Number 202: July 2011 Number 202: July 2011 EDITOR’S NOTE Ensemble: “a community working with shared values and aims”. Not a definition which you will find in any dictionary but just one which I have coined whilst reflecting upon the general state of affairs with which we are left as Malcolm Rivers hands over the Chair to Jeremy Rowe. In his valedictory statement to the AGM Malcolm Rivers spoke of the powerfully synergistic relationships which have now been forged between us, the Music Club of and the “performing arm of the Society”: The Mastersingers Company. Working in ensemble these groups lent their specialist strengths to the “Living in Exile” programme at Aldeburgh which was delivered with all the standards of excellence we have come to expect from Mastersingers productions. 2013 will bring a worldwide festival of Wagner, and we shall be conveyed through it in the safe hands of those who have proved themselves able to create such wonderful special events. This is Malcolm Rivers’ contribution to our future: he has made us into a world-class ensemble.

INSIDE 6 From the retiring Chairman’s address to the Wagner Society AGM 8 News of Young Artists 10 Goodall Academy and Bursary Auditions 12 Mastersingers Aldeburgh Weekend: The Wanderer with James Rutherford 13 Kelvin Lim piano recital 14 Britten and Nolan 15 The Children’s Crusade 16 Dame Anne Evans Masterclass 17 David Edwards: Die Walküre from the Met. 18 Cinema Relay of Die Walküre 20 on “The ” film 23 Pleased to meet you: Peter West 24 in Prague 26 in 27 Parsifal in Barcelona 28 Midsummer ’s Wagner Concert 29 News from Bayreuth 30 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Glyndebourne 34 Tristan und Isolde at Grange Park Opera 36 “Diabolical Dynasty”: Review of Tony Palmer’s DVD: “The Wagner Family” 38 Review of the new ENO guide to Parsifal 42 Farewell to Robert Tear –2– NEW AND RETURNING CONTRIBUTORS

Matthew d’Ancona Award-winning political columnist of the Sunday Telegraph, the Evening Standard and GQ and a former editor of the Spectator, Matthew is writing a book on the coalition government as well as a history of with John Cleese. [email protected] Elaine Fairless Elaine’s most memorable Wagner related experience was that of seeing the Goodall Ring in Oxford in the early 70s. She is also one of the few people who admit to liking the Richard Jones Ring . [email protected] Nina Vincent Nina is a lover of music and opera who has recently returned from working in the Middle East. [email protected] Paul Symons A Society member for 20 years, Paul works in the City of London and is passionate about opera in general and Wagner in particular. [email protected] Ewen Harris A retired engineer and self-confessed Wagner addict, Ewen spends his time rambling in the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains and tutoring in music appreciation. [email protected] Garth Foster Emeritus Professor of Environmental Protection at the Scottish Agricultural College, Garth devotes his retirement to entomology and in particular to editing a newsletter for his beetle club. [email protected] Ken Sunshine Ken says that his qualification for the job of proofreading Wagner News is his pedant’s eye for detail which is also evident in his watercolour paintings. His work leaves slim pickings for error-spotting readers, but if text blemishes may still be found this will not be due to any lack of diligence on his part, but rather to the stubbornness of the Editor. [email protected]

Cover: Kelvin Lim with Julian Black. See report on page13 Photo: Peter West [email protected] 01256 222 339 Designed by Roger Lee. Printed by Rap Spiderweb – www.rapspiderweb.com 0161 947 3700

–3– NEWS FROM THE COMMITTEE MEETING OF 26th MAY 2011 Andrea Buchanan Mike Morgan gave a detailed account of the state of the Society’s finances, which are currently healthy. Most of the subscriptions for 2011 had now been received and both the current and deposit accounts were adequately funded. It had been recommended at an earlier meeting to purchase more Charifund Shares, to replace those that had been disposed of. These shares currently give a better yield than the interest given by any bank or building society, and are therefore seen as a good investment. The Treasurer had therefore invested £5,000 in these shares and we will look at investing further sums in future. Mike took the Committee through the completed 2009 accounts and the draft 2010 accounts which would be presented at the forthcoming AGM. The Committee will also re-establish its annual membership of the International Verband. This had been temporarily suspended in 2010, due to lack of available funds. It was also noted that the membership fees had risen substantially in 2011 and was now 2 per member. These fees have risen due to improved services accorded to internationa€l members in terms of multi-lingual services. As a result of this increase, the Committee discussed the possibility of raising the membership fees in 2012. This will be decided at a future meeting. The importance of maintaining our good relationship and strong communication links with the Verband was stressed. Jeremy Rowe talked about events in the pipeline for 2011/12 and mentioned several exciting projects for 2013, which will be shared with the members in due course. The Committee also discussed the mailing of Wagner News to members, which is currently done manually by Margaret Murphy, and is a herculean task. The Committee will investigate the costs of having this mailing done by the printers in future. There was also some discussion of the library.

–4– ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Highlights from the 57th AGM, held on 7th June 2011 at Queen’s College Andrea Buchanan

There were 45 members present including Dame (President), Mike Morgan (Treasurer), Andrea Buchanan (Secretary elect) and Committee members Geoffrey Griffiths, Pam Hudson, Gary Kahn, Margaret Murphy, Ian Jones, Ralph Wells and Ross Alley. Also present were Malcolm Rivers (former Chair) and Malcolm Spence (former Chair and Committee member). Jeremy Rowe (Chair elect) was unable to attend at the last minute due to personal reasons. Dame Gwyneth Jones gave some introductory remarks in which she urged the Society to move forward following the unfortunate events of the prior year. She mentioned her work with young singers, notably in co-operation with the Wellcome Trust, and remarked that it would be good to attract more younger members to the Society. Malcolm Rivers presented his Chairman’s Report some extracts from which appear in this issue of Wagner News. There was some discussion after this regarding the unusual events of 2010, which will be documented more fully in the minutes. Mike Morgan then presented the 2009 Accounts and the 2010 Draft Accounts to the meeting, giving a clear explanation of several line items, especially those that related to the financial irregularities that had occurred. There was a lively and prolonged discussion after his presentation. In general the conclusion was drawn that tighter financial controls and more detailed accounts were required and Mike assured the membership that these were in hand and would be implemented. The election of the Committee for 2001-12 then followed. All the proposed members either standing for re-election or for election were accepted by the members. A list of those elected appears on page 43. Jeremy Rowe was unanimously elected as Chair in his absence. The meeting voted not to re-elect the current auditors. The (unusually long) meeting ended at 9:10pm. An excellent short recital by heldentenors John Upperton and Brian Green accompanied by Kevin Lim followed. It is hoped that the proposed discussion session and masterclass for the with Neil Howlett that had originally been planned to take place will be rescheduled for a future date.

–5–– 5– A UNITED STRONG ARTISTIC PROFILE

Edited extracts from the retiring Chairman’s address to the Wagner Society AGM 7th June 2011 Much has happened since my last Chairman’s report in May 2010, the main aspects of which have been presented to the Society in a series of reports during the year. We are hugely indebted to Malcolm Spence QC for his services through these troubled times and I consider him worth his weight in gold to the Society. My thanks go also to David Waters for his tireless and most loyal commitment to the Society prior to his retirement from the position of Secretary. We really will never know how much we owe him: and thanks are also due to Elaine Fairless of the Music Club of London. Over the year the Society received many donations from members and a huge bag of mail in support of our efforts. Our dear colleague and Trustee Ralph Wells must have a special mention in this respect. With the strict controls being put in place by our new and devoted Treasurer Mike Morgan, the Society is now in a very sound financial situation with all monies previously reported as missing from our funds being returned. The Wagner Society has recently gained a great family spirit and strength, and in particular I would like to mention the support of the council of the MCL under the leadership of their Chairman Michael Bousfield, who is a former Secretary of the Society and is also on the board of The Mastersingers. Our recent event in Aldeburgh (brilliantly organised by Rosemary Frischer) was a welcome reminder of the friendship that has now been forged between the Society, the MCL and The Mastersingers. The turn-around in the Society, thanks to the support from the full committee these last few months, has been a real success story and the arrival upon the scene of Mike Morgan as Treasurer and Roger Lee as the Editor of Wagner News has been a godsend. I welcome them both along with the return of Andrea Buchanan to our ranks as Secretary and Bayreuth Bursary Administrator. Ross Alley, known to us all from many years of excellent presentations to the Society, also joins the Committee. As a charity the Wagner Society is dependent upon membership subscriptions, income from events as well as donations and bequests. The Mastersingers is a separate organisation which is also a registered charity. It is dedicated to the development of young artists wishing to enter the field of Wagnerian performance through its Young Artists Programme. The Mastersingers company has no membership and therefore is totally dependent upon sponsorship and income from events. There is no other organisation in this country which provides the same or even similar services. The best way I can serve members of the Society is by ensuring that a steady flow of quality events be delivered by The Mastersingers whilst promoting the future generation of Wagner artists. In 1996 the then Programme and Bayreuth Bursary Director Roger Temple invited The Mastersingers to provide a series of live events for the Society to reinforce their programming. This was approved by the then committee because The Mastersingers were able to perform many functions which are essential for the Wagner Society to justify its charity status. Seen by many as the performing arm of the Society, the Mastersingers provide a perfect balance to its academic events. Both organisations now present a united strong artistic profile whilst each of them maintains their individual characteristics in other areas. The Mastersingers delivers at least three major events per year in conjunction with the Society: the Rehearsal Orchestra event each October, the Bayreuth Bursary Day in December and a weekend event at Aldeburgh, Presteigne or another high profile venue. –6–– 6– I have the pleasure of bringing you the latest news of some of our participants in The Mastersingers Young Artists Programme. In addition to what you already know about James Rutherford continuing his success as Hans Sachs at Bayreuth and Alwyn Mellor singing Brünnhilde in major houses throughout Europe and Seattle I can report that another young protégé, , whom we saw in a Masterclass with Dame Anne Evans in Aldeburgh, has been engaged as Brünnhilde by Longborough for the Ring Cycles in 2013. Lee Bissett is singing Sieglinde in Buenos Aires and James Rutherford has also signalled his intent to continue with his studies in the role of Wotan that we started last year with the Rehearsal Orchestra; and so we will be supporting him on his journey to Valhalla. Support remains firm from the Society to other musical organisations such as the Northern Wagner Orchestra and the Rehearsal Orchestra in London as well as to others applying for support on an ad hoc basis. The Society also has an innovative experimental scheme under the umbrella of The Goodall Academy whereby young singers are selected from annual auditions to be awarded small scholarships for study in Wagnerian repertoire, voice training, and German language studies. Monies are paid directly to the coaches and teachers concerned upon receipt of invoices. Previous recipients of such support include Alwyn Mellor and James Rutherford. It is especially rewarding to note the fact that the work of our young artists is attracting funds to the Wagner Society. The Rev Taylor bequested some £16,500 three years ago to the Bayreuth Bursary Fund and theYoung Artists Programme whilst a further £11,000 is in the pipeline as another bequest from a lady in Maida Vale. Mention of the Bayreuth Bursary brings me to saying that all of us over many years have been tremendously indebted to Maureen McIntosh for her tireless devotion to the Bursary and to our young artists in general. She has worked on our behalf not only at Bayreuth but also at the Verband International congresses. She has now retired to allow more time for her personal life and we must all send her our heartiest thanks for her devotion. As with all committee members it should be remembered that this is voluntary work which can be extremely time consuming, often very gratifying but sometimes not so when undue criticism is thrown one’s way. In all the years I have known her, Maureen has never received a word other than of commendation. I cannot praise her enough. Finally I can confirm that 2010 saw the largest allocation of tickets for Bayreuth ever received by the Society. The total of 46 was made up of the usual Friends’ allocation, a new allocation of 30 now due to the Society since David Waters discovered that in all these years we have never been registered with the Bayreuth ticket office and thus eligible for a group booking, plus my personal Chairman’s allocation which I have renounced in favour of the tickets going to the members’ ballot, and four tickets from Maureen McIntosh who only used half of her official Bayreuth Bursary allocation. More thanks are due to David and Maureen and all the committee for their teamwork during these trying twelve months. I will now take my place on the backbenches from where you will hear my voice from time to time. I will be Mr Mastersingers and an ordinary member of the Society. Best wishes to you all, and enjoy your Wagner in whatever way suits you best.

