No: 210 July 2013 Wagner news Number 210 July 2013 CONTENTS 4 The importance of the Bayreuth Bursary Dame Gwyneth Jones 6 Chairman’s Reply Richard Miles 7 The Wagner Society Singing Competition Andrea Buchanan 8 Chairman demands President’s resignation Dame Gwyneth Jones 10 The role of the Committee, The President and Wagner News Richard Miles 11 Avoiding the “Nuclear Option” Ken Sunshine 12 From the Committee Andrea Buchanan 13 New Committee Member Peter Leppard 14 Pleased to meet you Richard Carter 15 Leipzig Kongress Andrea Buchanan 16 Leipzig: Anvils and steerhorns in the organ loft John Crowther 18 The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian feature Rachel Nicholls 19 BBC Radio 3 In Tune interview with Rachell Nicholls Sean Rafferty 19 A Tribute to Ava June Alberto Remedios CBE 20 Wagner at Meinigen Paul Dawson-Bowling 22 Parsifal at the Met Richard Phillips 23 Chelsea Opera Die Feen Gerald Mallon 24 Berlin Ring Jorge Rodrigues 25 Cottbus Götterdämmerung Jorge Rodrigues 26 Ghent Parsifal Richard Phillips 27 Naples Holländer Bill Bliss 28 Keith Warner Lecture Richard Everall 29 Producing Wagner News: Now we are four Ken Sunshine 30 Wagner Bicentenary Celebrations Katie Barnes 33 Wagner Bicentenary Concert Meirion Bowen 34 Leipzig Die Feen Gerald Mallon 35 Leipzig Rienzi Gerald Mallon 36 Cardiff Lohengrin Bill Bliss 37 Cardiff Lohengrin Hilary Reid Evans 38 University of Leeds Wagner Conference Roger Lee 40 Gods and Heroes weekend: Sir John Tomlinson Masterclasses Katie Barnes 44 Gods and Heroes weekend: An Operatic Bestiary Katie Barnes 46 Gods and Heroes weekend: Sir John Tomlinson Concert Katie Barnes 50 Gods and Heroes weekend: Interview with Sir John Tomlinson Katie Barnes 52 Gods and Heroes weekend: Paul Dawson-Bowling’s book launch Katie Barnes 53 Opera North’s Siegfried reviewed by a Holocaust survivor Trude Silman 54 Book review: The Wagner Experience and its Meaning to us Roger Lee 56 Book review: Forbidden Music Kevin Stephens 57 The Wagner Society Website Charlie Furness Smith 58 Diary of a Longborough Vassal Nick Fowler 60 Meeting Richard Wagner while walking the dog Martin Graham 60 Parsifal and the Zoroastrians of India Freddie Desai 61 The demise of the Northern Wagner Orchestra Sue Watts 62 A Tribute to Robert Presley Ian Wilson-Pope Cover photo by Richard Carter shows Keith Warner receiving the Wagner Society’s Sir Reginald Goodall Memorial Award from Society Chairman Richard Miles. Printed by Rap Spiderweb – www.rapspiderweb.com 0161 947 3700 EDITOR’S NOTE The cover of this issue of Wagner News shows opera director Keith Warner receiving the Wagner Society’s Sir Reginald Goodall Memorial Award from Society Chairman, Richard Miles. The presentation took place following Keith Warner’s delivery of the Dame Eva Turner Lecture on 24 th April at Queen’s College, when his subject was “Wagner in Practice.” Keith Warner directed the Royal Opera House’s first Ring of the 21 st Century, which was built up between 2004 and 2007 and presented as complete cycles in 2007 and 2012. He was just 13 years of age when he saw Reginald Goodall’s Mastersingers at Sadler’s Wells. He saw his first complete Ring at Covent Garden when he was 15 and he attended almost all of the Goodall performances of the Ring at the Coliseum in the early 1970s. As a Drama undergraduate at Bristol University, Warner was surprised that nobody was lecturing on Wagner: “the greatest 19 th Century practitioner of theatre prior to Ibsen who was driven by a vision of the theatre that went further than anybody who has lived before or since.” During his time at Bristol he won a directing place on Friedelind Wagner’s opera masterclasses which took him to Bayreuth for the 1976 Patrice Chéreau Centenary Ring which he describes as “a work of genius”. For Warner, the most radical part of Wagner’s thought was the idea that theatre had to be central to society. “His belief that theatre could have value to renew a whole society was truly revolutionary. Unlike any other composer, and even unlike most playwrights, he wanted an enormous debate about the nature of living.” As a young man he found the sheer dramatic power of Wagner to be quite extraordinary. “It seemed to me to be theatre about issues which opera doesn’t usually deal with or only touches on in a sentimental, overly emotional way.” Upon receiving the Wagner Society Goodall Award, Keith Warner said that he felt extremely honoured, not least in view of distinguished previous recipients of the Award. He said that he had always held the Society in high regard and saluted its members for their devotion to Wagner –3– THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BAYREUTH BURSARY AWARD Dame Gwyneth Jones I was recently informed by the President of The International Richard-Wagner Verband (Frau Prof. Eva Märtson) and the Director of The Richard Wagner Stipendienstiftung (Herr Dr. Stefan Specht) that the Wagner Society had written to tell them that it will not take part in the Stipendienstiftung for 2014 and beyond. They naturally thought that, as President of the Wagner Society, I knew about this, and that I was in agreement with it. In fact I was surprised to discover this decision in April 2013 when it appeared in Wagner News. I have been President of the Wagner Society for 23 years and my career includes 146 performances at The Bayreuth Festival over a 16-year period. I have to say that I oppose this decision very strongly and therefore I have notified the Committee that I wish that this subject be discussed at the AGM so that the members of the Society may have an opportunity to make their own decision as to whether they wish that the Bayreuth Bursary be continued or not. Richard Wagner himself founded the Bayreuth Bursary (which I believe should be open to all musicians: singers, instrumentalists, conductors, pianists etc) with the wish that Wagner Societies worldwide would support the Richard Wagner Stipendienstiftung in order to find new talent for the Bayreuth Festival. It has existed for 135 Years, with over 20,000 young musicians having enjoyed the opportunity of visiting Bayreuth through the financial support of the International Wagner Societies. Among the 63 soloists performing on the stage of the Festspielhaus this year, 19 are former Bayreuth Bursary winners. That is more than 30%! I am sure that the incredible experience of attending performances and hearing the unique Bayreuth sound inspired them and made them determined to come back and stand on that stage themselves. This Prize has only been available to British musicians since 1983 so this wonderful opportunity was denied to previous generations. It should not however be denied to the present and future generations. They also deserve to have a chance to represent their country on the Green Hill and, like Helena Dix recently, to perform there in front of an international audience which includes people like Eva and Katharina Wagner, opera house managements, agents etc, which is like auditioning for all of these people in one concert. What a fabulous opportunity! One simply cannot compare the honour, prestige and inspiration which the Bayreuth Bursary winners receive along with having some paid-for coaching in Wagner roles. In any case, we are already providing coaching and masterclasses (for example from The Mastersingers and The Goodall Academy) and therefore, to use the money from the Bayreuth Bursary for more coaching is rather like putting all one’s eggs into one basket. If there should be a Singing Competition with money as a prize, then surely the winner should be allowed to decide where and with whom he or she wishes to study. I do not agree that the age limit of 35 is too low, as is stated in the Wagner News 209 item: A new singing competition for the Wagner Society . If you look at the high standard of The Kathleen Ferrier Competition, here the age limit is 29 and I tend to agree with this. By the time I was 29 I had sung a large number of leading roles and in fact my international career had already begun. I had sung not only at The Royal Opera, but also in Vienna, Munich, Berlin, and Bayreuth etc. We should not be looking for finished dramatic voices for Brünnhilde, Isolde, Siegfried, Tristan, etc.; but for younger lyric voices who will hopefully eventually develop and be able to sing these heavier roles in the future. –4– In order to have a long and healthy career, a singer should ideally have first had about ten years’ experience singing the more lyric, shorter Wagner roles such as Rhinemaidens, Valkyries, Norns, Eva, Elisabeth, Elsa, Gutrune, Sieglinde, Senta, and also the Italian repertoire and Mozart, etc., before attempting to sing the long, heavy, dramatic repertoire of Wagner and Strauss. The problem is that many, many more opera houses are now performing the Ring and other big dramatic operas and there are simply not enough performers who are able to sing the big dramatic roles. The result is that singers who are too young and inexperienced with lyric voices that have not been given time to develop and mature are being talked into singing them and their careers are nipped in the bud. Young artists also need to have studied languages, which is possible nowadays with free online courses and other inexpensive classes available. There is simply no excuse for not studying a language other than laziness. I get very angry when students use a “translation”, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the text they are singing, instead of using a dictionary to translate every word in order to know what they are singing about.