Winter-Spring 2012

Wagneriana

Siegfried! Siegfried! Sieh! Winter–Spring 2012 Selig grüsst dich dein Weib. Volume 9, Numbers 1–2 — Götterdämmerung

From the Editor

his issue brings you reviews of the triumphant conclusion of the Ring Cycle performed at the Metropolitan Opera. One review is of an in-house performance, and three reviews are of the HD broadcast. These last T three differ in significant ways. In the last two years, many photographs in Wagneriana were printed in color. This year, those of you who receive the newsletter as a PDF file will still see color photographs. Those who prefer to receive a hard copy of the newsletter, will see these photographs in black and white. If you have chosen to have the newsletter mailed to you but would prefer to get the PDF file instead, please let us know. Please note that our next event (April 22) is a lecture and demonstration by Maestro Jeffrey Brody titled “The Unknown Wagner-Humperdinck Collaboration.” There will be live music, as well as a screening of the Transfor- mation Scene from various productions of Parsifal, some of them rare. For more information, see page 10. Over the holidays, we have had more donors than usual, for which we are truly grateful. For a list of donors, see page 9. –Dalia Geffen, President

The Bayreuth Festival Changes Its Ticket Policy

One of the advantages of membership in a Wagner society has been the privilege, on occasion, of obtaining tickets to the Bayreuth Festival. Over the last decades, each Wagner society around the world would receive an allotment of tickets. The number of tickets did not always meet the demand, but a significant number could be distributed to members in some fashion. These were always paid for in full by the purchasers. In return for these tickets, the Wagner societies provided committed and knowledgeable audience members. Last December, at a time when Wagner societies around the world were expecting news of their annual allotment, they received word that no tickets would be forthcoming. Due to litigation in the German courts—ostensibly because too many tickets were being sold to foreign societies and tour operators—the Festival decided to withhold all tickets to foreign societies. We had no warning of this decision, not even a press release; instead, each society was notified individually. Communication between the leaders of the affected Wagner societies soon led to several joint letters of protest (see below). The lawsuit was recently dropped, but this came too late to affect ticket allocations for 2012. The Festi- val has not yet indicated whether tickets will be made available to societies for 2013 or whether there will be a new method of distribution. We hope to have further clarification on this as the spring and summer progress. Below is a portion of the letter that we received (twice) from the Bayreuth Festival.

The modifications to ticket allocation procedure have been made following investigations conducted by the Ba- varian General Accounting Office and the German Federal Court of Auditors, which are responsible for the Bay- reuth Festival. The reports by both institutions explicitly criticized certain measures in ticket allocation, and pro- posed clear conditions to bring about tangible and lasting changes. With the aim, therefore, of introducing greater fairness in the allocation of tickets and excluding as far as possible the preferential treatment of certain groups of

1 individuals, as well as to improve transparency, the supervisory committees of the Bayreuth Festival—the Super- visory Board and the Shareholders’ Meeting—decided on fundamental and binding changes on 18 Oct. 2011.

As a result of these resolutions it is unfortunately no longer possible for us to accord special interest groups or tour operators any privileges in the allocation of tickets. This means that you will not be sent an order form and any orders made via the Internet will not be processed. The members of your group or your customers, as the case may be, are of course still free to order tickets individually.

[Signed] Eva Wagner-Pasquier Katharina Wagner

As a result of this letter (or letters), the 14 North American societies put their heads and talents together and, with the leadership of Nathalie Wagner, President of the Wagner Society of New York, sent two missives to the Bay- reuth Festival. Both of these were translated into German by Vice President Erika Reitshamer (who has since re- signed), and both were sent to the following:

To all members of the Administrative Board of the Bayreuther Festspiele e.V.: Mr. Toni Schmid Dr. Michael Bauer Mr. Martin Eifler Mr. Björn Diecke Dr. Michael Hohl Mr. Carsten Hillgruber Gesellschaft der Freunde von Bayreuth: Dr. Georg Freiherr von Waldenfels Prof. Dr. h.c. Stephan Götzl

Managing Director of the Bayreuth Festival: Mrs. Eva Wagner-Pasquier Managing Director of the Bayreuth Festival: Ms. Katharina Wagner

First Letter (partial)

January 4, 2012

Dear esteemed ladies and gentlemen:

This letter comes to you from all North American Wagner societies. Our many thousands of members are shocked by the decision to stop the allocation of tickets to Wagner societies. We plan for many years and travel great distances to participate in the Bayreuth Festival and to support it in many ways. Wagner Society members and, in fact, all lovers of Wagner’s great music, strongly believe that the Bayreuth Festival needs to continue its all important task of carrying out Wagner’s vision by providing powerful and beautiful productions of his work. Wagner societies, who have had a long and strong relationship with the Festival, have been an essential part of this process by bringing in new members who not only add to the Festival’s audience but in a greater sense add to the world audience for Wagner’s music.

