Newsletter Vol 9 No 3 September 2005
- Editorial
- Forthcoming Events
- Society Journal 2005 & Events 2005 - 06
- Jane Eaglen in Scotland
- Bayreuth 2006
- RWVI Congress: Leipzig 4-8 May 2005
- RWVI Congress 2006
- Book & CD Offers
- News in Brief
Editorial
Bayreuth this summer commemorated 75 years since the deaths of Cosima and Siegfried Wagner and the 25th since that of Winifred Wagner. What a very different world today of Wagner staging and debate since the heyday of any of them! The English translation of Brigitte Hamann's biography of Winifred (see our Book Offer below) and the ominous German world-outlook of one hundred years ago as exemplified by Wagner's son-in-law Houston Stewart Chamberlain, give pause for thought to anyone interested in the fact that Wagner's operas and ideas have always and will always court controversy. Chamberlain, who was of Scottish descent, will be the subject of our January event. Our age has problems with the idea of heroes and heroism: this was the theme of a memorable lecture to us by Barry Millington a year or so ago. The subject is explored extensively by Simon Williams in his new book for Cambridge, Wagner and the Romantic Hero. He is one of the speakers we look forward to welcoming next year. We will continue in the coming season (which sees our 21st birthday!) to offer a variety of ways of understanding and enjoying all aspects of Richard Wagner.
Forthcoming Events
[Important Note: for those who travel by car to our events at the Edinburgh Society of Musicians, please note that there is now no entry to Belford Road from the Queensferry Street / Dean Bridge end. Access is only possible from the western end of Belford Road or via Palmerston Place and Douglas Gardens.]
Sunday 25 September at 7.30pm: A Tribute to Sir Alexander Gibson
To mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the renowned conductor and founder of Scottish Opera we will celebrate Alex's achievements with a short tribute followed by recorded extracts from Der Rosenkavalier and Act III of Siegfried, in live recordings which have never been publicly released.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission £5 members; £6 guests
Sunday 9 October at 7.30pm: Annual General Meeting and Bayreuth Report
Notice is given of the eighth Annual General Meeting of the Society. Any member wishing to serve on the Committee should advise the secretary in writing as soon as possible with the names of a proposer and seconder. After the official business, all those who attended Bayreuth this year will be invited to share their impressions with members.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission free to members (donations will be invited to cover room costs).
Society Journal 2005 & Events 2005 - 06
Our programme for the remainder of 2005-2006 will be announced at the AGM, with full details appearing in a Newsletter shortly thereafter. Here's an outline of plans:
- late October: Lecture, to be announced
- 4 November: An Evening with Jane Eaglen (this is a confirmed date for Glasgow; venue to be announced)
- December: Christmas Wine Tasting
- 8 January: Lecture by Dr Roger Allen on Houston Stewart
Chamberlain and
Wagner (this is a confirmed date for Edinburgh) - February: An evening with a singer - tba
- March: Lecture by Professor Simon Williams
- April: Lecture by Michael Kennedy
- May: Lecture by Derek Watson on Wagner & Venice
- June: An evening with a singer - tba
- June/July: Our summer study days will be devoted to Lohengrin
With the October Newsletter, all members will receive a copy of Volume 2 of our Journal. The first Journal in 2003 was warmly praised and we trust that this year's issue will match its quality. There will be articles by Chris Walton and John Wallace, an account of Wagner and Brazil (with reference to the remarkable 2005 Ring cycle in Manaus) and several pages of photographs.
Jane Eaglen in Scotland
Bayreuth 2006
The Bayreuther Festspiele will open on 25 July 2006 with Der fliegende
Holländer. Tankred Dorst's new production of Der Ring
des Nibelungen, conducted by Christian Thielemann, will be performed
in 3 cycles: 26-31 July, 11-16 August & 22-27 August. There are
also revivals of Parsifal and of Tristan und Isolde,
which ends the festival on 28 August. Members who received ticket application
forms from the Bayreuth box office last year should receive a mailing
soon. Others who wish to apply should request a brochure now from:
Kartenbüro, Postfach 100262, D-95402 BAYREUTH, Germany
RWVI Congress: Leipzig 4-8 May 2005
A diary compiled by Derek Watson and Janet Hilder
[JH's account is the main section in italics below; DW is very grateful to her for reports on the events he couldn't attend.]