Malcolm Rivers

–7–– 7– NEWS OF YOUNG ARTISTS

Alwyn Mellor On 31st May Alwyn was interviewed by Sean Rafferty on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune” programme prior to her appearance as Isolde at Grange Park Opera. She described the experience as life-changing, unlike anything which she had tackled before. “It tears you up and puts you back together in a different way.” Her spot ended with the first broadcast of a recording of Liebestod which she made at the Wigmore Hall with the Orion Orchestra a couple of years ago.

Richard Berkeley-Steele as Tristan and Alwyn Mellor as Isolde at Grange Park Photo: Alastair Muir for Of her Grange Park performance Rupert Christiansen wrote in the Telegraph: Alwyn Mellor made a highly promising debut as Isolde: her red-blooded soprano combines a firm middle with a confident top, manipulated with stamina, strong attack and clean intonation. In the hysteria of Act I she was fearless. John Allison in Time Out wrote: Tristan und Isolde is an impressive achievement all round, but most of all for Alwyn Mellor, making her debut In his 5 star Guardian review George Hall wrote: Taking on the two vast and almost inhumanly demanding roles are Alwyn Mellor and Richard Berkeley-Steele. The pair possess the sheer stamina to see them through the long evening, with Mellor’s fleshly-toned Isolde sounding amazingly fresh as she soared through the climactic Liebestod while Andrew Rees’ embittered Melot leaves an indelible mark. Fiona Maddocks in described the production as the week’s talking point. Alwyn Mellor has sprung to the fore as a considerable Wagnerian soprano, full of heroic stamina and passion. The audience appeared stunned.

–8–– 8– At whatsonstage.com Simon Thomas writes: Alwyn Mellor’s Isolde is the vocal triumph of the night. It’s a performance that can only grow, and Mellor’s first Isolde promises great and greater things. For Mike Reynolds at musicalcriticism.com this was a wild, spirited Irish princess onstage, a character brimming with energy from her first notes to her last. I found her totally convincing, full-blooded, exciting and a born Wagnerian singer. Alwyn continues as Longborough’s Brünnhilde this summer in and will perform three full Ring cycles next year in Seattle. Details of what must surely be the last chance to hear her for a mere £15 per ticket when she sings the role of Brünnhilde at the Mastersingers “Scenes from Götterdämmerung ” event with the Rehearsal Orchestra on 16th October appear on the back cover of this magazine.

Stuart Pendred Following his Grange Park Opera appearances in and Tristan und Isolde Stuart is now preparing Sciarrone in and Montano in , both for Dorset Opera. He told Wagner News “It has been great to work with people like Alwyn Mellor and Andrew Rees. I’m really enjoying the new journey I'm taking my voice on and the exposure to some amazing music.” His new solo album “Agnus Dei” is due for release in August. “I continue to retain a connection with my ‘former-life’ and I can already see, feel and hear the benefits that the new work and vocal disciplines that I've learnt since I started the transition to opera have already had on my voice when applied to this genre of music. I now think every singer, irrespective of what they end up singing, should learn the foundation techniques that are the building blocks to singing operatically as I believe that they simply benefit the voice and would make everyone who sings a better, healthier singer.” Stuart will be singing the role of at the Mastersingers Götterdämmerung event with Alwyn Mellor and the Rehearsal Orchestra on 16th October. “I'm only too delighted to be involved as the Society continues to support my practical development through my continuing studies with Phillip Thomas and David Syrus at Covent Garden.

Magdalen Ashman The Susan Chilcott Foundation has made their maximum award to Magdalen for training costs to prepare for an audition tour of in the autumn. On winning the Royal Philharmonic Society Susan Chilcott Scholarship Magdalen said: “The most wonderful thing about this is that I actually worked with Susan Chilcott as a member of the Glyndebourne Chorus in Otello when she was singing the role of Desdemona and got to chat with her quite a lot back stage. I had no idea she was ill. Her performance was breathtakingly moving and the powerful voice that came of that slender body remarkable. She was humble and generous with us all despite being such a great artist. I am so grateful that she decided to support the singers coming up behind her and can hardly believe that her generosity is now going to directly help me. I feel very honoured. Thank you, Susan!” Magdalen also paid tribute to her singing teacher Neil Howlett, who originally told her that Wagner would be right for her voice. “He has been amazingly generous with his time over the last two years, and I want to thank him as well as Malcolm Rivers and the Wagner Society for supporting me in a big way.” She will sing the role of Venus in the Northern Wagner Orchestra Tannhäuser at Leeds on 11th September and that of Waltraute on 25th September in the Edinburgh Players Opera Götterdämmerung .

–9–– 9– GOODALL ACADEMY AND BAYREUTH BURSARY AUDITIONS Royal Academy of Music, 27th March 2011

Ludmilla Andrew, Malcolm Rivers and David Edwards made up the adjudicating panel for auditioning no fewer than 30 young singers to recruit the 2011/12 cohort of the Mastersingers Goodall Academy. The successful candidates will recieve top level coaching and the opportunity to gain valuable experience in developing the roles of their choice in specially devised programmes such as the recent “Living in Exile” weekend at Aldeburgh and the forthcoming “Scenes from Götterdämmerung ” event (see: page 44). A further selection from among this group was made to nominate the eight finalists for the 2012 Bayreuth Bursary competition, which will take place on 3rd December at the London Welsh Centre.

BAYREUTH BURSARY FINALISTS

Charne Rochford () Miriam Sharrad (Contralto)

Jonathan Stoughton (Tenor) Justine Viani (Soprano)

– 10 – Simon Lobelson () Ione Cumming (Soprano)

Photography for the above 6 images by Peter West [email protected]

Thomas Humphreys (Baritone) Helena Dix (Soprano)

STOP PRESS Following her Aldeburgh masterclass with Dame Anne Evans (see: page 16) Rachel Nicholls has been cast by Longborough Festival Opera as Brünnhilde for their 2012 Götterdämmerung . She will replace Alwyn Mellor who is Brünnhilde in the 2012 Ring cycle at Seattle. Rachel thanked The Mastersingers for providing a coaching programme with Dame Anne Evans for her to study this role which, she says, “represents a radical change of direction in my career.” Photo: Peter West [email protected]

– 11 – The Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend “THE WANDERER” A RECITAL BY JAMES RUTHERFORD Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, 13th May 2011 Elaine Fairless

This was the first event of the Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend. In an atmosphere of barely suppressed excitement the theme of the weekend – works created away from home – was explained by David Edwards before he introduced the performers: baritone James Rutherford accompanied by Kelvin Lim on the piano. Both were previous winners of Bayreuth Bursary awards. The programme reflected his journey as a singer starting with Schubert Lieder progressing to Mozart and finally Wagner. James started with two songs from Schwanengesang: Ständchen and Aufenthalt. Both were beautifully executed although his voice had almost grown too big for the former and seemed much more comfortable with the latter. Mozart came next with Figaro’s Non piú andrai from Le nozze di Figaro and Leporello’s Il catalogo from . It was amusing that Don Giovanni’s conquests were recorded on a smart phone displaying the number 1003 to the audience. These allowed James’ voice to come more into its own. There was then a change of pace as well as tone as we moved on to Wagner. First we heard Wolfram’s Abendstern from Tannhäuser and this was followed by, for me, the highlight of the evening, the Hans Sachs’ Fliedermonolog. James is currently singing Sachs at Bayreuth and this rendition made it obvious why. He was completely on top of the part which he sang with subtlety and sensitivity. Interviewed by David Edwards about his career to date, James came over as a very personable and amusing young man. We learnt about the money side of singing (recitals are less lucrative than concerts or opera) and the joy of singing in Wagner competitions – ‘no pretty little sopranos to run off with the prizes’. James’ final piece was Wotan’s Farewell from Die Walküre . This was clearly still work in progress and was sung with less confidence although the range was there and it bodes well for a glorious Wagnerian future for him. A word should also be said of Kelvin Lim’s virtuoso performance, particularly during the Wagner but much more was heard of him later in the weekend. As we walked along the seafront back to our hotel we all agreed that it was a wonderful opening night concert.

Julian Black shared accompaniment duties with Kelvin Lim throughout the Aldeburgh weekend Photography: Peter West [email protected] – 12 – COVER STORY The Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend KELVIN LIM PIANO RECITAL Jubilee Hall, 15th May 2011 Nina Vincent

We are used to seeing Kelvin accompanying and supporting the vocalists. The first time I heard him play was at the auditions for the Bayreuth bursaries in March at the Royal Academy of Music. I commented then to others in the small group who had gathered to hear these talented young artists how much I was enjoying his playing. In fact Kelvin himself was the first UK pianist to be awarded the Bayreuth Bursary prize in 2007. This talented artist plays with so much feeling and sympathy and obvious love of the music. In a brief discussion with Kelvin after the performance he told me that he really prefers the role of accompanist as he enjoys working with other musicians. A solo concert can be quite lonely and the practice required (especially for a new piece such as the technically challenging Wanderer Fantasy) takes many hours. He told me that he started learning the piano when he was seven, and even then only under pressure from his parents. It was not until his teens that he realised that playing the piano would be his career choice. The Wanderer Fantasy was suggested by David Edwards to fit in with the theme of the artist exiled from home. The other two pieces were Kelvin’s choices: Parsifal was cursed to wander for years before finally returning in the final act and Tannhäuser, in spite of the pleasures offered by Venus, longs to return to the world. Thus the narrative of the programme fitted perfectly into the theme of the weekend. Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy was played with great dramatic intensity. His detailed reading gave a great sense of the architecture of the piece, and took us on a journey which had moments of passionate yearning, coupled with delicate intimacy. The final movement sounded out with thrilling arpeggios spanning the breadth of the whole instrument. This was followed by an addition to the programme: Liszt’s transcription of the Solemn March to the Holy Grail from Parsifal . This is not so much a direct transcription as much as a musical fantasy on the themes from this great opera. Kelvin’s beautiful rendition evoked the hushed atmosphere of reverence from the opening tolling of the Grail bells to the great chords of the central motif. The final piece was Liszt’s virtuoso transcription of the Overture from Tannhäuser . Kelvin has played this piece several times now and there was a great assuredness from the opening solemnity, where one could almost hear the brass in those haunting chords. He thrilled us on this epic journey across the whole range of orchestral colours from keyboard, and the final minutes, with those huge cascading octaves crashing around the majestic theme, were hugely exciting. The last chords brought the audience cheering to their feet.

