unflagging enthusiasm, organizational skills, and energy, she will be a great asset to the Society. See her photo on page 4.

The Spring’s Events

Last spring brought us three well-attended and enjoyable events (see the photos in this issue). On April 21 Erika Reitshamer presented “: The Swedish Soprano Who Tamed Wagner,” an audiovisual treat with rare recordings. Ms. Reitshamer regaled us with anecdotes from Nilsson’s memorable life, some of which are hilarious. Here are a few: Once Nilsson quipped: “Isolde made me famous. made me rich.” On another occasion, when Herbert von Karajan was annoyed at her refusal to show him the reverence he thought was his due, Nilsson called him Herbie. And during a piano rehearsal, when her string necklace broke, Karajan Wagneriana sarcastically asked her if the necklace was made of real pearls bought with the phenomenal fees that the Metropolitan paid her. “Oh, no,” came the tart reply. “They’re only imitation ones that I bought

. . . das Mitleid’s höchste Kraft out of your low fees in Vienna!” Needless to say, we learned a great deal about this beloved soprano. und reinsten Wissens Macht Summer 2007 On May 30 the independent scholar Paul Heise made a return visit to , this time to speak about dem zagen Thoren gab. Volume 4, Number 3 Feuerbach’s influence on . Once again, his talk gave much food for thought. For highlights of his –Parsifal talk, see page 7. From the Editor June 23 brought a talk and book signing by the brilliant musicologist Dr. Ira Braus, author of the wonderfully entertaining and erudite Classical Cooks: A Gastrohistory of Western Music. Dr. Braus gave live ecently a member asked me who my favorite composer was. Then the member wondered what it demonstrations on the piano and on cassette to exemplify the surprisingly close connection between is that I love so much about Wagner’s music. The same question asked about a composer such as food and classical music. Many of the dishes and recipes favored by composers were available for the R Liszt or Chopin would be easy to answer. For Liszt, I would use terms such as “effervescent, guests’ enjoyment, among them Mehlspeise (croquettes) for Beethoven, asparagus for Brahms, showy, delightful.” For Chopin, I would say “elegant, refined, soothing.” But for Wagner, these strawberries for Mendelssohn, buttered scones for Debussy, mushrooms for John Cage, pirozhki for adjectives are useless. On the day I was asked the question, all I could come up with on the spur of the Prokofiev, beans for Puccini, black forest cake for Schumann, and more. Each dish was accompanied by moment was “mature, deep, challenging.” But that is only a sliver of the proverbial tip of the iceberg. If I a note card containing a quote from the book, and the busts of several composers adorned the table. had thought more about it, I would have said “deeply humane, individualistic, sublime, glorious, –Dalia Geffen dramatic,” but then I’d be left wondering whether any words are adequate enough to explain Wagner’s oeuvre. Donations It occurred to me that conveying the experience of listening to and/or watching Wagner’s music dramas may well be impossible. Wagner is so complex that perhaps only a certain kind of listening, a hank you to all who responded to our fund-raising efforts. Your generous donations will help us courageous and patient listening in which the mind, heart, and ears remain as open as possible, is bring you quality programs in the coming season. Here is a list of our donors so far. required to understand why he compels so much devotion. Then the rewards are incomparable. T THE R ING ($250 and up) Through this kind of attentive listening, we can see ourselves as we really are in the depths of our Graziella Abu-Jawdeh psyches, a place where an inchoate tangle of passions rules. We may see ourselves in the deep Arnold Garrison compassion of Siegmund’s song, the sad loneliness of the Dutchman’s monologue, the sage wisdom of Richard M. Hunt Gurnemanz’s teachings, the repellent machinations of Hagen, the unearthly love of Tristan and Isolde, Edward Pinkus the joyous cry of the Valkyries, and the majestic mourning of Siegfried’s death. The music can be Samuel Pinós magnificently beautiful (as in Wotan’s Farewell) or disappointingly ugly (the pact to murder Siegfried). But it invariably tracks each and every character’s feelings with astonishing fidelity and skill. It always NOTHUNG ($100–$249) makes a deep kind of sense, has a certain rightness to it that I find unique in the history of music. I am Martin D. Becker Alejandro Milberg convinced that this is a place where only the brave and the deeply curious dare to tread. Jacopo Buongiorno