However, your decision, taken on October 18, 2011, and transmitted in mid-December, to stop the allocation of tickets to Wagner Societies would make it difficult for us to support and maintain our active participation in this process. As Prof. Eva Märtson, President of the Richard-Wagner-Verband International, e.V., has already noted in her letter of 21.12.2011, Wagner societies around the world exist for only two purposes. These are (1) to promote a deeper understanding of Wagner’s music and art by providing lectures, the knowledge of experts, small concerts, and support to their local opera houses when they produce Wagner’s operas and (2) to provide support and assis- tance to young musicians, singers, and conductors who demonstrate a particular talent for the performance of Wagner’s music dramas. Wagner societies are non-profit organizations whose minimal membership fees and donations from members are used to defray the costs of their promotional work. They are maintained by the love and commitment of dedicated volunteers, whose only interest is to maintain and encourage the great operas of Richard Wagner. Wagner societies explore and bring this essential part of German culture worldwide.

Moreover, many societies contribute donations to the Gesellschaft der Freunde von Bayreuth as part of their commitment to maintaining the excellence of the Festival: both the productions and the infrastructure.

Wagner societies have been, as far as is known, scrupulous in following the dictates of the Festival management with regard to the ticket allocation process. While scalping of tickets to the Festival and black market ticket sales are well known, members of Wagner societies decry this practice and exercise great care in their own allocation of tickets to members to ensure that their organizations never fall into this practice. In this regard, all tickets allotted to Wagner societies are paid for at full price. 2

We are fully in support of measures taken by the Festival management and governing bodies to make the ticket process as transparent and open as possible and encourage such efforts in the future to ensure the smooth running of this world famous and important festival. We really do understand the value of fairness in the distribution of tickets, that tour operators and others who profit from their activities should not have any special treatment, so we would be more than willing to continue to make sure our that tickets are distributed with the same fairness as always.

For Wagner society members, especially those who volunteer their time and energy to their organizations, Bay- reuth is still seen as the mecca for lovers of Wagner’s music. Trips to the Festival, for many, are the highpoint of their musical experience. Bayreuth also provides important opportunities for cultural exchanges such as (in 2011) hearing the president and members of the Israel Wagner Society talk about why they felt it was so necessary to found a Wagner society in Israel. Such cultural exchanges are fragile and should be nurtured.

We ask therefore that you reconsider the decision taken on October 18 and allow Wagner societies to apply for a yearly allocation of tickets, on a basis to be determined. We also request that, at the present time, the applicants for the 2012 season who have been hoping for many months to be able to attend in 2012 be allowed to send in their individual orders even though the deadline for submission has passed.

We would appreciate your response as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you and moving forward together to further the renowned Bayreuth Festival on the highest levels.

Respectfully Submitted,

Wagner Society of America Wagner Society of Northern California Wagner Society of Boston Wagner Society of Ohio Wagner Society of Dallas Wagner Society of Santa Fe Wagner Society of Cincinnati Wagner Society of Southern California Wagner Society of Florida Wagner Society of Toronto Wagner Society of New York Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest Wagner Society of Hawaii Wagner Society of Washington, DC

Copy: Prof. Eva Märtson, Präsidentin Richard-Wagner-Verband International e.V.

Second Letter (partial)

February 28, 2012

Dear ladies and gentlemen:

Wagner societies play an enormous role in increasing and disseminating knowledge about Wagner’s great music, as many previous letters have already described in some detail. It should also be noted that there are more societies around the world devoted to the music of this one composer than any other single composer! The highlight of the Wagnerian experience for most members of these numerous groups is the trip to the Bayreuth Festival.