– 13 – The Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend BRITTEN AND NOLAN Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh 15th May 2011 Roger Lee

Chairman of the Sidney Nolan Trust Sir John Tooley talked to Humphrey Burton about the work of Sir Sidney Nolan who illustrated the first edition of ’s 1969 work: Kinderkreuzzug – The Children’s Crusade. Sir John explained that Sidney Nolan came from Australia in the 1940s having deserted from the army during the Second World War. He had two musical passions: Britten and Wagner, and he was extraordinarily well-informed about the latter. “When we put together a new production of Der Ring at House in 1976 we wanted Sidney to design it, and although he was very enthusiastic he eventually had to turn it down from Australia where the lack of money available for a Ring at Victoria Opera Melbourne was another big blow against his ambition to design a Wagner production.” In 1947 Nolan first heard Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations . and it made an extraordinary impact upon him. In 1951 Sir Kenneth Clark introduced Nolan to Britten and this marked the start of a very remarkable friendship and a collaboration which began in 1964 with , the first of the Church Parables. Nolan was fascinated by what Britten and Peter Pears were discussing in terms of setting up a new concert hall complete with rehearsal rooms, exhibition galleries, teaching rooms, workshop spaces, etc. From the mid sixties onwards Britten and Nolan talked more and more about the kinds of things artists should be doing. Both were strongly related to nature: Ben particularly to the sea and Sidney to the Australian outback as well as to the English countryside. He fell in love with Herefordshire and the beautiful hills of the Welsh borders. When he saw the part 16th century property near Presteigne known as The Rodd he said: “this is the house and the estate I want” and he bought it with an adjoining 250 acre organic farm. “Today the Sidney Nolan Trust is housed there in a wonderful complex of buildings in which we hosted the Mastersingers’ inaugural Goodall Academy event in August 2010. “The collaboration between Ben and Sidney was there more in Spirit than reality. They discussed aboriginal culture a lot and Ben became fascinated. He was convinced that aboriginal family life was infinitely better conducted than anything that was to be found in the western world. In 1969 when I became a Director at the Ben told me that he wanted to write a full-length ballet. Following a visit to Australia with Ben Sidney began preparing story boards for a ballet relating to an aspect of aboriginal culture which addressed the matter of human endurance. This was a ballet which, alas, was not to be completed by the time of Benjamin Britten’s death in 1976. “Sidney Nolan was very influenced by the developments at Snape. He established the Trust in 1985 and we are now in a position to tie things together at the Rodd. We aim to do four concerts per year and to make residential courses possible for which we intend to convert a farmhouse for the purpose. It was Benjamin Britten who inspired Sidney Nolan to achieve something at the Rodd like he had done at Snape.”

www.sydneynolantrust.org

– 14 – The Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend KINDERKREUZZUG: THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE

Following Sir John Tooley’s talk Malcolm Rivers and soprano Lindsay Wagstaff took to the stage to perform extracts from this rarely performed work. Malcolm explained that it was their function to underline the strong artistic collaboration between Sidney Nolan and Benjamin Britten in the form of one of the most intense works that he had ever come across in his professional career. “It is described as a ballad for children’s voices, and has been performed on very few occasions due to various factors: the very grim subject matter, the complexity of the scoring for percussion and the need for an all boys choir. “The inputs of these artists: Britten, Nolan and Brecht to the piece first performed to commemorate the Save the Children Fund’s 50th anniversary in 1969 have to my mind created something beyond the ballad as we recognise it.” He went on to explain how the intensity of this work allows it to be performed on stage for an opera audience. “The first performance in St Paul’s Cathedral fell foul of the reverberant acoustic which ensured that Brecht’s text was engulfed, thus concealing the true dramatic impact of the piece. “Brecht wrote this work in 1939, very early into World War 2 and it is recognised as a true and distressing story, the strength of which inspired Britten and Nolan to their contributions. Following their various visits to the concentration camps in Germany and Poland, Britten performing withYehudi Menuhin in Belsen immediately after the war, and Nolan in Auschwitz in 1960 as an artist for the Observer. The subject matter is very grim and grisly and without any moments of redemption or transfiguration. “We all of us have a passionate horror of the traumas of war and the way it affects its most helpless victims: children. John Bridcut recalls that this work, along with Britten’s song cycle “Who are these children?” belongs to the encircling gloom of Britten’s despair at the thought of the young being tossed about on the wreckage of adult lives. I have therefore invited the Save The Children Fund, who work at the sharpest end of cruelty to the young, to be with us here today.” Malcolm Rivers then asked the audience not to offer the performers any applause, which he would regard as most inappropriate. He then spoke the text, some of it sung by Lindsay Wagstaff who had been chosen for her excellent sense of pitch and, in contrast to her earlier appearance in the “Songs of Exile” concert (see below) appeared in black. At the end of the performance they simply walked off the stage.

Footnote Following an appeal this event raised some £700 for the Save the Children Fund.

Roger Lee Lindsey Wagstaff Photo: [email protected]

– 15 – The Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend DAME ANNE EVANS MASTERCLASS Jubilee Hall, 14th May 2011

Rachel Nicholls (left) as Brünnhilde and Magdalen Ashman (right) as Waltraute rehearse Act I Scene 3 of Götterdämmerung in a masterclass which was full of laughter from beginning to end conducted by Dame Anne Evans who has performed no fewer than 14 different roles in the Ring herself. Following this masterclass Rachel has been cast by Longborough Festival Opera as next year’s Brünnhilde in their Götterdämmerung , which role she will study with Dame Anne.

“SONGS OF EXILE” PRESENTED BY HUMPHREY BURTON Jubilee Hall, 15th May 2011

Photographs by Peter West [email protected]

This programme devised by David Edwards was performed by sopranos Laura Hudson (centre) and Lindsay Wagstaff, tenor Adrian Dwyer (right) and bass-baritone James Rutherford. Performances of works by Schumann, Schubert, Wolf, Brahms, Britten, Vaughan Williams, Korngold, Verdi, Weill, Lehar, Sondheim, Johan Strauss and Wagner were accompanied by Kelvin Lim and Julian Black.

– 16 – The Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend KINDER, SCHAFF’ NEUES! An introduction to the relay of Die Walküre from the New York Met, 14th May 2011 David Edwards

There are three things to remember about new productions of Wagner’s Ring : 1) They are expensive. 2) They are usually very controversial, certainly when they are first viewed. 3) It is very important that they should not be assessed until they are completely finished. Whatever one thinks or reads about Robert Lepage’s production, the Ring is only half way through and so we shall not be able to assess it properly until later this year when the cycle is complete. The relays from the Met, from Glyndebourne and (fingers crossed) soon from Covent Garden will be seen by a much bigger audience than was possible in a theatre, hopefully doing our artform an enormous amount of good in the process. I believe that you can’t ever beat the live experience of sitting in a theatre to hear opera, but we all have to accept that perhaps the artform is changing for a new generation of audiences. If that brings health, vitality, money, imagination and longevity to the business which we all love then I’m all for it. We have to accept that “fings ain’t what they used to be.” To the question: Which of the modern productions do I think Richard Wagner would have approved? Let me direct you to his words at the top of this page: “Children, do something new!” I think that he would have loved to see as much imagination, variety and challenge as possible in the production of his work. What is critical is that we tell the story. As directors and designers, we have to provide the singers with an environment in which they can do this truthfully and most effectively. And we must always stimulate the minds of the audience, be it in the live theatre, in the cinema or on the television screen.

www.davidedwardsopera.com

– 17 – CINEMA RELAY OF DIE WALKÜRE FROM THE NEW YORK MET 14th May 2011 Ewen Harris Robert Lepage’s set (“The Machine”) consists of 24 “planks” able to rotate independently about a horizontal axis across the stage to provide level, sloping, angled, or moving surfaces. representing trees, walls, rocks etc. During the prelude to Act I we witness Siegmund being pursued through the forest by the remnants of his routed enemies the Niedings, the now vertical “planks” looking like trees. (This bit is not Wagner). Shaking off his pursuers he staggers inadvertently into the house of their chief, Hunding. (This bit is Wagner). The “planks” are now looking like timber walls, and he collapses near the hearth. Jonas Kaufmann looked and sounded superb as Siegmund. His rendering of the desperate cries to his father “Walsung! Walsung!” were electrifying. Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde sounded particularly radiant in the love duet and they made a convincing pair of lovers. The cello playing was suitably languorously beautiful. Hans-Peter Koenig as Hunding was large and imposing. He sang beautifully, but was not half nasty enough. Following the flight of Siegmund and Sieglinde in Act II we meet Brünnhilde and Wotan. The “planks” are now orientated to represent the rocky area where they meet. Deborah Voigt, was a little tentative and it was her first Brünnhilde after all. The singing was beautiful but nowhere near full throttle. Singing his first complete Wotan, was a whole lot more convincing than he was at Covent Garden. Hans Sachs has done him good!

Photo: Ken Howard for Metropolitan Opera

– 18 – Scene 2 saw the arrival of Fricka in her “chariot”. There was at least the suggestion of its being drawn by rams, with carved rams’ heads and horns on the arms of her chariot. The ride looked distinctly uncomfortable! Obviously a favourite with the Met audience, Stephanie Blythe did a suitable demolition job on Wotan. A glorious voice and bags of presence. Wotan’s confessions and Brünnhilde’s responses were well done, Wotan’s outbursts being powerful and convincing. The Todesverkundigung scene between Brünnhilde and Siegmund was not too convincing, not enough made of the fact that, having seen Brünnhilde, Siegmund must inevitably die. Wotan’s malevolent “Geh!” dismissal of Hunding in comparison was superbly timed and executed. The Valkyries in Act III were in fine voice separately and collectively. The seemingly only partly-filled body bags by contrast were rather paltry, totally unflattering to the dead heroes therein. The Valkyries rode the rising and falling “planks” with long reins and dismounted by sliding down them, rather lacking in dignity even for uninhibited demigoddesses. Sieglinde’s “O hehrstes Wunder!” was rapturous as anticipated. Deborah Voigt seemed to be not entirely into her part as Brünnhilde, and Bryn Terfel did his best for him and for her. “War es so schmählich?” was better and from there on the thing gelled. Wotan’s farewell was very moving, aided by the superb playing of the orchestra under maestro Levine’s careful pacing. Heart-rending. The whole emotionally-charged atmosphere was rather spoiled by the need for Wotan to lead Brünnhilde off-stage in a state of trance in order to accommodate the rather weird positioning of a replica of her atop the “planks“, and upside down at that!. Wotan’s spear described the required path for Loge’s fire which turned out to be a warm red glow rather than the inferno required to deter anyone but the world’s greatest hero. We are now unfortunately quite used to seeing things in Wagner’s music dramas which Wagner did not put there and even more used to not seeing things which he did, and which he set out in great detail in the score’s stage directions. Having said all that, rather like the Kirov Ring , this was a production in which it was possible to ignore the extraneous and to concentrate on what matters, ie the Wagner part. The costumes may not have been how he may have wanted them but they were at least appropriate. Of course with all this hi-tech electronic equipment, we could have had Valkyries riding horses in the clouds and other manifestations of Wagner’s fertile imagination. However, producers feel they must use their new toys to the maximum so the planks must feature everywhere. Wagner’s intention was that we should each experience and interpret his mythical masterpiece individually, and this production at least allows us this luxury.

Notes on “The Machine” To accommodate this 45 ton set girders were installed under the stage to enable “The Machine” to be rolled into position. This structure acts as a backdrop for computer- controlled projections such as the motion of the Rhine, flames around Brünnhilde’s rock, the snowstorm around Hunding’s hut, etc. According to the New York Times productions at the Met typically cost between $2 and 4 million, and spending on this production could exceed $16 million.

– 19 – The Mastersingers “Living in Exile” weekend THE WAGNER FAMILY Tony Palmer’s introduction to his new film at Aldeburgh Cinema, 15th May 2011 Roger Lee Tony Palmer always feels welcome when he visits Aldeburgh Cinema, which is important to him because as a result of this film he is now banned from Bayreuth. “I’ve been sent a letter from the office of the Burgermeister saying that it would be unwise for me to go to Bayreuth this summer.” Introducing his film, he said: “One family has hung on to the Festspielhaus Theatre in Bayreuth for over 140 years through lies, deception and very, very dangerous political alliances. And that is the subject of this film.” Palmer responded to the fact that two people marched out of the auditorium during the showing of his film with: “ once told me that the only success he was ever aware of was when he heard seats being upended at a showing of Look Back in Anger. ” After the film run Jeremy Rowe asked whether the legacy, the inheritance over the years (ie of the ) makes it inevitable that this family would continue to be at loggerheads. Palmer replied: “You could argue that the whole family has gone through hell right up until the present day. was the last of the line indulging in his own way in villainous activity, just hanging on to it forever, which was just absurd.” One thing which did not appear in the film because it was not known to Palmer at the time was hinted to him by . “After I had finished it Boulez said ‘There’s one thing I forgot to tell you.’ For him the real tragedy of 1966 when died was that Boulez had gone to Bayreuth to conduct Parsifal after he and Wieland had cemented their friendship working on Wozzek the previous spring in Frankfurt. In the intervening months, they had talked about the fact that, after 15 years since the 1951 resumption of the Festival, Wieland was sufficiently confident in himself and his artistic achievements that he felt that it was now the time to do what he believed that his grandfather had always wanted to do: ‘Let’s do all the which Richard Wagner himself admired: The Trojans, Der Freischutz… ’ I forgot to tell you that Wieland wanted to put on Schoenberg’s Moses und Aaron ! He recognised that the Festival was dying on its feet – the same people were coming every year and he knew (as Tony Pappano in Covent Garden has obviously grasped) that you’ve got to attract, endlessly, a new audience. By all means, do the repertoire pieces, but we must always do new works, however outrageous. We must have the chance to make terrible mistakes.” We were then told of another ambition which Wieland Wagner shared with Boulez. “To restrict the use of the Theatre to 5 or 6 weeks in the summer was ridiculous. There was no reason why it should not also be opened at Easter (as in Salzburg) or later in the year.” Palmer continued with the fact that one thing which is lacking in opera houses and becomes more and more critical, he believes, as time goes on, is to have some kind of school (as we have now in Snape), not just for musicians, but to help those who want to direct, to design scenery, etc. There is no such training school anywhere, and Wieland said that this is what his grandfather absolutely would have wanted. So this is why Boulez said that it was such a tragedy that Wieland died when he did. “Wolfgang, who knew all about that because I remember discussing it with him, simply didn’t want to know. For him it was just a case of