A New Vice President Mary and Edgar Schein

TARNHELM ($25–$99) We are pleased to announce that Erika Reitshamer is our new vice president. Peter Bates, who served Zoltan Feher faithfully for three years, has resigned. We are grateful to him for his support and technical advice, as Evangelos Gragoudas well as for his photographs (some of which you might still see here). Cheryl Levin Ms. Reitshamer has been a member of the Boston Wagner Society since November 2004. During that Peggy Pressman time, she has tirelessly announced our activities by handing out flyers and recruiting members. She has also volunteered at various events, proofread the newsletter, provided English translations of German There is still time to make your donations. The names of future donors will appear in the fall issue. text, and given a presentation on Birgit Nilsson. In addition, she has contributed photographs. With her 2 Deborah Voigt at a Master Class so well acted, you can lose yourself in it and not notice the technical shortcomings. Meistersinger is Wagner’s only comedy; it had better be funny, This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Opera Institute at , and, in collaboration and this one is. And it had better be well sung. No problems there. Well, with the Voice Department at the School of Music and the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, a maybe one. , who plays Hans Sachs, sings in an overcast public master class with Deborah Voigt was presented on May 29, 2007, at the school’s Tsai Center. manner. Gray is his tone color. Even when he is angry, railing at human Deborah Voigt is well known in all the major operatic and concert venues, both U. S. and foreign, and is frailty in the celebrated “Wahn Monologue,” Tozzi seems slightly stiff, particularly noted for the Wagner heroines Elsa, Elisabeth, Senta, and Isolde. Her appearance here was controlled. Compare his to Wolfgang Brendel’s performance at the Deutsche highly anticipated and very well attended. The students sang a variety of material ranging from Mozart Oper in Berlin, released two years ago (also by Art Haus), and you will see to Puccini, in Italian, French, German, and Russian. There must have been enormous pressure on the more layers of subtlety and dramatic tension in Brendel’s. On the other hand, young singers, who had to perform before a world-famous diva, but they put aside their inhibitions and Toni Blankenheim as the bureaucratic Sixtus Beckmesser is precious. Using showed once again the high quality of the voice students at this prestigious school. just the right combination of ludicrousness and menace, Blankenheim gives Wagner was heard only once, in Wolfram’s “O du mein holder Abendstern” from Tannhäuser. Ms. us a Beckmesser well worth pondering for hours. His pantomime scene in Voigt made it a point to tell the attendees that the popular assertion that the German language is too Act 3, Scene 3 is well improvised, and his vocal gymnastics during his master guttural and not good for the voice is “not true.” All the young singers benefited from her teaching, in song are so sprightly they’re hilarious. As Eva, displays which she emphasized correct voice placement and proper breathing in order to maintain a solid curiously sexless, fifties-mom acting chops, but still manages a poignant duet with Sachs in Act 3, Scene foundation for an operatic career. 4. And as Walther, Richard Cassilly sings the role so well, so professionally, he stuns. He conveys Afterward, during the question-and-answer session, she responded to several queries about her adoration and annoyance with equal alacrity. I have only one question: why did they leave out my career with honesty and humor. In reference to dramatic soprano voices, she said, “We don’t grow on favorite excerpt, David’s “Mein Herr,” from Act 1, Scene 2? How is master singer Walther going to be trees. I am fortunate to be on that tree.” She reminded us that a major boost to her career had been her able to tell the difference between a Pewter and a Cinnamon-Stick melody? performance of Ariadne with the Boston Lyric Opera and the subsequent rave review in the New York –Peter Bates Times. Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena, with which she was recently involved at the , was her idea; she noted that she is one of the few singers to be asked what she would like to sing rather than Photos from the Spring Events being told what to sing. When asked what effect her weight loss on the voice (we knew that was coming), she replied that everything affects the voice—travel, trauma, break-ups, weight loss, and weight gain; the most important element is technique, so that when these events happen, technique can come to the rescue. Asked about her attempt to sing Bellini’s , she answered: “No. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” Does she get nervous before a performance? “I do get nervous. However, preparation takes care of nervousness. If you’re prepared, you shouldn't get (too) nervous.” Does she have any “diva stories”? “Yes, but I'm not going to tell you!” With that moment of levity, she ended the session. We look forward to her appearances, operatic and nonoperatic, on the world's stages for many years to come. We Wagnerites are anticipating her Isolde next season at the Metropolitan Opera, and in the future, her Brünnhilde. –Angelo Mammano Angelo Mammano is the assistant editor of Wagneriana.