As devoted Wagner lovers and supporters of the great Bayreuth Festival, we urge you to rescind your decision of October 18, 2012, and again allow our societies to apply for a yearly allocation of tickets. Although it is apparently too late to take any action for 2012, for which we had all applied in good faith, we look forward to an early resolu- tion so that our societies may offer this to our members for 2013, the much-anticipated bicentennial year of Wag- ner’s birth, and may assist in our historical support of the Bayreuth Festival.

[Signatories the same as the first letter] –Carleton Gebhardt, Bayreuth Coordinator

Ring Events by the Wagner Society of New York

Those of you who plan to attend the Metropolitan Opera’s production of the Ring Cycle this spring can attend several events organized by the Wagner Society of New York. The Society offers two receptions, two dinners, a library exhibit and lunch, a lecture, and a cruise on the Hudson. For more information, go to http://www.wagnersocietyny.org/ringevntsflyer2012.pdf (note the spelling).

3 Glorious Singing Marred by Poor Staging: The Met’s Götterdämmerung, Live

Götterdämmerung, Metropolitan Opera, February 3, 2012, live; conductor: Fabio Luisi; Brünnhilde: Katarina Da- layman; Siegfried: Stephen Gould; Gunther: Iain Paterson; Gutrune: Wendy Bryn Harmer; Hagen: Hans-Peter König; Waltraute: Waltraud Meier; Alberich: Eric Owens; director: Robert Lepage

