Newsletter Vol 9 No 5 December 2005
- Editorial
- Forthcoming Events
- News in Brief
- Bayreuth Ballot 2006
- Were You There...?
- With Our Next Newsletter
Editorial
By way of being an interim Newsletter, this contains fuller details of our January to April events, plus welcome news of another generous allocation of Bayreuth tickets. Only about a sixth of our members now renew by cheque, and they are invited to respond promptly to the reminder recently sent to them. Very best wishes for the coming year to you all.
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 8th January at 7.30pm: 'Wagner and Houston Stewart Chamberlain', a lecture by Dr Roger Allen
Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855-1927) was the son of an English admiral
and a Scottish mother who became one of the most important figures in
the promotion of Bayreuth and the dissemination of Wagner's ideas in
the decades between the composer's death and the outbreak of the First
World War. He is remembered today principally as a racial theoriser and
precursor of Nazi ideology, yet his early Wagner criticism is often perceptive
and reveals a broad knowledge of the scores and associated writings.
This lecture will focus principally on Chamberlain's reception of the Nibelungenring,
and will include discussion of a previously unpublished essay written
shortly after his first experience of the cycle in performance in Munich
in 1878. 
Roger Allen is Fellow and Tutor in Music at
St Peter's College and Lecturer in Music at St Edmund Hall in the University
of Oxford. His doctoral thesis was a study of the writings of Wilhelm
Furtwängler and further research interests include analytical and
aesthetic issues in the works of Wagner and Bruckner. His most recent
publication is a study of Chamberlain and the early reception of Parsifal in
the Companion to Wagner's Parsifal edited by William Kinderman
and Katherine Syer.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6
Sunday 19th February at 7.30pm: An Evening With Jane Irwin
Those who enjoyed the Wagner concert of the 2005 Edinburgh Festival,
will never forget the impassioned Tristan (Christian Franz), the thrilling
Isolde (Christine Brewer, who sang again magnificently at the Usher
Hall a few weeks later in the title role of Fidelio), nor
the splendid Brangaene of Jane Irwin. We are delighted
that the last-named, who has distinguished many an Edinburgh Festival
in concert and recital, and is a greatly cherished teacher at the Royal
Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, will join us for an evening of
conversation about her career and her musical ideals. As well as her
many concert performances with orchestras throughout Europe and the
USA, members may recall her with Scottish Opera as Suzuki (Butterfly),
Maddalena (Rigoletto), Waltraute, Thea (The Knot Garden)
and Fatima in the 2004 EIF Oberon. She has also sung Brangaene for
ENO and the San Francisco Opera. Ms Irwin will discuss her career,
including her Bayreuth experiences, her teaching, and her favourite
music.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6
Friday 24th March at 7.30pm: 'Nietzche's Ideas of History and the Ring', A Lecture by Professor Simon Williams
Simon Williams, born in Wales, is Professor and Chair of the Department
of Dramatic Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has
published several books on German theatre, Shakespeare, and opera, including Richard
Wagner and Festival Theatre (Greenwood, 1994) and 
Wagner and
the Romantic Hero (Cambridge, 2004). He lectures widely on opera,
especially Wagner, and is a regular contributor to Opera News.
In this lecture he will stress that 19th century Europe experienced such
radical change in all facets of life that, as if in denial of this, in
much of its art and culture it attempted to recreate the experience of
past ages. Utilising Nietzsche's ideas as expounded in some of his early
essays, and in Untimely Meditations, Simon Williams will explore
how Wagner's works, and the Ring especially, reflected the various
attitudes of the 19th century towards history: attitudes that, as the
century advanced, became increasingly troubling. The 'trouble' with history
can be seen as one of the major preoccupations of the Ring.
Please note that this is a FRIDAY event! Edinburgh Society
of Musicians, Belford Road (by Dean Bridge). Admission at the door: members £5;
guests £6.
Sunday 2nd April at 7.30PM: 'Richard Strauss and Wagner', A Lecture by Michael Kennedy
In this lecture we will hear about Richard Strauss's admiration for Wagner,
his uneasy friendship with Cosima, and the burden of being dubbed 'Richard
the Third'. Michael Kennedy has been a music critic for over 50 years,
and recently retired as chief critic of the Sunday Telegraph,
a post held since 1989. He has written 2 books on Strauss, as well as
studies of several British composers and conductors.
Edinburgh Society of Musicians, 3 Belford Road (by Dean Bridge).
Admission at the door: members £5; guests £6
News in Brief
- Bryn Terfel. The Welsh baritone will apparently not now sing in the Welsh National Opera Der fliegende Holländer as we announced in the last Newsletter.