– 20 – let’s do, as Cosima (not Richard) Wagner insisted, just from the Dutchman onwards, again and again.and again…” He added: “There’s an extremely strong feeling, even in conservative Bavaria, that if Eva Wagner-Pasquier decides to withdraw, they sure as hell are not going to leave the Festival in the hands of .” Jeremy Rowe moved the discussion in a new direction. “You have been banned from Bayreuth. If they actually dare to grasp the nettle, they should welcome opening these issues up because in the long run it would lead to Bayreuth becoming a much healthier place. They should show this film at the beginning of the Festival.” Tony Palmer recalled another footnote which he didn’t know about when he was making the film and he remarked that it was indicative of the way the cookie is crumbling at the moment. “In 1988 or 89 Wolfgang Wagner appointed a new press officer. The press officer in Bayreuth is much more than just a press officer. He is also effectively the dramaturg. He doesn’t keep the archive, but he is the man through whom everything has to go. Just two months after I had finished the film, it was in all the German newspapers that this guy had been outed as having been quite a high official in the Stasi. Until the Berlin Wall came down, Bayreuth survived by getting lots of wonderful singers and about three quarters of the orchestra from East Germany. So a man from the Stasi was needed in the Bayreuth hierarchy to check on these guys and to make sure that they didn’t defect. Their reaction when this became known was: ‘So? What do you want us to do – get rid of him? He’s a good chap…’ The discussion now moved in the general direction of . Oliver Hilmes, in his new biography of was the first person to point out that the big problem about was not his homosexuality – that was difficult enough for Cosima to reconcile herself with – but the fact that he was (like all of his siblings) illegitimate. So, under German law he could not have legitimately inherited the Festival. Consequently she had a big problem. “I spoke at some length with Frederic Spotts who is the official biographer of the history of the Bayreuth Festival. You’ll notice that he’s not in the film. He said; ‘Do you know about this terrible, terrible myth about Winifred being a member of the Nazi Party? It’s complete nonsense. Yes, she was sympathetic. Yes, she owed Hitler a lot. But a member of the Nazi Party? Never, ever, ever.” “Now I go off to Vienna to talk to Brigitte Hamann, who is in the film. She asked who I had talked to and I mentioned Frederic Spotts. She said that there are so many myths about Winifred Wagner that we should begin by knocking some of the major ones down. One such myth was that she had not been a member of the Nazi party. ‘I know that there is one historian whose name escapes me who says in his Official History of the Bayreuth Festival that she had never had party membership…’ And then she produced Winifred’s membership card, dated 1923. (That’s in the longer version of the film!).” Eric Adler referred to the point in the film where it tells us that the Bayreuth Festival archive is not in Bayreuth which prompted him to ask as to where it is and who owns it. Why is there such a mystique as to what would be uncovered if it were to be opened? Tony Palmer answered that Katharina Wagner had announced that the archives were to be opened in time for the 2013 celebrations. “Well, the archives in Bayreuth have been trawled by every historian who has ever studied Wagner and Wagneriana since the year dot. So, where is it? When I interviewed Verena Wagner she told me, rather guardedly, that one of her daughters has almost the entire correspondence between Winifred Wagner and . I have a copy of a letter from Wieland to Winifred: 14th December 1944 (paraphrasing from memory): I’ve just had a long conversation with the Führer who is absolutely determined that there should be a full Bayreuth Festival next year, etc etc… The material is also thought to include a discussion of marriage between Winifred and Hitler.

– 21 – “They know this at Bayreuth. So for them to say ‘we’re going to open it all up’ is ridiculous. There is nothing there which people don’t know. But there is a lot of other stuff which will not, I think, in the end change our view of how the family did this and that to each other, but historians have a right to read that stuff and to interpret it as they wish. As for who owns the archive, Gottfried Wagner says in the film that now that the Bayreuth Festival is a public foundation it is owned by the public. So it is unforgivable of them to hide things which do not belong to them any more.” In reply to the question: If Richard Wagner saw this film do you think he would be horrified?, Tony Palmer said “The whole idea that a dynasty can have some sort of absolute claim to art is ridiculous. I am sure that his intention at Bayreuth was not that of creating a Family Palace. I first met Wolfgang Wagner in 1977 when we were planning the film. We had a very jolly lunch, and when he got up to go he said: ‘If my grandfather were alive today he would be on the first plane to Hollywood: money, resources, big audience… I think that he would have despised what has happened at Bayreuth. There, it’s the opposite of show business, and Richard Wagner was show business. He would be working for Steven Spielberg.’ “The most remarkable image I can think of concerning Wagner is that of him standing on the Green Hill with just about all of the crowned heads of Europe coming up the Hill to shake his hand. The exception was Queen Victoria. She sent the Duke of Connaught. There is no other instance in all of history – not Shakespeare, not Aeschylus – where the artist stood centre stage in this way. In the course of making this film, Wolfgang told me: ‘The world is full of ‘experts’ who can tell you the minutiae of Richard Wagner’s life. There is one exception: me, his grandson. And I don’t care.’ To Jeremy Rowe’s question: “Has Katharina Wagner and her team got the wherewithal to avoid the ossification of the Festival?” Tony Palmer said that he understood that before Wolfgang Wagner died he had mapped out all of the Bayreuth Festivals until 2014, so there wasn’t much that the sisters could do before then. “And that, I think, is the real frustration for Eva, who has an enormous amount of experience from Aix en Provence, Covent Garden and the other opera houses for which she has worked. “The tragedy is that when the management of the Festival was up for grabs in 2001 and lots of people applied for it (the Bavarian government having told Wolfgang in no uncertain terms: ‘that’s it, mate, time to retire!’), Wolfgang suddenly announced that he was going on holiday. When he returned and was told that Eva, his daughter, was going to run the Festival he said: ‘but nobody asked me.’ They said: ‘but you weren’t here.’ He replied that he had been by a telephone, but the truth is that he had chosen one of the few locations in the world where it would not have been possible to reach him on the phone: North Korea!” Tony Palmer’s answer to Jeremy Rowe’s final question as to which member of the Wagner family would he prefer to sit next to at a (theoretical) dinner to celebrate 2013, was, without hesitation: “Nike”.

www.tonypalmer.org

See: Chris Argent’s review of Tony Palmer’s DVD: “The Wagner Family” on page 36

– 22 – Pleased to meet you PETER WEST: WAGNER SOCIETY PHOTOGRAPHER Roger Lee Peter wistfully recalls how he ‘came’ to Wagner in 1960 when, as a rookie cop on night duty in Oxford, he discovered an unlocked door to an imposing building which turned out to be the University Gramophone Library. “After contacting the Librarian and securing the building, for my diligence I was offered (as an illegal ‘perk’) free membership of the library. Invited there and then to ‘open’ my membership (and anxious to impress my new benefactor) I grabbed a boxed set from the opera section. It happened to be the Solti which had only just been released. ‘A fine choice’ the librarian remarked.” However, Peter received his first injection of the Wagner virus as a spotty-faced 12 year old at Bishop’s Waltham Boys School in 1948. “One afternoon we assembled in the headmaster's room, eyes glued to a shiny new wireless set. The very first broadcast was the Flying Dutchman Overture, a piece made exciting and meaningful even for 12 year olds by the BBC ‘Music for Schools’ presenter, but more was to follow! For the next six weeks the Overture was repeated and dissected until every note was permanently engraved in my memory”. Later in his police career, as a supervisory officer Peter would often recall his team at the end of their shift by broadcasting a recording of Siegfried’s horn call over the Force radio network. Previously alerted to be on the look out for a missing patient from a local mental hospital, one young constable stopped a woman who turned out not to be this patient. Just then the radio strapped to the constable’s shoulder sprang to life and the sound of Siegfried’s horn call filled the night air. “Oh, please ignore that” the embarrassed constable spluttered; “It’s only my sergeant – he’s nuts about Wagner you know.” “And you thought I was mad!” said the startled woman as she walked away, shaking her head in total disbelief. In 1977 Peter’s police career came to a shuddering halt. A serious, debilitating illness necessitated immediate surgery. Advised by a consultant at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, to prepare for immediate admission, Peter asked whether it may be possible to delay his admission by one week. “Why, are you going on holiday?” the surgeon enquired. “Well, no, in actual fact I have tickets for the Ring at the Coliseum” my subject bashfully admitted. “You do realise, don’t you, that if you don’t have this surgery you may die?” Peter replied. “You don’t understand: if I don’t see the Ring next week at the ‘Coli’ then I will die”. The consultant was so amused that he hastily rearranged his diary, and so the story: “The man who risked losing his life for a Ring ” appeared the following day in several national newspapers This resulted in Peter subsequently meeting the ‘Siegfried’ in that production (Alberto Remedios) and the rest of the cast backstage including the late Rita Hunter, Ava June and Paul Crook.

– 23 – PARSIFAL IN PRAGUE

Performance on 27th March 2011 reviewed by Paul Dawson-Bowling

Parsifal at the National Theatre in Prague (courtesy of our splendid sister organisation, The Music Club of London ) was a marvellous experience. The production was both beautiful and illuminating, set apparently in a South East Asian context of Chinoiserie (or was it of Japanoiserie?) in deference to the Far-East influences in the work. It is to be played again in Spring 2012, and I strongly recommend that anyone who can should get cheap flights to Prague and tickets for the revival. John Fiore, an American, was the magician on the podium, directing an orchestra more modest than Wagner specified, with only four double-basses and ten first violins, although the wind and brass were in full muster and the sound completely filled the National Theatre of Prague. This theatre is a real gem but not a large gem, and the musicians spilled out of the pit with the two harps taking up one of the boxes flanking the enclosure. A very positive point was the orchestra’s general positioning. The double basses were lined up at the back giving plenty of foundation to the sound, and the four horns were on the extreme left behind the woodwind, balanced by the heavy brass on the right. The result was both sumptuous and luminous, and apart from a single raspberry from the first trumpet in the prelude, the playing was of the highest class. John Fiore’s shaping of the work’s arching spans was masterly. Often he drew forth no more than a soft current of sound, and this allowed the score’s ineffable beauties to tell with their proper economy; but there was nothing economical about his way with the first transformation scene. It registered its full gravity, and he had completely the measure of the mighty orchestral expansion that follows just after the voices fall silent, and of Wagner’s extraordinary amalgam here of majesty and crisis. The two great climaxes where the Grail theme comes in C major were both played up to tempo and were emotionally overwhelming. To achieve the difficult effect which Wagner demanded with his direction to the brass, “Stark auszuhalten” tied across four full bars, a passage where they often run out of breath and lose power, Fiore put in an unobtrusive breath-pause midway through the crucial long-held note, so that they could maintain full intensity. The chorus, properly located at different levels off-stage, was magical. Magical too was the Good Friday spell, while the second transformation was colossal as the finale was musically numinous. The production had one strange feature in that it dispensed with the Grail, just like Lehnhoff’s recent gruesome travesty at the ENO in London. The Holy Grail has become a universal emblem signifying an elusive but infinitely precious ideal (in medicine people speak of the Holy Grail of cancer treatment and we hear of the Holy Grail of no children living in poverty) and it is in fact such an archetypal symbol and so popular, that to miss a trick and leave it out of Parsifal takes something away from the experience. Otherwise the production told the story so directly that anyone knowing it and looking at a photograph taken at any point of would have had no difficulty in recognising what was being performed.

