No: 217 April 2015 Wagner news Number 217 April 2015 CONTENTS 4 From the Committee Andrea Buchanan 5 2015 Wagner Society AGM: a reminder Andrea Buchanan 6 The Karlsruhe Wagner Singing Competition 2015 Andrea Buchanan 7 Dame Gwyneth Jones Masterclasses, 11 th May Andrea Buchanan 7 2015 Wagner Society Singing Competition Andrea Buchanan 8 Dame Gwyneth Jones: A new portrait 10 Climbing Mount Tristan Rachel Nicholls 12 Tokyo Parsifal Michael and Christl Long 14 DVD: Silent Wagner Tony Palmer 15 Fulham Opera Siegfried Act III Katie Barnes 16 Tristan und Isolde at The Royal Opera Katie Barnes 20 Met Opera Meistersinger live relay / Royal Opera Tristan Hilary Reid Evans 21 Berlin Tristan und Isolde Richard Phillips 24 The Rake’s Progress : Joint meeting with Bury Court Opera Katie Barnes 25 Simón Bolivár Orchestra: Highlights from The Ring : Katie Barnes 26 The Masters of Nuremberg at English National Opera Katie Barnes 31 The Masters of Nuremberg at English National Opera Hilary Reid Evans 32 Der fliegende Holländer at The Royal Opera Katie Barnes 34 Der fliegende Holländer at The Royal Opera Hilary Reid Evans 35 An Evening with Iain Patersen Katie Barnes 37 Secret Opera: Die Walküre Richard and Sylvia Lemon 38 Wagner and Human Sacrifice Professor Derek Hughes 40 Book: Beethoven by Wagner Richard Highland 41 Book: Wagner’s Visions Chris Argent 45 The oldest surviving symphony orchestra in the world? David Woodhead 45 Tristan und Isolde Act II at St Albans on 31 st May 2015 Roger Lee 46 Cosima : The author introduces his new play Robert Mansell 47 Wagner Society Contacts 48 Wagner Society Forthcoming Events Andrea Buchanan Cover picture: Rachel Nicholls (page 10) as Eva with Iain Paterson (page 35) as Hans Sachs in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg at English National Opera (pages 26 and 31) Printed by Rap Spiderweb – www.rapspiderweb.com 0161 947 3700 FROM THE CHAIRMAN I am delighted to announce that Gillian Wyn Thomas has agreed to take on the role of Events Manager for the Wagner Society with effect from early April. Gillian has a background as a management consultant, and is a highly knowledgeable, experienced and enthusiastic opera-goer. She has been co-opted to the Committee and will formally stand for election at the AGM in May. Since the last issue of Wagner News we have had two excellent events, both reported on more fully in here. First, a talk on Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress – previously unknown to me, but currently being staged at Bury Court Opera and starring two singers well known to us: Rhonda Browne and Andrew Dickinson. The talk was delivered by Dr Harriet Boyd-Bennett of Christ Church, Oxford, in St Botolph's Church Hall, with musical excerpts then sung by Andrew, Rhonda and Joanna Foote. Secondly, Iain Paterson – Hans Sachs in the ENO's current, excellent Mastersingers, gave us a talk followed by a Q&A. The life of an opera singer, the development of his career and his future plans, and the work that Iain himself put into making the English translation workable and singable, were all brought most entertainingly to life. Iain revealed the sheer scale of imagination that a singer puts into understanding Sachs – which includes a thorough imagination of his “back story” (his past friendship with Beckmesser? The loss of his inspiration since the death of his wife and children? The return of his inspiration on hearing Walther sing at the trial?). All in all, a most successful event which perfectly complemented the audience's enjoyment of the performance itself. The venue itself – The Gresham Centre, in St Anne's & St Agnes' Church – was another “find” for us – no space here to discuss its work, but please look them up. www.greshamcentre.com Forthcoming events include the President's Masterclasses on May 11th and the AGM on May 12th. More details to follow. Finally, we are still looking for someone to take on the Events Manager role, but since my last mention of this, we have had some indications of interest. All fingers are crossed. We are also still looking for someone to act as Webmaster: we envisage a student, possibly looking to make a name for herself or himself in musical journalism, who would enjoy the intellectual challenge, the chance to start and contribute to debates, and the opportunity to take the content of our website to a higher level. Richard Miles –3– REMINDER THE 61 st ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE WAGNER SOCIETY To be held on Tuesday 12 th May 2015 at 7.30pm St Botolph’s Church Hall, Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3TL Liverpool Street Please note that this time, the agenda, the annual accounts, biographical information about Committee members standing for election