It was with the keenest anticipation that I settled into my Family Circle seat at the Met for a performance of Götter- dämmerung on February 3, the third in the run preceding the complete Ring Cycles, which will close the season. Having seen all three previous installments in HD as well as a most unfortunate Siegfried in-house where the “machine” collapsed before the final scene and all the staging was totally improvised, I had many questions. Would Robert Lepage be able to repeat, if not top, his fine Siegfried? Would the machine work without issues? Having en- dured the techno-wonders and minimal acting/interrelating of the cast in the first two operas and having seen a considerable refinement and improvement in Siegfried, I had high hopes that the closing pages of this mighty epic would demonstrate suitable stage magic from Robert Lepage. I found the answers to all my questions on that night’s performance. What a great pleasure it was being in the musical company of Katarina Dalayman, our Brünnhilde. For the first time in two years this listener did not have to worry about flat and splattered notes above the staff, textual mis- takes, excessive vowel modification, and a decidedly unheroic sound. Dalayman is among the very few who own this role today. From the opening “Zu neuen Taten” to the final “Selig grüßt dich dein Weib!” she brought total authority and wonderful mastery and command to this taxing part (which is vocally not as difficult and clumsy in certain ways as the Siegfried Brünnhilde). She certainly deserved the ovation accorded her at the end of a long even- ing. Stephen Gould, her Siegfried, was much stronger throughout than his colleague, Jay Hunter Morris. The young Siegfried is an ideal role for Morris, whose bright and somewhat lighter, more lyrical sound brought forth the req- uisite naïveté the role in Siegfried demands. It remains unclear how many hours, weeks, and months have elapsed before Siegfried tires of love on the rocks with Brünnhilde, but in any event the Siegfried in Götterdämmerung is clearly more mature, and Gould’s undeniable vocal strength and heft created a most plausible character. While Morris and Voigt made for a wonderful pairing at the end of Siegfried, Gould’s sound was a superior match for the other singers in the cast, the Gibichung clan in particular. The Hagen of Hans-Peter König, the Gunther of Iain Paterson, and the Gutrune of Wendy Bryn Harmer were all that one would ever want for these parts. And yet once again, Eric Owens demonstrated conclusively that he owns the role of Alberich. What a pity the role is so short! The best singing and acting during the entire even- ing came from Waltraud Meier as Waltraute. Her scene with Dalayman was as riveting as the Act 3 Wander- er/Siegfried scene in the fall. If only all the rest of the acting and drama throughout Lepages’s Ring could have matched these two miraculous scenes! The Norns were more than adequate, and the three Rhinemaidens turned in their best performance thus far Hans-Peter König (Hagen) in front of the “machine” in in the run. (This listener had already heard the opening- Götterdämmerung night and second performances on Sirius.) Seldom have I heard and enjoyed the exciting Götter- dämmerung choral parts as much as I did during this performance. It seemed as if we had only one chorister (rather large, to be sure); such was the total unanimity of attack and phrasing, not to speak of control of dynamics. This is an extremely fine operatic chorus, and Met chorus master Donald Palumbo (formerly of Boston’s Chorus Pro Musi- ca) deserves the credit. This chorus is on the same precise and exacting level as the one at the Bayreuth Festival; the latter is perhaps one of the few remaining reasons to consider trying to obtain tickets there (but that’s the subject of another article). The orchestra, having played this music for the last 20 years under the company’s music director, certainly knows its way around the score. The musicians covered themselves in suitably splendid Wagnerian glory under the direction of Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi. His way here, as in the earlier run of Siegfried, was to find a far greater clarity and superior balance both within the orchestra and with the stage and pit. He favored slightly brisk- er tempi than those we have grown so accustomed to in this house. (Total running time was 5 hours and 40 minutes, including two intermissions.) The grandeur of the work’s scoring and the overall continuity as a totality 4 may not have been as overwhelming as before; still, Luisi’s reading was a remarkable statement, and it was clear that this orchestra very much likes playing for him. When the time comes, and it will, Met audiences will be in good hands. One had the highest hopes for Lepage’s staging, especially since the intensity of the acting and interrelating of the singers in Siegfried were on a much higher level than in the previous two operas. Unfortunately, and at such a ridiculous expense, his work here was not terribly exciting or effective—or offensive, for that matter. Particularly irritating was this director’s refusal to trust the composer’s music—the set would begin moving while there was singing going on. As soon as the machine started altering its position, and noisily to boot, one was no longer really listening to the music and being dramatically involved. It all became a techno show. Wagner clearly indicates one specific set/scene design for Act 2, for example, and yet within the context of this roughly 70-minute span, the machine changed positions more than a few times. Seldom has this listener (who has seen and heard many a Ring opera as well as participated in six Ring Cycles as assistant conductor and prompter) been so frustrated and disappointed by the anticlimactic and botched ending. There was not the slightest trace of the cataclysmic apocalypse called for in the libretto. Given the sad history of the machine’s failures in performance during the previous three operas, one could be forgiven for wondering at every change of position whether something was going to fail and the whole thing come to a crashing halt. There was also a complete lack of a directorial statement. Lepage was content to present these four operas without any Brechtian alienation or religious/economic/political/social statement. I do not know which is worse: seeing some ridiculous and infuriating Regietheater nonsense (such as a recent Bayreuth Parsifal with two dead rabbits on a wire as the Grail) or seeing nothing of note. What is clear is that Lepage’s Ring is a throwback to Wieland Wagner but without his genius. Both Wieland Wagner and Lepage used essentially a unit set that was modified continually. In the latter case, the set changes were almost always a vista with noise. Whereas Wieland Wagner used revolutionary lighting effects (probably for financial reasons) to achieve his magic, Lepage employed state-of- the-art computer projections onto his basic unit set. But there was precious little real acting happening. Certainly, the latter two operas were better acted, and there was somewhat less play with his toy, but in the end, his efforts fell flat. Ultimately, it will be a question of what to do with the set when the Met discards this production in about 20 years. Will the 24 planks of the machine be sliced up and sold to the public as expensive souvenir pens? (This hap- pened to the stage floor of a world-renowned concert hall.) Or will Peter Gelb weatherproof the entire apparatus in iron or steel and set it in front of the house for future generations to wonder at? Folks who cannot get enough of the machine are free to buy a cheap and rather inaccurate wooden replica now selling at the Met gift shop. But techno-wonders, computer-generated projections, and an extremely noisy set prone to mishaps, no matter how good the music making, do not a Ring make. –Jeffrey Brody Jeffrey Brody, composer, conductor, pianist, and coach, is the Music Adviser of the Boston Wagner Society.

The Met’s Götterdämmerung in HD: Three Reviews

Götterdämmerung, Metropolitan Opera, HD, February 11, 2012; conductor: Fabio Luisi; Brünnhilde: Deborah Voigt; Siegfried: Jay Hunter Morris; Gunther: Iain Paterson; Gutrune: Wendy Bryn Harmer; Hagen: Hans-Peter König; Waltraute: Waltraud Meier; Alberich: Eric Owens; director: Robert Lepage

Camera Work Enhances Powerful Acting

hen commenting on any HD telecast, one must remember that the HD experience bears little, if any, re- semblance to what is being seen and heard in-house. Having written extensively on the February 3, 2012, Wperformance I saw in-house and on how bitterly disappointed I was by the botched apocalyptic cataclysm, I have a few comments to add here. Deborah Voigt turned in what is easily the best performance I have heard from her (two SiriusXM performances as well as that day’s HD broadcast). She was quite secure in all areas of her voice: the top was all there, and she did not sing under pitch, a frequent and noticeable shortcoming in previous performances. The middle and the bottom of her voice were also in good shape. Her acting was quite convincing and touching at all times. Voigt is not Flag- stad or Varnay, let alone Nilsson, but at least for this afternoon, she acquitted herself very decently. She certainly deserved all the acclaim she received at the curtain calls.