– 24 – Its most distinctive feature, the Chinoiserie already mentioned, is not easy to illustrate with particulars. There were the costumes of the Flower Maidens, all silk and oriental motifs; and there was something peculiarly oriental about the beam-work in the long hall of the Grail. In the outer acts the delicate projection of distant hills and valleys gently misted over was definitely redolent of paintings from the Far East, and the Sacred Spear was recognisably East-Asian and not an artefact of Europe or Valhalla. Lighting was deployed to the most exquisite effect. The culmination of Act I Grail Scene came when Amfortas summoned up enough resolve to scoop up some of the water (wine? symbolic of blood?) from a pool at the front of the stage and drink it. In a superb piece of acting, he then became visibly filled with the spirit and stood briefly erect and radiant, hands stretched upwards and backwards, palms held outwards to the brotherhood in blessing. The scene was bathed in ruby light and there was an expression of beatitude on Amfortas’ face. It was as if he had become a conduit for the divine, radiantly nourishing to the knights before the brightness faded and he imploded, falling to the ground to become again the collapsed and wretched figure he had been previously. There were many superb voices, mostly evidently from the Prague company itself. The trenchant Klingsor of Ivan Kusnjer, the luscious warm Kundry of Eva Urbanova and the determined Titurel of Ondrej Mraz were all cast from local strength. The Parsifal, Alfons Eberz, was the obvious exception, being of course the possessor of that familiar and mighty German timbre, and he was magnificent in “Und ich bin’s, der all dies Elend schuf”. Perhaps the mezza voce and rapture of “Es lacht die Auen” proved more elusive, whereas the Gurnemanz of Matthias Hölle almost went too far in moderating power down to a mezza voce , even though his rich, soft-centred parlando was completely in character. In Act III this Gurnemanz really had aged, having grown the long wispy hair and the long wispy beard of an oriental sage, all completely white. Above all, our Amfortas was not only a fine actor, but a singer whose powerful tones took on an imploring tendency and ratcheted up the tension so that his eight minute Act I lament was one of the most compelling versions I have heard. For once this really was a point of nodal, central intensity, instead of a sag point in the action. Nothing is perfect in this world, and it seemed a mistake to fade down the last Grail Scene, which was both beautiful and fulfilling, and lower the final curtain early behind Kundry, so that she could expire solo on a rock at the front of the stage, not at the point in the score where Wagner marked it but as the final clinching episode of the whole work. This went against the music and the symbols and the archetypes which it expresses. Even so this was no radical distortion of Wagner’s ideas such as there was at ENO; and although I should avoid taking any more space and not attempt a blow by blow account, I hope that I have explained enough to show that this was an outstanding experience. No one should miss it next year who can manage it, if they love Parsifal and hope for its rare refreshment of the spirit.

– 25 – TRISTAN UND ISOLDE AT THE DEUTSCHE OPER, BERLIN Performance of 22nd March 2011 reviewed by Robert Mitchell The replacement for the wonderful Friedrich-Schneider-Siemssen Deutsche Oper production was a kind of shabby, kitchen-sink-dross version, unlikely to survive three seasons, never mind the three decades of its predecessor. The set is a living room in all three acts. It shifts laterally about a little from act to act with some rearrangement of the furniture. A coffin is present throughout so that we can think about death . The costumes are cliché modern. A naked woman comes on stage left and walks across. Isolde is taunted in a nasty sexually explicit fashion by (I presume) workmen, one of whom is reading a girlie magazine. As in the meantime she had removed her wedding dress in her rage and prances about in a slip for most of the rest of the act one might ask who could blame them, for this singing actress is a handsome lady with more than a little sexual allure. The lovers inject their potion sitting opposite one another across a melamine-topped table. The Becher (cup) in the libretto is nowhere to be seen. In Act II a naked man is digging his way to Australia on stage right. I find that such modern producers try to distract with such superfluous goings-on, but for me they merely irritate and don’t conceal their lack of talent. In Act III Tristan has recovered well from Melot’s wounding, and is now a doddery old man who shuffles about the stage in a dressing gown jabbing his forefinger in the air to give emphasis. The spiritually transporting has been reduced in the most amateur fashion to the pedestrian. Fortunately the musical side was superb. The orchestra played magnificently. Donald Runnicles conducted a well-balanced unfrenetic performance. Petra Schnitzer sang the third Isolde of her career brilliantly and would be a world beater in a proper production. She even managed to project an almost floating “Lust” while turning her back to the audience and walking out into the garden. The ageless, tireless Peter Seiffert as Tristan has a true tenor voice of most pleasant silvery timbre and excellent projection which he used unstintingly throughout the evening.

Photo: Matthias Horn for Deutschen Oper Berlin

– 26 – BARCELONA PARSIFAL Report by Garth Foster This was the 100th performance of Parsifal at the Gran Teatre del since its first authorised public performance outside Bayreuth on 31st December 1913, taking advantage of the time difference from Germany where control lapsed on 1st January 1914. Michael Boder conducted the Orquestra Simfònica and Christopher Ventris as Parsifal, Evelyn Herlitzius as Kundry, Eric Halfvarson as Gurnemanz, Egils Silins as Amfortas, Boaz Daniel as Klingsor, and Ante Jerkunica as Titurel. The stage revolved with a series of mansion-cum-sanitorium-cum-castle rooms serving for all three acts. The stage revolutions seemed to become quicker towards the end and could have proved irritating were it not for the well-choreographed performers. Also on the verge of irritation was the projection of naked marching feet initially, turning to feet in army boots with puttees, then screenfuls of war imagery. In fact there was a second set, as behind the gauze curtain one could see three men seated at a table during the prologue. These turned out to be Titurel arbitrating between Amfortas and Klingsor. The action began when Klingsor stormed out having thrown down a glass in anger, quite a mild reaction considering what Amfortas was supposed to have done. Act I was surprisingly similar to Scottish Opera’s 2000 version in that the hospital beds of the knights were on display and the knights themselves were showing an array of physical wounds and mental disorders. The most striking of the latter was a patient with a form of St. Vitus dance that ultimately turned into a frenetic cycle of recovery and collapse, acting out Robert Capa’s falling soldier, iconic of the Spanish Civil War, all this against the striding motion of the Good Friday music. But this is in the future. The most striking feature of Act I (and remember that this is politically correct Catalonia) was…women! The knights’ nurses participated in the choruses to considerable effect, lightening the delivery initially and thus emphasising the bass strengths as the music developed. But, Kundry apart, what are women doing in a supposedly monastic setting? Act I (and Act III for that matter) went to Halfvarson’s Gurnemanz, and this was reflected in the final audience response. For my money the real star was Herlitzius’ Kundry, well-paced and letting loose the reserve most effectively in Act II. But isn’t that supposed to be it – all bar redemption and death – so why did she make a bonfire in Act III and then hang around for a while before leaving with a large suitcase? Both of these soloists are seasoned Wagnerian performers and they rather stole the show. The most colourful experience of the opera was provided by the Flower Maidens as flappers. Parsifal managed to transfix Klingsor so that he could take the spear from him rather than risk catching it as it was hurled. The spear did its healing and redemption work almost unnoticed, and the final communion was disappointing as the top-hatted knights had their backs to the audience with the top-hatted choirmaster, disconcertingly accompanied by Parsifal wearing what looked like an old London Transport peaked hat, conducting them from a balcony. Amfortas, once relieved of his pain, slipped into another room to sit beside a redeemed and revived Klingsor, clutching his hand in an act of reconciliation and echoing that current process across Spain. At the end it was almost a surprise that Titurel did not resurrect himself as well and join in the chorus!

– 27 – MIDSUMMER OPERA’S WAGNER CONCERT St John’s Church, Waterloo. 15th April 2011

Chris Argent Midsummer Opera is a tiny outfit which has been going, almost invisibly, since 1985. This performance was quite astonishing as it was marked by a Siegmund (John Upperton) who delivered his lines with remarkable panache, security of tone, confidence and crystal clear enunciation so that every word was intelligible as well as properly nuanced, accompanied by a strong element of interaction with Deborah Stoddart as Sieglinde. Being entranced by the singing of the Walsung twins set the mind racing as to where and when one had last heard singing of this calibre. The answers were Alberto Remedios in the Goodall Ring at the Coliseum way back and Eva Maria Westbroek in the 2009 Valencia Ring . John Upperton and Deborah Stoddart rode the storms from the 85 strong orchestra comfortably and were subtle and sublime in the quieter introspective passages. Hunding’s voice was, sadly, insufficiently black, Stephen Holloway, who had sung Ramfis and King Philip for Midsummer Opera, sounding less than threatening. The orchestra and singers performed without fees or expenses. One would not have guessed that they had had just three rehearsals. Artistic Director of Midsummer Opera David Roblou conducted an orchestra of enthusiastic amateurs with some members of the non-professional Salomon Orchestra providing an extra degree of backbone. Here was a conductor, a professional interested and expert in the early music realm, with an obvious clear understanding of the architectonic structure of Wagner’s music dramas. Perhaps he did let the brass off the leash too readily at climactic points, as well as allowing a less than perfect attack of the strings on the opening phrases and some fluffs in the brass near the conclusion of the Funeral March. In compensation, the cellos were superb at the start of Die Walküre . The was given a thrilling performance, the church’s acoustic ambience enhancing the sound from the orchestra. The Valkyries however were a mixed bunch, some (such as Deborah Stoddart’s Helmwige) producing a big, rounded sound while others did not have the necessary clout. Even so, it was a stirring experience enhanced by the way that John Upperton (directing) injected a degree of dramatic verisimilitude by giving each Valkyrie a silvery, diaphanous cape and bringing them forward into the view of the audience one by one, just as specified by Wagner. In Scenes 2 and 3 from Act III of Götterdämmerung Zöe South (who is scheduled to sing Woglinde for the Wagner Society) shouldered the role of Brünnhilde with confidence. Her warm, steady voice tackled the notes head on, competing quite successfully with the orchestra. Admittedly the spatial volume of St John’s church cannot compare with that of large theatres, but it would not be surprising to see this singer in major Wagner roles in international houses one day. The Gibichung twins and Gutrune were splendidly sung by Marc Callahan and Antonia Cviic, the former having a smooth, warm voice effortlessly produced. The end of the Funeral March was notable for its dramatic handling. Having been speared by Hagen, Siegfried moved slowly to the central aisle where the six Gibichungs levered his body onto their shoulders and carried him slowly out of our sight to the rear of the church. Wagner specified a funeral procession, and it was very refreshing to see his stage directions being respected.

– 28 – BAYREUTH NEWS 110 Years of the Richard Wagner Verband, Bayreuth “Wir feiern mit Stipendiaten” The Richard Wagner Verband of Bayreuth this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. They will be holding an event in Bayreuth from 9th -11th Sept, which will include concerts, an opera gala (featuring Andrew Sritheran, the Wagner Society’s Bayreuth Bursary winner in 2005), and a Franconian evening. All the events will feature young singers whom the Bayreuth RWV have promoted as “Stipendiaten” (bursary holders). Should any members of the Wagner Society wish to attend, they would be welcome to register as individuals for the event with the Bayreuth RWV, although officially registration ended on 25th May. Contact [email protected] if you are interested. I regret that I don’t know what the likely costs would be. In addition, two concerts will be held in Bayreuth during the Festival.The first, given by 2011 bursary holders will be on 11th Aug at 7pm in the Großes Haus, Stadthalle, Bayreuth. Tickets are available from the Theatre box office, Opernstrasse 22. Bayreuth Tel: +49 921 294 850, www.theaterkasse-bayreuth.de, at 20, 15, 10 and 8 euros. The second event takes place on17th Aug at 7.30 at the Kammermusiksaal des Steingraeber-Hauses, Friedrichstrasse 2, Bayreuth. Detlef Roth (baritone) and Martin Vorreiter (piano) will give a recital of works by Mahler, Brahms and Carl Loewe. Having checked on the website, it appears that this is sold out, but interested members may be able to obtain returns from the Steingraeber Haus. Andrea Buchanan

A RING FOR CHILDREN AND LIVE ON THE INTERNET On 14th Aug the Bayreuth Siemens Festival night will feature a live transmission to the Festplatz in Bayreuth of a Ring for children from 11am. From 4pm Lohengrin will be transmitted from the Festspielhaus. It will be possible to watch this performance on the internet at www.siemens.com/festivalnight by means of a webstream broadcast for a fee of just under 15 euros, and it can then be watched one more time as a recording.

The WAGNER SOCIETY of New York BAYREUTH LECTURES 2011 The Wagner Society of New York’s lecture series given by John JH Muller and which has run since 1985 takes place from 10.30am to 12 at the Arvena Kongress Hotel as follows: Aug 24th: Die Meistersinger Aug 25th: Tannhäuser Aug 26th: Lohengrin Aug 27th: Parsifal Aug 28th: Tristan und Isolde Lectures are in English and tickets cost 12 euros per lecture.