A Well-Restored Film of Meistersinger

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; Giorgio Tozzi, Richard Cassilly, Arlene Saunders, Ernst Wiemann, Toni Blankenheim. Musical director: Leopold Ludwig, Philharmonic State Orchestra (1970); Art Haus 101 273; video: 4:3, color; mono; length: 240; ***1/2 Erika Reitshamer at the Birgit Nilsson Paul Heise at his presentation of “Feuerbach’s You read it right. Because it was filmed on video, this 1970 production is in mono. It doesn’t matter a presentation on April 23 at the BPL. Influence on Parsifal, ” May 30, Wellesley Free whole lot. True, the sound is a bit clipped at the highs and surround sound is still—for the most part— The caricature of Nilsson is by Einer Library. (Photo by Erika Reitshamer) two years from its first generation, SQ (Stereo Quadraphonic); yet the singing, indeed the whole Nerman. (Photo by Dalia Geffen) experience, suffers little for it. Sagely, the sound engineers post-dubbed the recording many years ago, which, in my view, compensates. No slamming doors, no pattering feet, no voices swallowed by ill- aimed directional mikes. The visuals are fairly good, with only an occasional dust fleck or wiggly hair. The color, nowhere near as brilliant as today’s, is serviceable. (The studio politely warns us in the credits.) All considered, it’s a well-restored film of a German television production. More important, it is 3 4 There have been many recordings of the piece over the years. Let us examine some of these recordings in chronological order and discover how singers, conductors, and directors have interpreted this amazing work. The classic recording is the one in which Bruno Walter led the Vienna Philharmonic in June 1935. The soloists are Lotte Lehmann, , and Emanuel List. Lehmann, one of the outstanding Lieder singers of the twentieth century, makes every word, note, and rest meaningful. The tessitura is perfect for her. This is a performance to treasure. Both Melchior and List have power to spare but are kept in check by Walter, who gives a masterly account of the score. Another performance by Melchior as Siegmund took place in Boston, a Metropolitan Opera tour in 1940. Here his Sieglinde is (see “Historical Singers” in this issue), with List again as Hunding. The big difference is the

conductor, Erich Leinsdorf. Melchior is allowed free rein to ignore the niceties of dynamics and note From left to right: Clara Kozol, Reginald McKeen, and Dr. Ira Braus talking about classical cooks, with values. This is a no-holds barred reading—all three singers have glorious voices and want you to know Dalia Geffen listening. (Photo by Peter Bates) Edward Pinkus at the Classical Cooks event on June 23. (Photos by Erika Reitshamer) it. and soprano seem to be in a contest to see how each can impress the audience more—stentor for stentor. I don’t think you will ever hear Siegmund’s “Wälse” sung as brazenly and excitingly as Melchior sings it here. Back in New York, Erich Leinsdorf conducted a Met broadcast of Die Walküre on December 6, 1941—again with Melchior, but this time with as Sieglinde and Alexander Kipnis as Hunding. Melchior is much more expressive here, paying more attention to dynamics and vocal coloring. Varnay is a very sensitive interpreter. She doesn’t give it her all at the beginning but builds the character slowly and tellingly. Kipnis is a magnificent, sonorous Hunding, using much parlando when it suits his purpose. In 1977 Patrice Chéreau and collaborated on the centenary production of the Ring at Bayreuth. In Die Walküre, the Act 1 principals were Jeanine Altmeyer, Peter Hofmann, and Matti Salminen. Altmeyer and Hofmann seem to have been chosen as much for their physical attributes as for their vocal ones. They may be the most affectionate Wagnerian twins you will ever see onstage. Fortunately, they also sing well. Salminen enters his impressive-looking abode with an entourage of rather scary-looking kinsmen, who disappear when he does. This is a most impressive theatrical achievement.