5 Jay Hunter Morris’s Siegfried was of a high caliber. The instrument sounded somewhat lighter and thinner in the house, but this was not so noticeable on the HD telecast, where all the singers are miked and the balance is perfectly calibrated. His work here was quite fine, vocally (with the miking) and dramatically. I suspect that the more he sings both parts, the more he will continue to find layers of richness and meaning in the music and text, as well as ease (if anything about either role could be said to include that word!). Apparently he will sing both Siegfrieds in Florence next year. I am sure he will enjoy a well-deserved triumph. The work of Waltraud Meier was, as before, simply on another level from everyone else’s. Her scene in Act 1 was even more riveting on the day of the HD broadcast, perhaps because of the close-up camera Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde in the Met’s work. The performance of Iain Paterson and Wendy Bryn Harmer was Götterdämmerung superlative. Eric Owens, in his all-too brief appearance as Alberich, re-

mains a force of nature. His acting this time around, by comparison with everybody else’s, did not fare so well with the close-up camera angles, poor costuming, and murky lighting. Last year he had come across as a more sympathetic Alberich in Rheingold. Hans-Peter König’s malevolent and scheming Hagen was a vocal and dramatic masterpiece, an object lesson and master class in singing for the lower male voice. Here was a villain without the slightest bit of shame or regret for anything he had done or not done. The work of Owens and König had me pondering whether they are really a loyal team, or whether one would stab the other in the back after all their scheming and professions of “Sei treu” (Be loyal). The Norns and Rhinemaidens were again more than adequate. The Norns’ makeup enhanced their scene, which sadly was burdened with a lot of extraneous motion from the machine. (By now it’s clear that this has become the 35th character in Robert Lepage’s show). Unfortunately, the Rhinemaidens were saddled with the task of having to repeatedly climb the raked set that looked, so convincingly, like a river, and then sliding down. This maneuver, while clever and interesting the first three or four times, rapidly wore itself out. Given the set they played on, however, there was really little else they could have done. As for Lepage’s staging, I noted the enormous improvement since his work in the first two operas. The machine moved less and was virtually silent in this HD telecast. Mercifully, there were no computer glitches, and all worked well. The experience of seeing this opera in HD with the many close-up shots proved to be quite enlightening: there was a lot of intense acting going on (at last!). Less machine movement and more intense acting made for a powerful experience, until the unfortunate conclusion. What a shame that the final cataclysm was so poorly staged. The HD experience did not improve matters much. Voigt mounted her robotic horse (how many thousands of dollars did that cost?) and rode into the backstage area where the funeral pyre was blazing timidly. The machine moved and covered the whole area, then turned, in one final projection, quite blue. The concluding image of a drowning Hagen proceeded as before, and the end of the gods was murkily carried out. One was dimly aware of statues at the very top of the machine sinking into oblivion. No explosion, no flash of light, nothing. No Schenk! No Chereau! No Karajan/Schneider-Siemssen! I wasn’t sur- prised that on the opening night Lepage and his staff were roundly booed. (The curtain calls sounded like a typical first night at Bayreuth.) It was also no surprise that Lepage did not take a curtain call at the end of this performance, because there surely would have been a repetition of the opening-night booing. No doubt Peter Gelb would prefer to have a happy and clean trailer during the curtain calls for the DVD version. Whatever changes may take place in the future—so sorely needed, especially in Rheingold and Die Walküre—will be carried out by the hapless Met resident stage director to be assigned to the 2012–2013 revival. –Jeffrey Brody

Musical Values Carry the Day

abio Luisi and the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra brought Wagner’s Ring Cycle to a triumphant conclusion on Saturday, February 11, 2012. The resplendent orchestral sound balanced wonderfully with the on-stage Fsinging. Inner instrumental voices were easily heard, and the thematic lines of both the musical drama and the motives were clearly articulated. The ebb and flow of the musical pacing matched the dramatic events perfectly, and all involved (singers and instrumentalists) performed with excellent phrasing. Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde grew in stature from the Prologue through the “Immolation Scene.” She achieved the goal of inhabiting the role of Brünnhilde both vocally and dramatically. It was her best performance yet.