– 29 – DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG AT GLYNDEBOURNE 2nd June 2011 Jeremy D Rowe Everyone knows about Glyndebourne: the glamorous frocks and dinner jackets, the posh picnics, the air of well-to-do self-satisfaction and so on, but what about the opera? As long as it feels good, that will do, it appears, and this production of Meistersinger rarely rose above the level of comfort-food for those who like opera to be “nice” rather than challenging. The orchestra was a bit woolly, with a very unfocussed overture setting the scene for this dull production. Vladimir Jurowski worked hard, but failed to galvanise his band. The conventional staging by David McVicar was dreary. Apparently the opera was set in Regency times, with very pretty costumes in Act I, although Beckmesser was made to look like Disraeli – the only character in black with a frightful black wig – a crude attempt to make him look “Jewish”? The rest of the cast were dressed in co-ordinating autumnal colours. In Act II a big statue (like the one in Nuremburg of Hans Sachs?) dominated the stage. All the sets were very cluttered, leaving insufficient room for the huge chorus. The riot scene was very unsuccessful with far too many people all squashed together on the stage unable to move. The chorus managed to sing extremely well, but were sadly lacking direction in their movement. In Act I there was some strange fan vaulting, architecturally unrealistic, and far too dominant. It was left to overwhelm the Act II market place and it was even odder to find this heavy and unattractive ceiling still there in the Act III meadow. In Act III we found Hans Sachs in his library – a huge and overwhelmingly cluttered room. At least this made it clear that he's a poet and bookworm, but hardly a shoemaker. The gimmick of Beckmesser poking around with drawers opening and closing on their own (a cheap laugh straight out of Blythe Spirit) was irrelevant to the story, and an inappropriate attempt to find low-level comedy. Sachs had a bust of Wagner on his desk – in Regency times? Hans Sachs (Gerald Finley) was well sung with great intensity, in a rather Italianate style, turning him into a tragic figure, foolish not wise in his loss of Eva. The rest of the cast were adequate, but no-one was stunning, and I had an uncomfortable feeling that Beckmesser (Johannes Martin Kranzle) actually could outsing Walter (Marco Jentzsch). It was in the final scene that I became the most unsure of this production. There was an uneasy feeling that McVicar was lampooning German culture rather than celebrating it. The Mastersingers arrived in their Regency clothes, wearing Tudor cloaks and oversized top hats, looking like Ken Dodd’s Diddymen. They proceeded to mess about and be generally silly – completely lacking in any sense of gravitas. Then poor Walter appeared in a toy soldier uniform – the silliest idea in the whole show. If this was to show that he’s a high-born German, it failed: he looked like a fugitive from a comic opera. The relationship between Sachs/Eva/Beckmesser was the only interesting or investigative aspect of the production. Within the superficial jollity of the midsummer celebrations, this was a tragedy at heart; Sachs and Beckmesser failing to get the girl, she clinging reluctantly to Walter, but clearly at the end, unsure and perhaps regretting the outcome of the song conquest, stuck with the chocolate soldier. In conclusion, Sachs and Beckmesser embraced in recognition of the sadness of their mutual failure. This was an easy- listening, undemanding, crowd-pleasing production and the audience gave it a tremendous ovation at the end. So that’s alright the n!

– 30 – DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG AT GLYNDEBOURNE 6th June 2011 Paul Symons ‘Wahn, wahn! Überall wahn’. Well, not in David McVicar’s rose-tinted vision of 16th Century Nuremberg. No madness, delusion or irrationality here, only thigh- slapping, grinning apprentices and wonderfully cute locals celebrating Midsummer. McVicar’s interpretation of that difficult concept of ‘Wahn’ clearly tended towards the frivolous. His production, which may have suited Glyndebourne’s more conservative patrons, left me uninspired and desperately searching for an underlying message. The only novelty was setting the production in the late 19th Century, contemporary with the score. But for much of the first and third Acts it felt as if we were watching a musical of Thomas Hardy’s Melstock rustics from ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’: all nostalgia, back-slapping and good-natured tomfoolery. Even the Act II riot was strangely tame. I longed for a sudden darkening of mood or change of pace, but the whole 4 ½ hours was relentlessly jolly and relentlessly bland and uninspiring. This was my 10th Meistersinger, and never have I felt so uninvolved in what was happening on stage. Even last year’s (extraordinarily static) concert performance at moved me more. Walter von Stolzing, the knight who, through his love for Eva, brings change to the ossified environment of the Mastersingers’ world. Marco Jentzsch brought a rather coarse and unfocused tone to the role, most of which he seemed to shout. He nearly ruined the sublime quintet in Act III with an inability to moderate tone, and his final rendition of the prize song was so unimpressive that I half expected Eva to change her mind and accept the hand of Beckmesser. Johannes Martin Kranzle’s Beckmesser was as smug as could be expected, but he lacked malevolence. The role was well sung, although the Charlie Chaplin routine in Sachs’ (enormous) workshop at the start of Act 3 was overdone. I longed for the subtlety of Thomas Allen in the Covent Garden production in 1997. Of the other roles I was impressed by Henry Waddington’s Kothner (who relished the bombastic pomposity of the Mastersingers’ rulebook) and I enjoyed the clear-voiced Eva of Anna Gabler. Magdalena, Pogner and David were also acceptably sung. And what of Gerald Finley’s first Hans Sachs? Overall, I was impressed. He played Sachs as a man so frustrated by a society that was not evolving with that he was constantly on the verge of anger. Maybe he too did not like the production. His chastisement of Walter in Act III for not wishing to become a Mastersinger was quite dramatic (in an evening short of drama) and I liked his copious note-taking at Walter’s rehearsal in Act I, clearly recognising and relishing the novelty of what he was hearing. Vocally Finley was in fine form and was at all times the most compelling figure on stage, although he did look rather young for the role. I would love to hear him in a production which tested the actors and the audience rather more.

– 31 – DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG AT GLYNDEBOURNE 2nd June 2011 Paul Dawson-Bowling This glorious realisation of Wagner’s lovely and happy opera was a landmark event both for Glyndebourne and for Wagner in England. It followed the common tendency to update its era to late Victorian, but it did so with deftness and taste. In the pit was Vladimir Jurowski, whom I have come to regard as a chameleon conductor, changeable from one evening to the next, but happily at his superlative best on this occasion. The Glyndebourne acoustic and the fewer strings than customary allowed Jurowski to bring out the many wind counterpoints that are easily swamped over; and they sang out for him with a soft sparkle; not that there was anything missing by way of weight and opulence when the music needed it. In some ways the occasion put me in mind of Jurowski’s Tristan und Isolde Act II at the Festival Hall, recalled with gratitude, and although a subsequent version of the complete Tristan at Glyndebourne missed the vivid identity of the Festival Hall version, our particular performance of Die Meistersinger at Glyndebourne had exactly the same beauty and depth of feeling. The curtain went up on a clever semi-permanent set with a cupola covering most of the stage. The area beneath it was the porch at St Catherine’s church with the pews visible through an arch to the rear, and in Act III Scene 1 the cupola made a very grand ceiling for what was more like a very bourgeois Sachs’ living-room than his workshop. This room contained a fair amount of widower’s disorder, with piles of papers and books and teacups strewn about randomly, all crying out for a woman’s civilising influence. At one point during the prelude to Act III Sachs, caught up in the poignant night of his spirit, raised the veil on a portrait of his dead wife and child, and this was characteristic of this production’s currents of darkness within its over-arching humanity. In Act III Scene 2 the cupola really came into its own as the roof of a Victorian bandstand where Eva and Pogner sat in the shade, overlooking the parkland scene where the singing contest took place. The Times Newspaper had crassly and inelegantly previewed the opera as Wagner’s “bum-numbing paean to German art” but as it happens, we were at Glyndebourne as guests of a distinguished surgeon who had never previously seen a live performance of the work, and at the end of Act I he made the telling comment; “My goodness, Wagner wasn’t half being critical of the Germans!” This was an illuminating and unusual perspective from a keen intelligence perceiving what the work actually presented when untainted by preconceptions. It struck him that Wagner was in fact condemning not only the authoritarian fabric of the guild, but the whole Teutonic way of doing things for being inflexible, uncompromising and rule-bound. He saw Wagner not as being anti-Semitic but anti-German, and the production made several of the masters quite apoplectic over Walther and his Act I trial song. They dictated the terms from on high, commanding him to stand down and shut up; and this was all of a piece with my surgeon friend’s long past time as a trainee surgeon at Mainz. His perspective was a healthy corrective to the Wagnerian orthodoxies which hold that in Die Meistersinger Wagner was simply banging out a jingoistic acclamation of all things German. The production went on to affirm the very real virtues of community, the smaller community of the Guild, the wider community of Nuremberg, and even the opera community as it exists at Glyndebourne. It was the Glyndebourne community that had

– 32 – successfully built up this production from the beginning and from the roots, in the Goodall style. The Glyndebourne way totally justified itself and paid off hands down because it resulted in a wonderful occasion although there were barely any individual performances that set the Thames on fire. The shining exception was the Sachs of Gerald Findley, beautifully sung, beautifully conceived and movingly acted. Beckmesser was another exception, a tall and upright authority figure in Act I, who produced a delectable mezza voce in his Act II serenade to Eva but was turned shortly after into too much of a buffoon for such a subtle portrayal. The David, the Walther, and the Pogner, were all worthy singers; but like the other masters of the guild, they gained their stature and identity from the production rather than through individuality of timbre or special vocal style. The Magdalene displayed a brighter soprano than the Eva, who looked enchanting but made such an astringent, unpleasant sound and was so inadequate in the great lyrical moments, “O Sachs, mein Freund,” or at the beginning of the quintet, as to raise the question whether she might be having real trouble with her vocal equipment. David McVicar’s production was free of self-conscious novelty, and succeeded through its insights, its truthfulness, and the humanity already mentioned. At the very beginning, McVicar had Magdalene clearly sympathetic to Eva and just keeping up a show of chaperoning her. After Magdalene had announced that she forgotten her book she did not in fact go back to her pew for it but took it from her reticule and fiddled about with it, deliberately giving space to the love-struck pair. Again, in Act III, when Sachs called David to stand as godparent to the prize song and threw open the door for him to come in, David was revealed as eavesdropping behind it. The end of the opera was intriguingly and perceptively produced. In his autobiography, Sir Geraint Evans, a great Beckmesser, described how Hans Hartleb, a fine producer too little remembered now, had arranged at Covent Garden that Sachs should go over to the miserable and discredited town clerk who was sitting and hunched apart from the joyous throng; Sachs drew him to his feet, embracing him back into the bosom of the guild, all of whom made it plain that he was still respected, appreciated and well-liked. Geraint Evans persuaded producers far and wide to adopt this conclusion, but at Glyndebourne McVicar took it in a different direction. Sachs was made to leave the crowd and go over to the disconsolate Beckmesser. Sachs bowed deferentially to this standard bearer of German tradition, signifying his understanding that without Beckmesser’s beloved rules to underpin the liberal values of German culture, they could disintegrate. (After all, this disintegration actually happened in 1933 when the “rules and regulations” ensuring democracy in Germany were simply voted out of existence by a charismatic newcomer). Sachs plainly hoped and expected to bring his lifelong colleague back into the fold. Instead Beckmesser gazed at him sourly and stonily, and then turned on his heel and walked off, leaving Sachs in the lurch with no reconciliation, no Hegelian synthesis of conflicting standpoints such as Sachs was trying to promote. For this and many similar reasons, this was a Die Meistersinger we could trust. It extolled the celebration of the romantic young lovers, the fulfilments of community, and the harnessing of Wahn energy, but did not tell us that everything ends happily ever after. In the midst of the joy the currents of darkness persist, not spoiling it, but giving it a darker hue. In this production of Die Meistersinger Wagner is not in denial over unwelcome realities, so that when his great comedy tells us that life is something to celebrate, we can trust him and approach confidently the job of making sure that it is. – 33 – TRISTAN UND ISOLDE AT GRANGE PARK: 11th June 2011 Matthew d’Ancona In the premiere of this opera in in 1865 conducted by Hans von Bulow, the leads were sung by Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld and his wife Malvina. History repeated itself, unexpectedly but gloriously, in the Hampshire countryside on June 11th as Alwyn Mellor, already earning splendid reviews for her Isolde, found herself too unwell to sing the part. But, like a benign wind in the sails of a Cornish ship, help arrived in the form of Susan Bullock, soprano wife of the production’s Tristan, Richard Berkeley- Steele. Bullock sang, while Mellor “walked the part”. It could have been a ghastly embarrassment or laced the performance with a deadening self-consciousness. In practice – somehow – it enhanced the experience, adding a layer of unsettling strangeness to the emotional maelstrom of the opera, compounding the sense that Isolde’s experience of love is akin to a possession. Mellor showed that her interpretation of the part is thespian as well as narrowly musical, and Bullock’s precision – given the notice she had been given – was awesome.