City of Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and birthplace of Richard Wagner: this musical richness resounded throughout every day of the International Wagner Society's Congress in Leipzig. The 27th floor of the Congress (Westin) Hotel afforded views of a city which changed aspect in Wagner's lifetime, after his death, of course in World War II, the 50 years of the German Democratic Republic, and radically since then. On the Trail of Richard Wagner was the theme of a guided walk on our first morning. A significant number of famous buildings remain or are finely restored: the Thomas and Nikolai churches with their schools, historic Markt and Rathaus, Auerbach's Cellar, Adolf Wagner's house, the Mendelssohn House, a coffee house frequented by Wagner, Schumann and other artists, nooks and crannies of an impressive past. A plaque records the site of Wagner's birthplace; a simple bust stands in the garden behind the Opera House. Grandiose memorials were planned in the Wilhelmine and Hitler eras. Models and sketches for these were part of an illuminating exhibition, Wagners Heimkehr, in the new Stadtgeschichtliches Museum. Also displayed were original manuscripts, press items, prints, stage sets and costumes illustrating the story of Wagner's impact and performance history in this city.
Wednesday 4 May The Congress opened in the Schauspielhaus at 6pm. After welcoming speeches by Professor Werner Wolf, chairman of the Leipzig Wagner Society, and Josef Lienhart, president of the RWVI, there was a performance of Wieland der Schmied. Wagner's 'sketch for a drama' was given much more than what we might call a 'rehearsed reading'. Led by Schauspielhaus director Wolfgang Engel as narrator, what we witnessed was highly dramatic, ranging from irreverent wit to passages of reverent pathos, at once passionate, engaging and entertaining. In effect the stage premiere of this Wagner work, the actors expertly conveyed the many striking tangents with better-known Wagner pieces. The stage was a delightful clutter of Wagnerian props and costumes, all used to good effect in suggesting heroic and at times touching splendour. Our evening ended with a buffet and Sekt at the Congress hotel.
Thursday 5 May The morning began with the walking tour mentioned above. There followed an illustrated lecture on Wagner production in Leipzig since the 2nd World War, given by someone most admired as a director from those GDR days - Professor Joachim Herz. This took place in the Mendelssohn Hall of the Gewandhaus (a monolithic GDR structure). We then repaired to the main auditorium for a recital of Bach and Liszt by Gewandhaus organist Professor Michael Schönheit - playing a grand instrument well suited to the thrillingly dramatic and poetic virtuosity he brought to the main work of his programme, Liszt's Fantasy and Fugue on a theme of Meyerbeer, Ad nos, ad salutarem undam. For me this was a real highlight of the Congress. In the evening a production of Les Troyens at the Leipzig Opera. Guy Joosten's production began promisingly with a focussed and commandingly dramatic treatment of the fall of Troy. Things slipped badly however in the Carthaginian acts, degenerating scene by scene into a risible parody of Berlioz's moving drama. A shame, given the rarity of its German stagings, that this one descended to the worst level of certain current German directors' taste for inserting absurdity into serious opera. (One redeeming musical feature of the evening must be mentioned: Michail Agafonov's Énée - sung excellently from the pit to the miming of a voiceless tenor onstage.)