6 Jay Hunter Morris was a joy to see and hear. His Siegfried exuded youthful enthusiasm and naïveté when appropriate. And his singing—well, he may well be the new Siegfried for these ages! His physical acting was wonderful, and his facial expressions (clearly visible in HD projection) added immensely to his portrayal. Voigt and Morris brought the needed intimacy to their duet in the Prologue, thus establishing their love for each other—a touch that is needed to explain Brünnhilde’s wrath at her be- trayal in Act 2. Waltraud Meier’s Waltraute was intensely characterized. And as is expected from this outstanding performer, the singing was exemplary. She and Voigt were gripping in their scene.

The Hagen of Hans-Peter König was menacing and conniving Iain Paterson as Gunther and Jay Hunter Morris as at the same time. His deeply resonant voice reminded me of Siegfried in the Met’s Götterdämmerung Matti Salminen. Eric Owens continued his manic Alberich characterization, first seen in Das Rheingold. Both Iain Paterson and Wendy Bryn Harmer brought as much character and dignity to the roles of Gunther and Gutrune as Wagner’s music allows. I highlight Wendy Bryn Harmer’s voice for its glowing soprano. I have heard her progress from the Third Norn to Freia and now to Gutrune. She brought insight and beauty to this role. Both female trios—the Norns and the Rhinemaidens—blended their voices well while still retaining vocal indi- viduality. One problem I found in the Norns’ scene was the use of too much rope. This staging was too literal and became distracting. I must mention, however, that it seemed as though the Rhinemaidens had evolved in the time span between Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung. They lost their tail fins and grew legs! All the choral work was precise and interesting to hear and see. The German diction was excellent. All the soloists used vocal acting by stressing important words and phrases. I have heard complaints about the horse puppet. I do not agree with these criticisms; the horse brought realism to the scenes. And yes, there was some humor and joy in watching this attempt. In this installment of the Ring, personal interactions between the characters were the best. And the use of the space behind the “machine” added a third dimension to the production, often lacking in this Ring. This third dimension was the best use of the machine, but I still experienced eye strain as I stared at the two-dimensional and flickering projection on the rear wall in the Hall of the Gibichungs. Maybe it was better in the house, but I had trouble looking at the machine from different angles during the instrumental interludes. It got in the way of con- centrating on the music. The death of Hagen and the swimming/climbing of the Rhinemaidens were clumsily handled. As for the conclusion, the finale was visually underwhelming, but the music was transporting.

–David Collins, M.Ed.

David Collins, a member of the Boston Wagner Society, was the resident lecturer for Opera Boston and teaches opera apprecia- tion in the Greater Boston area.

