Wagner Society of Scotland Journal
Since 2003, two volumes of the Wagner Society of Scotland's biennial scholarly Journal
[ISSN 1741-4105] have been published. Richly illustrated, featuring many colour photographs, the Journal has been produced and printed by Edinburgh design firm LEWIS to an exceptionally high standard. Work on the 2007 Journal is already underway and we expect that it will be published towards the end of the year when, as usual, it will be distributed freely to the Society's members, and the international Wagner Societies.
Volume One of our Journal includes an article by Derek Watson on Wagner in Scotland; Dr Stuart Campbell's study of Wagner on the pages of the Glasgow Herald in the 1870s; and an article on The Ring in Scotland 1910-13 by Richard Telfer. Derek Watson's article examines a Scottish influence on the works of Richard Wagner and his absorption of Scots literature and legend. Watson goes on to look at some notable Scottish Wagnerians, composers, visual artists, writers and poets, as well as the performance history of Wagner in Scotland. Stuart Campbell offers the fruits of his inquiries into the nineteenth century critical reception of Wagner as encountered in the columns of the leading newspaper of 'the second city of the Empire', while Richard Telfer's article celebrates the triumph of Ernest Denhof in giving Scots their first Ring cycle in the years before World War One. In addition to these essays will be found several pages of photographs and illustrations and a review of some of our Society's past events, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Wagner Society of Scotland.
Volume Two, 2005, contains three articles: Parsifal in Zurich by Professor Chris Walton, Wagner and Brass by Professor John Wallace, and Wagner in Brazil by Derek Watson. Chris Walton's article gives an in-depth account of the Zurich production of Parsifal in 1913, the first European production of that work outside of Bayreuth, which is illustrated by a large number of colour pictures, including Gustav Gamper's hitherto unpublished scenery designs. John Wallace emphasises the way in which Wagner's sound world developed out of the Industrial Revolution, which gave birth to new and improved instruments and indeed his 'invention' of the Wagner Tuba itself. Derek Watson's account is of a visit to Brazil for the Manaus Ring Cycle, and clarifies certain facts concerning the Brazilian emperor, Dom Pedro II, who admired the composer. The Journal includes a collection of photographs of Bayreuth taken by the Wagner Society of Scotland's first Bayreuth Scholar, Donna Nicholson-Arnott in addition to a report on the Society's activities between 2003 and 2005.
A limited number of copies of both journals remain! If you wish to order copies @ £10.00 each + postage, please contact the Society Treasurer, Mr John Holcombe.
