Newsletter Vol 9 No 1 January 2005
- Editorial
- Forthcoming Events
- Wagner Society of Scotland Bayreuth Scholarship 2005
- The Bayreuth Ring, 2006 Were you there...?
Editorial
A very happy new year to all members! Most of you now pay membership dues by Banker's Order, and of those who send cheques almost all have renewed. Thank you for your support. Especial thanks to those who have added something extra to benefit our Scholarship Fund. One such generous contribution has enabled us to subsidise another promising scholar from eastern Europe to attend the Bayreuth Festival. This is greatly appreciated by the Festival authorities and it enhances the reputation and esteem of the work of our Scottish Society internationally. Phillida Bannister's recital in November marked the month of our 20th anniversary, recalling the recital by Kathryn Harries back in November 1984. Here's to the next two decades!
Forthcoming Events
Sunday 23 January at 7.30pm: An Evening with Sir Donald McIntyre
Donald McIntyre, who celebrated his 70th birthday last year when he also sang Wotan in the Longborough Festival Ring cycles, will talk about his long and distinguished career, and he will perform the two Wotan/Erda scenes from Das Rheingold and Siegfried with contralto Phillida Bannister, who sang with him at Longborough. The distinguished British bass-baritone who was born in Auckland, New Zealand, sang many important roles at Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s. His Metropolitan debut was as Wotan (1975) but he is perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of that role in the 1976 centenary Bayreuth Boulez/Chéreau Ring. Other Bayreuth roles included Telramund, Amfortas & the Dutchman. He has also given notable portrayals of Gurnemanz and Hans Sachs.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission: £12
Monday 14 February at 7.30pm: A St. Valentine's Day Recital by Shuna Scott-Sendall (soprano) & Wai Sum Chong (piano)
Born in Glasgow, Shuna was the winner of our 2004 Bayreuth Scholarship, and her programme will include Debussy's Wagnerian Proses Lyriques, some songs from the Wesendonck cycle and a group of items that will fittingly evoke love and romance on this special date.
Please note this is a Monday event, and that our Bayreuth Ballot draw for 2005 will take place after the recital.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians (address as above).
Admission: £10.
Sunday 27 February at 7.30pm: 'Wagner & Brass' - A Lecture by Professor John Wallace
The industrial revolution changed the spaces in which opera was performed and made possible constructions which housed many more performers and a larger audience. New instruments were invented with expanded capabilities. How did Wagner weld the future to the past? The eminent trumpeter and Principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, our honorary member John Wallace will address these fascinating issues.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians (address as above).
Admission: members £5, guests £6.
Sunday 20 March at 7.30pm: 'The Fateful Potion in Tristan: Aphrodisiac or Placebo?' - A Lecture by Ian Robertson
Several commentators have taken the so-called "love-potion" in Tristan und Isolde to be simply symbolic and pharmacologically inert. However, a case can be made for that drink to have contained alkaloids from plants of the Solanaceae family, which were, in medieval times, used to prepare medicines having hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac properties. In all three acts, both lovers exhibit symptoms suggestive of intoxication with Solanaceae derivatives. Dr. Ian Robertson will, with the help of musical illustration, consider these notions, and debate whether they help or hinder the interpretation and enjoyment of the opera.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians (address as above).
Admission: members £5, guests £6.
Sunday 10 April at 7.30pm: 'Richard Wagner and his Native City of Leipzig' - an Illustrated Lecture by Derek Watson
As a foretaste of this year's International Richard Wagner Congress which takes place in early May in Leipzig, Derek will look at the city Wagner knew as a youth, its personalities, his early musical experiences there, his first compositions, and how his works fared in his birthplace over the rest of his career. [Any member still interested in details of the Congress should request a brochure from Will Scott (address below).]
Edinburgh Society of Musicians (address as above).
Admission: members £5, guests £6.
Study Weekend 2005: Die Meistersinger
Wagner Society of Scotland Bayreuth Scholarship 2005
Several applications have been received for our Scholarship to enable a young artist to attend the Bayreuth Festival this summer. The winner attends Lohengrin, Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde, and receives £700 towards expenses. The name of the 2005 scholar will be announced in the next Newsletter and posted on our website as soon as the decision has been made.
The Bayreuth Ring, 2006
For those of you who have been following developments on the Green Hill closely, it will come as no surprise that Wolfgang Wagner has announced a replacement for Lars von Trier. Tankred Dorst, a highly acclaimed German theatre director, dramatist and writer will now be taking over. Although Dorst, like von Trier, has never before produced an opera, he is one of Germany's leading playwrights and has enjoyed critical acclaim as both a writer and even a librettist. Dorst has been honoured with many prizes, and is also a founder of the internationally acclaimed con-temporary dramatic festival, the Bonn Biennale. For Wagnerians his most successful opus, Merlin, is perhaps the most interesting. Merlin, based upon the wizard of epic medieval saga, demonstrates an ability to deal with mythic and epic subject matter in an unconventional yet highly relevant way. Even more interesting is that it is a work of quite Wagnerian proportions, and although not on the same scale as the Ring, Merlin lasts between six and eight hours in performance!
Although Dorst will be 80 when his production of the Ring premieres at next year's festival he will doubtless bring a fresh perspective to the cycle, coming as he does from outside the world of contemporary operatic production. Wolfgang Wagner, who has shown himself admirably determined to shed fresh light upon Wagner's works has clearly shown favour for directors new to opera production, such as current Parsifal director Christoph Schlingensief, in order that it may remain at the cutting edge of operatic production. While Dorst may appear a rather more traditional choice than recent directors, he has already made clear that for him "Stage directions are not sacrosanct. Wagner is more than the music." Producing the Ring is of course an Herculean undertaking, but at the Bayreuth workshop, it is very much a team effort. Working along with his wife, Ursula Ehler, a frequent collaborator, Dorst will also be supported by a talented team of professionals: Frank Philipp Schlössmann, set designer, Bernd Skodzig, costumes, and Christian Thielemann conducts.
The existing production of Lohengrin will be conducted by Peter Schneider this year, who takes over from Sir Andrew Davis.
Were you there...?
- on 26 September Professor Chris Walton gave a most lively and revelatory account of the real nature of the relationship of Mathilde Wesendonck and Wagner. This fascinating account is to be published soon and details will be made available to members.
- After our AGM on 24 October Shuna Scott-Sendall gave an entertaining account of her visit to Bayreuth 2004. All who heard her will look forward to hearing her again in recital on 14 February. Thanks to all those who contributed their views of the Festival that evening.
- The Ring at Manaus in Brazil, to which many members are looking forward in May, was the subject on 31 October, when the director of the production Aidan Lang gave a most informative talk on the circumstances and the character of this extraordinary enterprise.
- St. Cecilia's Day, 22 November, brought a recital by Phillida Bannister of works by Schubert, Richard Strauss, Wagner and her accompanist, Derek Watson. Those who enjoyed her artistry will look forward to hearing her again with Sir Donald McIntyre on 23 January.
- Our member Sandy Matheson of McAlister Matheson Music was guest-of-honour at our Christmas Party and we are grateful to him for an illuminating talk on recordings of singers of the early Bayreuth years under Cosima Wagner's direction. Our long-standing member Betty Sutton, who is leaving Edinburgh to move south, donated a substantial number of Wagner books and recordings for sale at the party, and this raised £143 for the Scholarship Fund. A list of items remaining for sale will be included with the next Newsletter
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
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