two members to accompany their scholar. This is the one issue over which there does appear to be clarity. We have had confirmation directly from the Bayreuth Stipendienstiftung that 750 tickets will be available for students to attend the 2012 Festival. A further 250 tickets will be available for accompanying members of sponsoring Societies, although more information is needed as to the exact ticket allocation that will be made for these accompanying members.
On 22December the letter reproduced below was sent to the chairpersons of all Richard Wagner Societies:
This letter further confuses things. It has been a point of principle since our foundation as an independent Society that our chairperson and committee do not 'take' tickets but enter (should they wish) a general ballot open to all members. Their letter fails to address how the general members' hopes for tickets are to be met, other than by joining the 8-year queue.
Of course our Society does not exist merely to provide a ballot for Bayreuth tickets. We offer an annual programme of at least 10 quality events and produce a scholarly Journal and other publications. Realistically, however, there will be members who leave us because of the withdrawal of the hope for Bayreuth tickets. Thus our Society will lose revenue and will not be able to continue funding things like our Journal, our Scholarship, or our contribution to the East European pool of the Stipendienstiftung. Equally seriously, we pay €2 per member to support the RWVI. For even a small Society like ours this is around €700 income for them per year. The overall effect of a mass reduction in membership of associations would be catastrophic for the RWVI.
Of course something had to be done after the criticisms last spring of the festival box office by the Bundesrechnungshof (Federal Audit Office). But the festival management's response has been slow, crassly insensitive to its main body of supporters, and foolish in its lack of a coherent replacement for the previous allocation scheme.
Fellow members! Fellow presidents and chairpersons of all Societies! Members of the Praesidium of the Richard-Wagner-Verband International! In Prague in May these matters must be addressed and the festival management present in Prague to offer satisfactory solutions.
News in Brief
- The Treasurer and the Editors have decided to postpone publication of Volume V of our Journal. Instead a double issue will be published in 2013.
- We warmly congratulate our Secretary, William S Scott, on his award of an OBE in the New Year Honours List.
- An excellent internet blog, The Wagnerian, is highly recommended to members.
- David Stannard leads study days on the music of Das Rheingold in Birmingham 5 and 6March. Full details from Steve Chetwynd, tel. 02476 332061, stevec32@hotmail.co.uk
In Our Next Newsletter...
...the name of the winner of our Bayreuth Scholarship for 2012; ticket application forms for the John Tomlinson recital on 19 November; and dates for meetings in late February and March.
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