Dalia Geffen at the Classical Cooks event. From left to right: Edward Pinkus, Heinz and Johanna The Metropolitan Opera video of April 1989 stars , Gary Lakes, and Kurt Moll, Schönmetzler, and the feline Isolde. conducted by . This is of course the Günther Schneider-Siemssen production, which traditionalists acclaim and anarchists assail. Norman and Lakes could Act 1 of Die Walküre on Record never be mistaken for enraptured young lovers, but they sing with meaning and have beautiful voices. Moll is so good you almost wish that hen symphony music directors decide that it is time to program some Wagner—not only Wagner had given him a huge solo piece of his own. The orchestra is orchestral pieces like the Siegfried Idyll or the prelude to , but also vocal pieces—they unsurpassed in beauty of tone, responsiveness, and artistry under their invariably turn to the first act of Die Walküre. This act requires only three singers and gives great leader, James Levine. W In 2002 and 2003, Christoph Nel unveiled his Ring production at each one an opportunity to portray a character in various stages of stress and distress, and in the case of the twins—Siegmund and Sieglinde—a happy ending, at least until after intermission. The length of the Stuttgart. The conductor is Lothar Zagrosek, and the Walküre trio are act isn’t too difficult for the concert audience to endure, which is certainly in the music’s favor. Concert Angela Denoke, Robert Gambill, and Attila Jun. Costuming is audiences, as we know, do not have the stamina and perseverance of us opera house denizens, who contemporary, so to speak. Siegmund drinks water from Sieglinde’s hand, never lose concentration, even during the longueurs of the first act of Götterdämmerung. I have attended and then proceeds to lick her fingers. Oh, well. The arrival of spring is heralded by the presence of two many performances of Act 1 of Die Walküre, a particular favorite having been a Boston Symphony large white sheets on opposite sides of the stage waving in the wind. Denoke sings and acts well. I wish Orchestra traversal, with Bernard Haitink conducting American singers Jeanine Altmeyer, Gary Lakes, I could say as much for the contributions of Gambill and Jun. and Paul Plishka. I was also present at Leonie Rysanek’s 25th anniversary gala at the Metropolitan In the summer of 2005, at the London Proms, Antonio Pappano conducted a concert performance of Opera, where she sang Sieglinde in a concert version of Act 1 of Die Walküre, and it was unforgettable. Die Walküre. The first act featured Waltraud Meier, Plácido Domingo, and Eric Halverson. Pappano does well but pales in comparison with our own James Levine; where Pappano is prosaic, Levine is poetic. 5 6 Meier and Halverson are well-routined Wagnerians and are in good form here. Domingo is a Siegmund mother died eight days after giving birth. All six children had veteran, and it shows in his command of the language and in his extraordinary understanding of duties to perform on the farmland. As a child, Lawrence’s phrasing and nuance. Siegmund is a role that sounds best in the tenor voice but remains adamantly in morning began with milking the cows, and in the evening, when the range. As such, it is perfect for Domingo. the day’s work was done, she and the family gathered around the I hope that you will be able to experience these recordings yourself. The variety of interpretations of piano and to sing until bedtime. The local pastor, Rev. Alex these recordings attests to the durability of the piece, one of Wagner’s most inspired creations. Pearce, was a “godsend” to her. He organized concerts all over –Angelo Mammano the district, and Lawrence sang for him as a choir member and, Angelo Mammano is the assistant editor of Wagneriana. frequently, as soloist. At the age of 18, she traveled to to sing for the respected voice teacher Ivor Boustead. She made a Highlights of “Feuerbach’s Influence on Parsifal” good impression on him, which gave her the impetus to aim for an operatic career. Under his tutelage she developed technically On May 30 Paul Heise, an independent scholar, talked about the German philosopher Ludwig and interpretatively. In 1928 she participated in the Feuerbach’s vast influence on Wagner’s music dramas and presented a slide show of the two men’s Musical Competitions and won all the contests she entered. It was writings. According to Heise, Wagner was influenced by four books written by Feuerbach: Thoughts on the turning point in her life. Her father, who had been violently Death and Immortality (1830), The Essence of Christianity (1841), The Principles of the Philosophy of the Future opposed to her singing professionally, came around when the (1843), and Lectures on the Essence of Religion (1848). Melbourne newspapers acclaimed his daughter as the next Nellie One of the major theses presented was that in Wagner art replaces religion. For example, after reading Melba. Feuerbach’s Thoughts on Death and Immortality, Wagner wrote: In October 1928, she was on her way to Paris. On the recommendation of the celebrated Australian