Alwyn Mellor (Isolde) Photo: Alastair Muir For Grange Park to choose Tristan as its first Wagnerian production was an act of great courage – commendably so. Beneath the Celtic storms of emotion lurk formidable rigours which would test any orchestra. But it was clear from the first bars of the prelude that the English Chamber Orchestra, under Stephen Barlow, was equal to the task. David Fielding’s direction was always imaginative and often inspired. The setting of the first Act on a ferry did not quite work, but the second, portraying Isolde as a writhing starlet in her boudoir, was effective – as was the fall of the backdrop to reveal an eclipse symbolic of the paradoxical contention that light is the enemy of love (“resentful day”, as Tristan sings). Less successful were the intrusions of a huge knife and skull onstage which veered dangerously close to the Pythonesque. The setting of the final act in Tristan’s Breton home was refreshingly simple, with no visual distractions from the opera’s final moments in which physical love yields to death, the transfiguration of the soul and Liebestod . For me, less is always more with Tristan : one of many reasons why Esa-Pekka Salonen’s production with the Philharmonia Orchestra last year was so triumphant. – 34 – Alwyn Mellor (Isolde) and Richard Berkeley-Steele (Tristan) Photo: Alastair Muir Stephen Gadd as Kurwenal was excellent, his rich baritone the perfect sonic expression of a powerful loyalty to his master. ’s performance as Brangane was over the top, a problem made worse by a series of bizarre costumes. Clive Bayley’s King Marke, in contrast, achieved precisely the right brew of agonized betrayal, anger and final forgiveness. Richard Berkeley-Steele as Tristan still seems to be growing in to the role – its difficulties are under-rated – but his moments of contrapuntal emotion, conflict and ultimate union with Isolde were absolutely captivating. I would like to see him play the part again – next time, perhaps, with only one Isolde?

Richard Berkeley-Steele (Tristan) Clive Bayley (King Marke) Alwyn Mellor (Isolde) Important not to lose sight of the big picture, however: in her programme notes, Wasfi Kani, Grange Park’s chief executive, describes this production as “our biggest challenge” and writes of “the sense that you are touching the Blessed Sacrament.” For a country house festival to conquer that anxiety and stage Tristan is reason enough to cheer. But – quibbles aside – this was a terrific performance which, in its best moments, came close to what Wagner was trying to achieve: nothing less than to tell humanity what love sounds like. To borrow and extend Kani’s metaphor, the Wagnerian sacrament is too important to be left to the operatic church of the metropolitan establishment. It is good to see Grange Park and Longborough leading the way in this overdue rural reformation.

– 35 – THE DIABOLICAL DYNASTY Review of Tony Palmer’s DVD “The Wagner Family” by Chris Argent Robert Lepage’s set (“The Machine”) consists of 24 “planks” able to rotate independently about a horizontal axis across the stage to provide level, sloping, angled, or moving surfaces. representing trees, walls, rocks etc. During This could hardly be said to be a story of simple country folk. As families go, the Wagner Clan (as Jonathan Carr labels them) have to be unique. And there could be no more comprehensive exposition of the collective schizophrenia that has to be tolerated by Wagnerian aficionados than Tony Palmer’s devastating critique enshrined in his film The Wagner Family . Proceeding from generation to generation with viewpoints provided either by living members of the family or from biographies (and their authors thereof) of those who preceded those currently in residence in , the tale is simply of disharmony and mutual antipathy. Tony Palmer starts the story in 1870 when Richard Wagner married Cosima von Bulow and follows it through until Wolfgang Wagner’s recommended successors, his daughters Katharina and Eva Pasquier-Wagner, inherited his crown. The film well illustrates the thesis that the rulers in Bayreuth were every bit as autocratic as the Russian Tsars and, in the way Wolfgang sought to erase all evidence of Wieland’s reign in Bayreuth after his brother died, reminds one of the behaviour of successive Egyptian Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt in seeking to obliterate all record of their immediate predecessor. The stories and the legends may well be intermixed and slanted according to the retailer, but what really emerges is that generation by generation there has been a singular lack of goodwill, harmony and happiness in the Festspielhaus on the Green Hill and in the home built for Richard Wagner with monies extracted from Ludwig. What is also made clear with worrying clarity is that, but for the two grand dames sucked into the family, Cosima from Hungary and Winifred from England, the Bayreuth Festival would have ceased to exist in 1883 when Richard died and again in 1923 when Siegfried (the illegitimate but Cosima- sanctified heir) died – the other potential heirs having been ruled out of their potential inheritance by the lady from Hastings. The film thus presents us with a dilemma: are we content to patronize an artistic establishment that has such a shameful history? Without Cosima’s arrogance and Winifred’s cunning we would not have the opportunity today (however limited it is for mere mortals) to hear Wagner’s compositions for which he built the theatre. That history is splendidly set out in the film, which features inputs from many of the characters in the plot starting in the Red Corner (those ashamed of all the Wagner family machinations) with Gottfried (Wolfgang’s son), Friedelind (Siegfried’s daughter) together with, a little late in the day, Nike (Wieland’s daughter). In the Blue Corner, evidently proud of their intrinsic anti-semitic leanings and their truck with Hitler, are the rest (Winifred, Siegfried, Wieland, Wolfgang and many of their descendants). The composer himself has to be excluded from the latter list as he was almost certainly torpedoed into his anti-Semitic writings by Cosima. The well-known story of how Cosima behaved after Wagner’s death in Venice and then took command of the Bayreuth Festival by diktat is retailed (with relish) by Gottfried, as is the account of how Winifred Williams, the orphan from Hastings was inducted into the bed of Cosima’s homosexual son and heir in order to defuse the threat of blackmail by Verena and her husband who were apoplectic after being excluded from the Wagnerian inheritance by Cosima’s cosmic fiat. If one didn’t know that the carryings-on in Bayreuth were true, it would be hard to credit the shenanigans that took place between RW’s death and that of his second grandson Wolfgang on the evidence adduced by Tony Palmer (including tit-bits from Wieland’s mistress ).

– 36 – Wolfgang, possibly in consequence of his inherited genes and all he had learnt of the dictatorial behaviour of his mother and grandmother, is portrayed in the film as a Machiavellian monster capable of the most despicable behaviour towards his brother’s memory and children (Nike, Iris and Daphne provide evidence in the film), his first wife (Ellen Drexel) and her children by Wolfgang – Gottfried and Eva Wagner-Pasquier. Even the latter having jointly inherited the Bayreuthian crown with Katharina (Wolfgang and Gudrun Mack’s daughter) had critical words to say about her father. A large proportion of the film is spent on the problematic issue of the role of Richard Wagner in providing the critical philosophical basis for National Socialism. The other major focus of the film was the disgraceful parading and exploitation by the Wahnfried inhabitants of their anti-semitic beliefs, motivated not a little by the virulent albeit popular writings of that arch anti-semite Houston Chamberlain who, by marrying Eva (Richard and Cosima’s second illegitimate daughter), became installed within the Wagner family and treated as the high prophet of the need to make Germany Judenfrei – the principal social target of the Third Reich. The story of the relationship between Winifred and Hitler is extraordinary and her brazen defence during her post-war de-Nazification trial is positively toe-curling. That story is of course essential to an understanding of how the Bayreuth Festival survived after the Wahnfried set, having devoted their savings to fund the German war effort in the first World War, was able to resurrect the Festival with unaccounted shoals of Reichsmarks from Hitler’s private purse (read the German national exchequer, ie: stolen monies). The amazing charge is actually made in the film that it was within the confines of Wahnfried that Hitler conceived, possibly in conversation with Winifred (Siegfried, being none too bright, having been relegated to his homosexual lair in the annex to Wahnfried), his plans of aggression against Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. It does not seem so surprising that Wieland was given command, doubtless by order of Uncle Wolf, of a branch of the Flossenberg concentration camp built near Bayreuth in the latter part of the war, to avoid being sent to the Eastern front. Nor that his brother Wolfgang should behave, after Wieland’s death, like a cross between Alberich and Fafner, though Wolfgang made far more effective use of the golden treasure than either of his grandfather’s creations. It would be unfair to criticize Tony Palmer’s thorough exposure of the sheer nastiness of most of the denizens of Wahnfried, but a large proportion of the film is spent detailing the connections between Wahnfried and Hitler’s Reich – most of which are well-known (though I had never realized that Hans Frank, controller of Nazi-occupied Poland including Auschwitz and Birkenau, was a close affiliate of the Bayreuth gang). Friedelind emerges with considerable credit having resisted blandishments to return to Nazi Germany and ignored death threats unless she did so, recalling the treatment meted out, after the war, to Marlene Dietrich who also failed to espouse the Nazi cause. Credit also redounds to Gottfried who has plugged away at his criticisms of the behaviour of those in command of the Festival Theatre and even of those who were proposed as Festival Director like Gudrun Wagner who, according to the film and Gottfried, was universally loathed. also emerges with some credit: while super-critical of her relations in Bayreuth (writing a splendid book: The Dramas of a Musical Dynasty ), she blew her chances of succeeding Wolfgang by asserting her conviction that the Festival Theatre had become a mausoleum of Wagner’s mature works and needed to embrace other operas that Wagner admired such as the Trojans, Der Freischutz and , as well as Wagner’s early compositions. Pierre Boulez appears as a witness for the defence, but nothing can detract from Tony Palmer’s splendid searchlight gaze on the Wagner heritage industry.

– 37 – OVERTURE OPERA GUIDES: PARSIFAL Series Editor: Gary Kahn Review by Paul Dawson-Bowling

The first thing to declare about all these reconfigured Guides is that they are wonderful value, £12 – or less, with a little searching. For the price of a rather seedy salmon sandwich at Covent Garden, anyone can acquire a new, updated and improved version of the old ENO/Calder guide to Parsifal . It is worth anybody’s outlay, packed as it is with bold and challenging views. There is now a different translation of the libretto; Andrew Porter’s excellent singable version has been replaced by an equally venerable version by Lionel Salter which is not singable but closer to the German.