Friday 6 May took us first to Merseburg, and another organ recital from Michael Schönheit in the cathedral there. The fascination of this lay in the fact that Liszt's greatest organ works of the 1850s, including the Prelude and Fugue on BACH, which we heard, were first conceived for this very instrument. After a good dinner in the resplendent surroundings of mediaeval Merseburg we proceeded to Bad Lauchstädt and its renowned Goethe Theatre, in which Wagner conducted an opera - Don Giovanni - for the first time. We were treated to Mozart too: La Clemenza di Tito. Despite an awkwardly cramped staging, it was good to experience this piece in a theatre with a long Mozart tradition, and where Goethe, Schiller and Wagner had all made their mark. [Alternatives to the programme described above were offered in Leipzig: a concert at the Mendelssohn House, and Die Zauberflöte at the Opera.]
Saturday 7 May brought the annual meeting of the chairpersons of Wagner Societies worldwide, at which your Society was represented by myself and Will Scott. The historic setting was the renaissance Alten Börse on the Naschmarkt. President Josef Lienhart welcomed those attending for the first time. Paul Götz, manager of the Stipendienstiftung (i.e. the organisation that looks after the arrangements for those young people given scholarships by Societies like ours to attend Bayreuth) gave his report in which he thanked Ursula Springer of New York for a donation of $50,000, and reported that 250 young people from 36 countries would attend this year's festival. After the RWVI accounts were presented and approved, Dr Hans-Günther Lanfer of Trier addressed the meeting with a "best case / worst case" scenario for the future of the RWVI. [Copies of an English translation of this can be had from DW.] Heinz Weyringer from Graz reported on the forthcoming competition for producers and stage designers there. The representatives from Tallin and Helsinki, Marti Raide and Ilkka Paajanen, issued a warm invitation to next May's Congress in their cities. Ingrid Budde asked that international Societies keep the RWVI website informed of Wagner events in their countries. An appeal was also made for the urgent restoration of the Wagner Museum at Graupa near Dresden. Finally there was quite a heated discussion of the location for the 2010 Congress. London had been proposed but there was a prevailing view that a smaller city would be preferable and that the English capital would prove too expensive. Alternatives suggested for 2010 were Riga or Magdeburg. Weimar is Congress city for 2007, Geneva in 2008 and Dresden in 2009.
While the chairpersons convened, others had the opportunity of a visit to the summer residence of the Apel family in Ermlitz. The Apels were Leipzig cloth merchants. Theodor Apel was Wagner's best friend at the Nikolaischule. In the first half of the 19th century, Ermlitz was a cultural meeting place for composers and writers. Theodor's father August Apel wrote plays. Our trip was led by his descendant, Gerd-Heinrich Apel, and it was very interesting to hear a history of the family at first hand. In 1945 the Apel estate was 'enteignet' by the East German authorities. After reunification, the family got the estate back and restoration work is being carried out on the house which has been recognised by the authorities as a cultural monument of national significance. Afterwards there was the opportunity to view some original Wagner-Apel letters exhibited there. In the afternoon we made a visit to Halle, a university and industrial town 38km from Leipzig. The town's wealth was based on salt extraction, a major industry in the Middle Ages. During the GDR period the region surrounding Halle was dominated by the chemical industry and the town was very polluted. Since German reunification, modernisation of the chemical industry seems to have vastly improved the pollution problem. Halle of course is also the birthplace of Handel. We visited the Marienkirche where Martin Luther preached (its great organ inaugurated in 1716 in J.S. Bach's presence) and the Handel House. Hercules was given at the Halle Opera in English, on old instruments with fine soloists. The producer based Hercules on Arnold Schwarzenegger, who according to the programme became "Mr Strong". There was an interesting article in the German programme pointing out how Handel's Hercules had been used during the Nazi period as an example of a hero (other Handel heroes, e.g. Belshazzar, Judas Maccabeus or Saul, could obviously not be used). During the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin there was a performance of Hercules with almost 2,000 people taking part, including SA standard bearers etc. [Among alternative events to the Halle trip, some members greatly enjoyed a concert performance in Leipzig of Der fliegende Holländer in its original text and scoring, complete with Scottish names and references.]