or re-election and any other relevant information will be posted on the Wagner Society website not less than 21 days before the AGM and will be available to members who log in. We trust that you appreciate the significant savings in the cost of postage that this will generate. If you do not have an email address, and you would like a copy of the papers by post, please inform us in advance – by post to address below. If you do not specifically request the papers, we will assume that you do not wish to receive them. We also ask that any members who have not yet sent us their email addresses or who have updated their contact details in any way please inform [email protected] If anyone would like to stand for the Committee please submit a minimum of two nominations from members in writing in advance to the Secretary, preferably by email to [email protected] or by post to: The Secretary of The Wagner Society, 7 Avenue Mansions, Finchley Road, London NW3 7AU. These must be received no less than 28 days before the date of the AGM. If you have any items that you wish to propose for the Agenda, please also send these to the Secretary at least 28 days in advance of the meeting. Members are cordially invited to join the Committee for drinks after the meeting. We look forward to seeing you on May 12 th and we hope that as many of you as possible will attend. Richard Miles (Chair) Andrea Buchanan (Secretary) Neil King (Treasurer) Cameron Burns Charlie Furness Smith Geoffrey Griffiths Edward Hewitt Roger Lee Margaret Murphy –4– FROM THE COMMITTEE Summaries of the meetings held on January 28 th and February 25 th 2015 Andrea Buchanan January 28 th • The Chair’s report noted that we were still in need of an Events Secretary to replace the excellent Peter Leppard. The Secretary was caretaking the role for the time being. He also reported that the joint dinner with the Alkan, Liszt and Berlioz societies in January had been a great success and was very well attended. • 11 new members had joined the Society over the past two months, many via the website, so this was clearly working well. • The Treasurer reported that we were now claiming Gift Aid on a regular basis. The December accounts were ready and had been circulated in draft. 2014 had ended with a healthy surplus in the bank, allowing us to deposit some funds with Charifund. • The Secretary was working with the website provider to improve some aspects of the site. Online ticket purchasing for our events was a high priority. • A Memorandum of Understanding with the Mastersingers had been drawn up and signed for 2015 for the provision of artistic services to the Wagner Society. • The Committee voted to hold the Singing Competition for 2015 in the Duke’s Hall at the Royal Academy. February 25 th • Five new members had joined the Society since the end of January. • The Treasurer was now working on the annual accounts and preparing these for the auditors. • The Secretary had met with the website provider and plans were being drawn up for the proposed modifications to the site to improve functionality. • Plans were going ahead for the Singing Competition and 2 out of 3 judges had now been agreed. The Secretary reported that the 2014 winner would spend some of his grant travelling in Germany and would arrange some coaching there, along with deepening his understanding of the language, the culture and of the opera world there. The 2014 runner-up had been entered for the Karlsruhe singing competition for Wagner voices. She was currently based in Berlin. • The President’s Masterclasses were being arranged for 11 th May (See: page 7). • The idea of a purely social event to be held in December for members was mooted. The Treasurer nobly volunteered to assist with this. –5– Advance notice of two important dates for your diary THE WAGNER SOCIETY SINGING COMPETITION 2015 Andrea Buchanan The 2015 Wagner Society Singing Competition will be held from 2pm to 6pm on Sunday November 22 nd at the Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London NW1 5HT. We can announce that two of the three judges are already in place, and we are honoured that Mark Wigglesworth , the incoming Music Director of English National Opera, and Scott Carlton , Director of the Young Artists’ Program for the New York Wagner Society and a previous long-standing member of the Bayreuth chorus, will be joining us. We hope to announce the third member of the panel shortly. The overall winner will receive a sum of money for coaching in Wagner roles, plus the opportunity to participate in the Bayreuth Stipendienstiftung (scholarship programme). We are very pleased that Dame Gwyneth Jones will once again present the Presidents’ Award of a Masterclass given by her to the singer(s) of her choice.