An important point is that this is not a guide in the conventional sense, and no-one familiar with Ernest Newman’s or Charles Osborne’s books on the Wagner operas should expect anything like their approach here. There is no step by step pathway through the narrative, the poetry and music, explaining its origins, intentions, or its spiritual dimensions as set out in the work itself. There are two chapters that come near to ordinary guidance, first the unrevised and all too brief chapter by Dieter Borchmeyer, “Recapitulation of a Lifetime”. This can do no more than skim across the subject of Parsifal as a summation of Wagner’s work and life. Second there is the thematic guide, a table of 69 supplying the musical text. This is still one of the best features, and was elegantly prepared by Lionel Friend. He points to what the leitmotives symbolise and suggests meanings without applying the straitjackets of definitions, and he brings all his usual intellectual depth to his bracketings of musical fragments and his hints about associations and cross-references. Thus far this is all relatively easy to follow but this is not generally a beginner’s book. Take Robin Holloway’s unrevised and remarkable chapter, “Experiencing music and imagery in Parsifal”. It is a good read but begins “Parsifal is the supreme instance of a music drama realised by a sonorous image cluster: a central complex of metaphor expresses at once the story, the characters whose story it is and a broader subject matter that lies within character and event: all this is caught or borne by the music, everything fusing together in an indivisible whole”. I tried this out on a random selection of acquaintances and semi-acquaintances at the Festival Hall’s Maazel-Mahler cycle, not absolute beginners musically, and was met with blank incomprehension. If you can work your way through the thickets, Robin Holloway is truly interesting but he is not easy. Gert Rienäcker’s familiar chapter heading “Discursions into the Dramaturgy of Parsifal ” suggests a similar analytical vantage, just as in the old version, and as before he covers much the same ground as Holloway, simply following a more rhapsodic and less rigorous pathway across it. Most of the other chapters have likewise not changed since the ENO/Calder originals. Carolyn Abbate in her chapter, “Words and Music” told us then and tells us

– 38 – now, “Many would prefer to forget the cloying Christian myth-making that permeates the dramatic conceit of the infelicities of the poem.” No prizes then for guessing what her standpoint is! I still cannot work out exactly what this sentence means, but plainly it represents a barely submerged disparagement of the narrative itself and Wagner’s libretto- writing abilities. This means that everything from her afterwards in a sense comes at a tangent, although she does go on to tell us a great deal that is both interesting and illuminating about the integration of words and music in Parsifal . The submerged dislike which Abbate reveals for the Christianity in Parsifal seems to course like an undercurrent through the book as a whole, welling up openly in Mike Ashman’s conspectus of different productions. He has seriously revised his chapter since the old guide, and with it go more and better photographs, some now in colour. With disarming modesty he has now eliminated any discussion of his own staging at 27 years ago. Like his excellent Ring which came to Norwich in 1997, this possessed a virtue missing from most of the productions which he so generously praises, in that it told the story clearly. Opera Magazine’s review of Lehnhoff’s revival at the Coliseum in February recognised this as a common failing which I had missed when describing it briefly in Wagner News . Unless you knew the story inside out, you would find Lehnhoff bewildering and inconsequential, and newcomers not steeped in Parsifal would find the same problem in the ever more “radical” productions which Mike Ashman prefers – or at least, that is true of those in his sample which I have actually seen myself. Generally his review describes his sample with penetration and clarity but it does seem to reveal some presuppositions at work. The first is a belief in progress and a conviction that any changes in production style are automatically improvements. He evidently sees them as evolution towards something better than what has gone before, whereas I can find, neither in his text nor in reality, any evidence for this. The changes in production style seem nothing more than a change of fashion, an alteration of style. As with women’s clothes, sometimes the new fashions are better than the old; sometimes they are not. If I read correctly between the lines, Mike Ashman’s belief in progress may be related to his evident conviction that Christianity is noxious, so that the more production styles “break free” of it in Parsifal , the more they win his approval for being progressive. As mentioned, antagonism to Christianity permeates the book although it is not clear whether this antagonism is more like Wagner’s or Nietzsche’s version. Wagner found fault with the institutions of Christianity as he observed them with their hierarchies, powerbases, and persecutions, but he was lost in admiration for Jesus Christ. This is absolutely clear from page after page of Cosima’s Diaries . Nietszche on the other hand hated everything that Christ himself represented, the mawkish compassion, the enfeeblement of natural impulses towards the survival of the fittest, and the general degeneracy of a compassionate morality; Christ was as bad as Socrates in trying to save the weakest from going under where Nietzsche evidently believed they belong. One chapter which is totally new is Barry Emslie’s Parsifal , the Profanity of the Sacred , which adopts the same angle as his book, Wagner and the Centrality of Love . His is a chapter of fascinating assertions, many of which may be correct, but again they are not always supported by evidence. It would take too long to discuss his startling idea that a main aim of Wagner in creating Parsifal was to kill Kundry, a sort of compulsive gynaecide, to employ a neologism of the that Emslie seems to enjoy. He makes much of “the dialectical pairing of the spiritual and the sensual”, “the virgin and the whore”, telling us that in Tannhäuser we have “one woman, Elizabeth who is all elevated purity”,

– 39 – and another, Venus “who is a dark and sensuous goddess”. In fact, as I spent some time trying to establish in a study day for members of the Wagner Society in May last year, the matter is vastly less simple. Barrie Emslie regards Wagner’s way of representing the sacred in Parsifal as requiring the profane because of the strength and identity, the meaning and depth that its opposite gives to the sacred. This analysis is richly illuminating, but is it right to see the matter as nothing more than a swindle? I suggest rather that this is one of Wagner’s significant lessons for us. It was formalised in psychological terms later by Carl Jung, his warning that humanity possesses both an animal nature and a spiritual dimension, and that the compelling problem, as Wagner had made clear, is to achieve balance and integration, to incorporate dark and bestial drives like “Venus” instead of trying to suppress them and her. If we deny her and thrust her down, as happened in the church for centuries, she only surfaces again in a disguised and dangerous form. What is necessary for our sanity and content is not to try and choose the beast or prefer the spirit, but to recognise, accept and incorporate the beast within the spirit, which is exactly what Emslie “accuses” Wagner of doing in Parsifal . This does not seem like a swindle, a sleight of thought that needs “unpicking”, but a crucial truth for humanity which Emslie has clarified, and which we do well to absorb. Parsifal is about integration. This is signified in Wieland Wagner’s infinitely suggestive Parsifal Kreuz, included at the end of the book. I would have chosen a rather different discography, above all including Siegfried Wagner’s and Karl Muck’s only recordings at the Festspielhaus, made for Columbia before the merger with HMV. Karl Muck, for almost thirty years Bayreuth’s principle Parsifal conductor, is still electrifying across the gulfs of time, and his Act I transformation lets us hear Wagner’s original Parsifal Bells before they were looted by the allies and lost after the Second World war. In closing I realise that my comments on this book seem in retrospect to have come over more judgementally than I intended. Perhaps this in itself is a good indication of its provocative interest. It is an impressive publication that is worth every penny of the price, and I look forward immensely to further volumes in the series. ONEWORLD CLASSICS 243 -253 Lower Mortlake Rd Richmond TW9 2LL £12.00 [email protected]

SPECIAL EVENT: “I STILL OWE THE WORLD A TANNHÄUSER ” Of all Wagner’s works, Tannhäuser suffers from the greatest stylistic incongruities caused by the composer’s many tinkerings with the score from its first incarnation at Dresden in 1845 to its publication in 1860 (known as the ‘Dresden’ version); a complete rewriting of several scenes for a production in in 1861, and further alterations made for a production in Vienna in 1875 (published and known as the ‘Paris’ version). Ross Alley will explore the major stylistic differences using many musical extracts showing, especially, the Tristanesque enhancements to Venus’ music. Starts at 7.30 (7pm for wine) 29th Sept at 143 Great Portland Street (The Sixth Form Centre for Portland Place school).

A “THANKYOU” TO THE WAGNER SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND The Mastersingers Company acknowledges the continuing generous support given by the Wagner Society of Scotland towards the Young Artists Programme and is most grateful for this recognition of its work. – 40 – LETTER I would like to share Bill Bliss’s applause for the Society in seeking the highest standards of governance and transparency, especially in light of all the recent goings-on. Like him, I am relieved that things have settled down and grateful to all those who made such an effort to sort everything out. However I think his unease over the Jones-Rowe travel service is taking things a bit far. Your readers will be sophisticated opera enthusiasts who will be well aware that there are a number of companies in the market offering opera tours. I find it hard to think that any reviewer writing in the magazine could be compromised if he or she has attended an opera through any service provided by Jones-Rowe. Even without Jeremy Rowe’s very clear explanation in the April issue, the connection between his business and the Wagner Society could hardly be more explicit with the names and addresses of the principals so prominently stated. The Society should welcome the financial contribution from their advertising in Wagner News. Come to think of it, perhaps you should consider looking more widely for other relevant advertisements. Ian Rickword In spite of having had no musical training, Ian Rickword has been a Wagner enthusiast for some 30 years, Like many other members of the Society he caught the bug from the television broadcasts of the Chereau Ring from Bayreuth.

JONES-ROWE Opera Tours

Luxury long weekend tours to exciting destinations, to see the works of Richard Wagner and other composers. Featuring small accompanied groups, gourmet gala dinners, airport limo transfers, champagne receptions and best available seats in the house. Single occupancy arrangements. Bespoke summer festival tours also available. [email protected] www.jonesroweopera.org + 44 (0) 20 7402 7494 + 44 (0) 7956 290 884 33 Lancaster Gate London W2 3LP United Kingdom

– 41 – FAREWELL TO ROBERT TEAR: 1939 – 2011 Not only a terrific tenor, Bob was also a great personality and a wonderful down- to-earth colleague at Covent Garden in the ‘80s and ‘90s. His mischievous sense of humour could always be relied upon to put things in perspective and, as he often reminded us, singing was “better than having to work for a living”. Among the many acutely observed roles he performed, I particularly remember his Rheingold Loge, whose urbane, smooth-talking veneer masked contempt for the folly of the Gods, and his Meistersinger David, a boyish rogue with a healthy eye for the Mädel von Fürth when Magdalene wasn’t looking. But it is as Tom Rakewell, as Captain Vere and lastly as Aschenbach at Glyndebourne that I remember Bob at his performing peak. With immaculate projection of the text, he engaged completely with the emotional and intellectual struggles of these tormented characters. As a beloved-then-rejected Britten protégé, Bob knew what it was like to become an outsider. But he accepted that fate with typical equanimity and sang-froid . There were always other things – family, painting, literature, philosophy and friends – that were more important. David Edwards Bright is the ring of words when the right man rings them.* Such is how I remember the great Welsh tenor Bob Tear. We worked together over many a year for Britten at Aldeburgh with the English Opera Group. The three Church Operas, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Rape of Lucretia to name but a few works were inevitably lively with Bob around. The quality of both his brilliant musicianship and his excellent voice was somehow kept under wraps by his wicked sense of humour and mimicry at these times to get us through the tedium of the medium. I always felt that his tongue was firmly in his cheek and that he was struggling to cope with the life of a singer, a mere pawn in the game of music, when he, with the immense intelligence of a bishop and personality of a knight, was cocooned in a world apart, yet wanting to belong. But to what? He was truly enigmatic, a brilliant humorous writer and observer of human nature and a great teacher, always helpful and mindful of his colleagues. For members of this Society a short quote of warning from Bob “The Wagner societies still exist, following the leader in his didactic, glamorous but vapid quest to defeat the inevitable. They will find, as did Wagner, that death, especially in the face of arrogance, always has domination”. A singer who made one think: “After the singer is dead, and the maker buried”*. Malcolm Rivers

I first met Robert Tear in 1967 when he was rehearsing The Burning Fiery Furnace with Benjamin Britten. In spite of his bonhomie and easy affability, one sensed immediately a man apart. His recording of Britten’s Nocturne is beyond praise, and when I was preparing my film about Vaughan Williams his recording of From far, from eve and morning was a profound source of inspiration. Only two minutes long, but perfect. I think he felt he never achieved the greatness perhaps he deserved, but miniature jewels are infinitely more valuable than costume jewellery. He was such a perfect miniature. Tony Palmer * [Words from RL Stevenson’s “Bright is the Ring of Words” as sung by James Rutherford at the Mastersingers Aldeburgh weekend as one of Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel.] – 42 – President: Dame Gwyneth Jones Vice President: Sir

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– 43 – Registered Charity 1076508 Artistic Director: Malcolm Rivers Scenes from Götterdämmerung The Rehearsal Orchestra Conductor: David Syrus

Presented by The Mastersingers

Sunday October 16th 2011

St. Michael’s Sports Hall, 98 Regency St. Pimlico, SW1P 4GH 2.30 to 5.30: Rehearsal. 6pm to 7.30: Run-through

Brünnhilde: Alwyn Mellor Siegfried: Jonathan Stoughton Waltraute: Miriam Sharrard Hagen: Stuart Pendred

Musical Coach: Kelvin Lim

The Mastersingers Company continues the work started eight years ago to promote the careers of aspiring Wagnerian singers. Last year heralded the start of the path for James Rutherford with his first Wotan in Act 2 of Die Walküre following his huge success as Hans Sachs at Bayreuth and this year we are able to help Alwyn Mellor as she prepares for her startling new career as Brünnhilde in Seattle and Longborough.

Supported by the Wagner Society Event sponsored by Ludmilla Andrew, Eric Adler, Frances & David Waters.

Tickets from Pam Hudson in the usual manner are £15 each. Cheques made payable to the Wagner Society. Please bring your own food.

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