Sunday 8th May The day began with an ecumenical service in the Church of St. Nikolai. Pastor Christian Führer welcomed members of the Wagner Societies and also participants in the Leipzig Bachfest. This was a very moving service marking 60 years after the end of the 2nd World War. Reference was made to the Nazi and East German dictatorships and also a warning given against the rise of the Neonazis. In 1989 the impetus for peaceful demonstration by East German citizens against their state started from this church. Also in this church Bach's St John Passion and Christmas Oratorio were given their first performances. Bach, as Kantor of St Thomas, was also responsible for music in the Nicolaikirche. Extracts from Bach cantatas were performed. This service was I think one of the highlights of the Congress.
A concert featuring the Halle Opera Orchestra followed in the Gewandhaus, conducted by Klaus Weise. This was attended by Wolfgang and Gudrun Wagner, and Verena Lafferenz-Wagner (who was present throughout the Congress). Prefacing Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony and Schumann's Symphony No.2, was a Wagner curiosity - the Christoph Columbus Overture, a product of his friendship with Theodor Apel. Interesting as a remarkable pre-Dutchman sea picture by someone who had yet to cast eyes on the sea (the best verdict on this piece remains Wagner's own in Mein Leben), it can now be enjoyed by all thanks to a recent Naxos release. A festive banquet took place in Auerbach's Keller: among the speakers was the mayor of Leipzig, Wolfgang Tiefensee. The closing evening consisted of a truly splendid performance of Tannhäuser at the Leipzig Opera (using the Paris Act I score). Axel Kober's conducting brought the finest playing from the Gewandhausorchester, the deceptively simple, strong and compelling stage pictures and a really first-rate cast and chorus provided an excited 'buzz' at the champagne buffet that rounded things off. All present from Scotland greatly enjoyed the hospitality of the Leipzig Wagner Society, and much appreciated the provision of English-speaking guides on the walking and coach tours. All in all a most memorable five days in Wagner's Geburtsstadt.
RWVI Congress 2006
Next year's International Congress of Wagner Societies will take place in Tallin, Estonia, from May 24-27. The final day will consist of a boat trip to Helsinki to attend Parsifal at the Finnish National Opera. Anyone wishing to attend should request a brochure now from Derek Watson.
Book & CD Offers
Winifred
Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth by Brigitte Hamann.
Granta Books, 2005, hardback, 582pp. RRP £30. Our price £27.
Lohengrin Naxos,
3 CDs, 8.110235-37: Melchior, Varnay, Thorborg, live at the New York
Met 1943, under Leinsdorf: with an appendix of the Bridal Chamber Scene,
Melchior/Bettendorf, Parlophone, Berlin, 1926. RRP £14.99. Our
price £12.99
To order please fax, email or write to Derek Watson (address below), indicating whether you wish to collect the item(s) at a future meeting or wish to receive them by post. Post & packing is extra. Send no money now! You will be invoiced!
News in Brief
- Our website continues to attract many visitors: 5,435 between January and August, with 831 in April alone.
- The newest opera house in eastern Germany, Theater Erfurt, premieres a production of Parsifal, 29 April - 18 June 2006. www.theater-erfurt.de
- The Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège reach completion of their Ring project with 2 cycles, 17 September - 8 October, & 12-22 October 2005. Tickets on-line: www.orw.be
- Edinburgh Players Opera Group perform Tristan und Isolde: Portobello Town Hall at 10am on Sunday 2 October. Details from Philip Taylor: 01368 850235
- Tannhäuser opens the Grand Théâtre de Genève season, 23 September - 11 October. Olivier Py's staging stars Nina Stemme and Stephen Ford. www.genevaopera.ch
- Leipzig Opera present Parsifal in a joint production with Geneva, 8 April - 20 May 2006. www.oper-leipzig.de
With our next Newsletter...
...full details of our programme from October to next summer, a copy of our bi-annual Journal, and - a new feature - a Catalogue of Books, Scores & CDs of Wagner interest with special discounts for members.
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
Top