- A startling new innovation in south-east Asia, Bangkok Opera, will begin a Ring cycle in February. www.bangkokopera.com
- The Berlin Festtage under Barenboim take place from 8-16 April featuring recent productions of Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal. www.staatsoper-berlin.de
- The Ring cycles in the new opera house in Copenhagen take place on 25-30 April, 2-7 May, 16-21 May and 23-28 May. www.kgl-teater.dk
Following our celebration of Sir Alexander Gibson,
(see Were you there... below), members will be really proud to learn
of the release on CD of the complete Der Rosenkavalier with
Dernesch, Harwood and Baker from Glasgow in 1971. These discs come
together with the Prologue to Ariadne auf Naxos, also featuring
Baker and Dernesch, conducted by Del Mar in Glasgow in 1977. There
is even a further bonus with Frauenliebe- and Leben with Baker
and Graham Johnson. Released by Ponto [PO-1039] there have been distribution
problems with this CD set, but McAlister Matheson Music (0131-228 4780)
hope to have stocks early in 2006.
Bayreuth Ballot 2006
The Society is delighted to have been allocated 60 tickets for next summer's Bayreuth Festival: 20 each for Parsifal on 19 August, Der fliegende Holländer on 20 August and Tristan und Isolde on 21 August. As we have so many new members, we thought that it would be a good idea to set out the rules for our annual ballot of Bayreuth tickets and to emphasise that these much sought-after tickets are a very special privilege for members of our Society. It is therefore essential that the conditions given below, which conform to rules set by the Bayreuth box office, are strictly adhered to.
If you wish to enter, please complete the application form enclosed with this Newsletter, and retain this information for future reference. You will find it helpful if you are one of the lucky winners!
The most important condition is that tickets are for members only. Single membership entitles you to one set of tickets and joint membership to two sets of tickets. In the case of joint membership, both members must have been named on your original subscription application form (check your mailing address label). We do allow two single members to apply for tickets on the same ballot form (for one set of tickets each).
We try to ensure that as many members as possible have the opportunity to visit Bayreuth. If you were successful in the 2005 ballot you are not eligible to apply in 2006. Applications are divided into two groups: those who have never been to Bayreuth; and those who have been successful in previous ballots. The tickets are divided proportionately and priority is given to those who have never been successful in our ballot.
If you are successful in the ballot, you must accept all the tickets offered. If you are not prepared to do this, the tickets will be offered to the members on the waiting list.
The final requirement is that you must have paid your annual subscription by the time the draw takes place. This will be at the 19 February meeting.
Here is a copy of this year's ballot conditions:
1. This draw is open only to those who are fully paid-up members of the Wagner Society of Scotland at 19 February 2006.
2. A member can submit only 1 application. Single members are entitled to one set of tickets. Joint members are entitled to two sets of tickets. Two single members may apply jointly for a set of tickets each, using one ballot form.
3. Applications for the ballot must be received no later than Wednesday 15 February 2006.
4. The draw will take place at the Society's meeting on Sunday 19 February 2006.
5. Payment for tickets by cheque or postal order, payable to 'Wagner Society of Scotland', must be made in full before Friday 10 March 2006, or the tickets will be disposed of elsewhere.
6. Where an application is received from joint members or two single members, we cannot guarantee that tickets will be for adjacent seats, but every effort will be made to ensure that the seats are as near to one another as practicable.
7. Any member who was successful in our 2005 Bayreuth ballot is disqualified from the present ballot, and the first 12 (out of 20) tickets drawn will be reserved for members who have never previously been successful in our ballot.
8. If you are successful in the ballot, you must accept the full set of tickets offered.
9. The Society is obliged to submit to the Bayreuther Festspiele a list of the names and addresses of successful entrants, and only those persons on the list will be admitted to the Festspielhaus. If entrants cannot use their tickets for any reason they must be returned to the Secretary of the Wagner Society of Scotland so that a refund can be arranged.
10. If you cannot attend the draw on Sunday 19 February, you will be informed by telephone shortly afterwards if you were successful.
11. The price per ticket is £47, £62 or £72, which includes bank charges and other expenses incurred by the Society.
Were you there...?
- On 25 September when we paid tribute to Sir Alexander Gibson, 10 years on from his death. We were delighted that our Honorary Member Lady Gibson could attend to hear Iain Millar's tribute and some rare recordings.
- On 9 October when many who had attended Bayreuth 2005 wrote in, or attended in person, to express their appreciation and their views on what they saw and heard.
- On 6 November when Professor Arnold Maran gave a superb lecture with PowerPoint illustrations (on our newly-acquired equipment) on voice production.
- On 24 November at the Goethe Institut, where Jane Eaglen talked to Will Scott for a couple of hours about her career and views on Wagner and singing in general.
- On 4 December when Michael Romer of Peter Green Wines Ltd expertly led a Christmas wine tasting with a Wagner theme.
With our next Newsletter...
...full details of our summer school on Lohengrin at Carberry.
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