I found it elevating and consoling to be assured that the sole authentic immortality adheres only baritone , she sang for the leading Paris voice teacher Cécile Gilly. Mme. Gilly to sublime deeds and inspired works of art. (…) [P. 431] The fact that he [Feuerbach] proclaimed immediately acclaimed Marjorie as “une vraie soprano dramatique . . . une soprano Wagnerienne!” [a what we call “spirit” to lie in our aesthetic perceptions of the tangible world … was what real dramatic soprano . . . a Wagnerian soprano!]. There was a great deal of work ahead for Lawrence. afforded me such useful support in my conception of a work of art which would be all-embracing She knew no French, her clothes were unfashionable, and sometimes she had barely enough to eat, but while remaining comprehensible to the simplest, purely human power of discernment, that is, of nothing deterred her from her chosen career path. In time she was allowed to sing arias at her lessons, the drama made perfect … in “the art-work of the future.” ( Mein Leben ) then later operatic roles, and finally, when she was ready, to audition for opera companies. Her first operatic engagement was at Monte Carlo in 1932, as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser. At the on The following quotes (the first by Feuerbach, and the second by Wagner) are just one example of the February 26, 1933, she made a sensational debut as Ortrud in Lohengrin. Later she also appeared there as similarities in their thinking. Brünnhilde, , and Massenet’s Salomé. In 1935 she traveled to New York and made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Walküre Brünnhilde A God is an imaginary being, a product of fantasy; and because fantasy is the essential form or on December 2. In the cast were Friedrich Schorr, Lauritz Melchior, and Elisabeth Rethberg. There could organ of poetry, it may also be said that religion is poetry, that a God is a poetic being. (…) And not have been a better cast, and Lawrence could not have had a greater success. She then sang Isolde in this brings us to an essential limitation of the statement that religion is poetry. In a sense it is Lyon, in St. Louis, and Kundry and Senta in Buenos Aires. On January 2, 1941, after a New poetry, but with one important difference: poetry and art in general do not represent their York Brünnhilde, she spent time meeting her fans, one of whom, Dr. Tom King, made a special creations as anything but what they are, namely products of art, whereas religion represents its impression on her. On March 29 of that year, they were married. They planned on spending their imaginary beings as real beings. ( Lectures on the Essence of Religion ) honeymoon in Mexico City, where Lawrence was engaged to sing in Die Walküre . During the dress rehearsal, she experienced excruciating pain and then gradual paralysis. She was diagnosed as having One might say that where Religion becomes artificial, it is reserved for Art to save the spirit of poliomyelitis. Treatments followed at Hot Springs, Arkansas, then Minneapolis, and then Miami. She religion by recognising the figurative value of the mythic symbols which the former would have never gave up her wish to sing again. In December 1941 she sang the Lord’s Prayer in a Miami church in us believe in their literal sense, and revealing their deep and hidden truth through an ideal a wheelchair. Back in New York, she sang the Immolation Scene at a Town Hall recital. On December 27, presentation. Whilst the priest stakes everything on the religious allegories being accepted as 1942, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Venus, reclining on a couch. This was followed by matters of fact, the artist has no concern at all with such a thing, since he freely and openly gives Isolde in New York and Amneris in Paris. She received the Légion d’Honneur in Paris in 1946 and was out his work as his own invention. ( Religion and Art, vol. 6 of ’s Prose Works, trans. honored with a CBE in London in 1976. Her life story was made into a Hollywood film in 1955— William Ashton Ellis, p. 213) . is the voice of Marjorie Lawrence. After her retirement from the opera The stimulating talk was followed by many questions among the audience. and concert stage, she taught at Tulane, Southern Illinois, and Arkansas Universities. She died on –Dalia Geffen January 13, 1979 at Harmony Hills, her loving home at Little Rock, Arkansas. –Angelo Mammano Historical Singers: Marjorie Lawrence (1909–1979)

Marjorie Lawrence, one of the most gifted dramatic sopranos of the twentieth century, was born on Wagneriana is a publication of the Boston Wagner Society, copyright © The Boston Wagner Society, Inc. Logo design by Sasha Geffen. Printing by Paul Geffen. February 17, 1909, in Australia, at Dean’s Marsh, near Winchelsea, Victoria. She was part of a large and Contact information: 617-323-6088; [email protected]; P.O. Box 320033, Boston, MA 02132-0001; loving family that remained strong in the face of adversity. When Lawrence was only two years old, her www.bostonwagnersociety.org. 7 8