Love and Freedom Triumph

or me, the Ring has always been a metaphor for human history—constantly changing and, at least in our life- time, evolving for the better. Today we live in the first generation of the human race in which a majority of Fthe world’s people do not suffer authoritarian rule, desperate poverty, or terrible violence. Why? Because a lot of these three horrors have been swept away, just as in Götterdämmerung many evils come to an end. It’s important to realize that this opera is about the ending of a world rather than of the world. I wish Lepage had shown the Gibichung human subjects standing around watching, as in some productions. But his comment on the chorus can be applied to the whole opera: “A chorus is always about society—it is mankind.” The new world of humans may make some of the same errors that the preceding gods, dwarfs, and giants made, but the values Wagner cele- brates in the cycle, love and free choice, will remain and perhaps triumph as they have triumphed in our time. Though this final Ring opera shows a world coming apart, I always come away joyously optimistic from a day of glorious music celebrating the values of love and freedom that I cherish, as did Wagner himself. So how does all this play out in the world of Götterdämmerung? Malign authoritarians such as Alberich and Ha- gen fail and perish as did Hitler’s, Stalin’s, and Kaddafi’s tyrannies. So do benign authoritarians like Wotan and 7 Gunther, as did the British Empire. The world’s future belongs to champions of love and freedom such as Siegfried and Brünnhilde. Just ask yourself: Which of these three groups of people represents the evolving triumph of the values that today’s world witnesses: the malign authoritarians, the benign authoritarians, or the democrats? Some critics complain that Lepage’s Ring lacks an overall theme, a dominant interpretation. But it is better for the first worldwide Ring, the first seen simultaneously in 56 countries, to stick closely to the narrative and let each viewer make his or her own interpretation, as I am doing here. Let’s focus on the gloom before the joy, as Wagner does in this opera. What are some of the most significant ways in which Lepage conveys the gloom and doom and futility of greedy power seeking? Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde riding Grane into The most vivid visual image here may be the Rhine slowly turning the fire in the Met’s Götterdämmerung blood red when Gunther uses it to cleanse his murder weapon. (The three-D projections of this production are much more memorable than the 45-ton “machine.”) But the note of doom is struck throughout: the snapping of the Norns’ thick rope of fate; the way Hagen’s dress echoes the design of Gibichung Hall to stress that he’s really in charge here (i.e., the forces of “evil Alberich” are surging); the tale of Wotan’s despair as told by Waltraute, whose silvery warrior’s costume symbolizes the world of Wotan that Brünn- hilde rejects; the fight of brothers, which ends with two corpses littering the stage; and the white statues of the gods bursting open as the world of the gods dissolves in fire and flood. But Lepage also pounds home the opera’s other chief theme: the values of love and freedom. Even in the Pro- logue, the joyous interaction of the lovers on the mountaintop surrounded by a ring of fire is as memorable as the snapping of the Norns’ rope. Repeatedly we see the happiness of the doomed lovers when not drugged by potions or by justifiable rage. We applaud their devotion when Brünnhhilde’s love causes her to reject Waltraute’s plea for the same reason that Siegmund rejected a similar plea from her two operas earlier, Siegfried’s carefree joking with the Rhinemaidens, the gaiety of the three maidens (the only winners among all the Ring characters) as they scamper about and slide repeatedly down the machine on their bottoms, the glorification of the love of the two main characters in the Immolation Scene, and the shimmering colors of the finale with the soaring music of the re- demption-by-love leitmotif. Lepage is correct to describe the ending as “very, very optimistic.” –Reginald McKeen Reginald McKeen has been a member of the Boston Wagner Society since 2004.

Tony Palmer’s Wagner Family: A Riveting History

The Wagner Family, a documentary by Tony Palmer; DVD, Gonzo Multimedia TP-DVD172, 106 minutes

he Wagner Family, an engrossing and, ultimately, disturbing DVD is a sterling effort by Tony Palmer, the film director responsible for the well-known 1983 TV T series on Wagner’s life, which starred Richard Burton and Vanessa Redgrave. The current 1-hour and 45-minute film should prove to be of the utmost interest to all Wagnerians, dedicated or otherwise, as well as to opera lovers in general. This viewer managed to learn a few interesting and important facts (e.g., Wieland Wagner ran a concentration camp, Flossenburg, conveniently located on the outskirts of Bayreuth; his mistress, Anja Silja, contributed heavily to the financial support of the Festival; and Wieland was terrified of being gay like his father). Nevertheless, those readers familiar with much of the recent autobiographical litera- ture put out by the various Wagner descendants (self-justifications, explanations, apol- ogies, and self-promotions as potential festival directors) will not find anything terribly new here. Specifically, I refer to Gottfried Wagner’s Twilight of the Wagners, as well as Nike Wagner’s The Wagners, Wolfgang Wagner’s Acts, and his sister Friedelind’s 1945 Heritage of Fire (published in Germany only recently!). Here I must also include Brigitte Hamann’s excellent biography of Winifred Wagner and, as a general and genial guide, the late Jonathan Carr’s masterly and all-encompassing The Wagner Clan. And yet, the cumulative effect of this powerful and ultimately either depressing and/or infuriating DVD, depending on one’s point of view, is to compel the viewer to ask some very simple and yet profound questions: How and why does the Wagner family (except for Friedelind and Gottfried) continually whitewash the Hitler years? When, if ever, will there be a true and

8 accurate accounting of the Wahnfried/Hitler/anti-Semitic history? (Such an accounting has been promised by the current co-directors of the Festival for 2013.) And how was it possible to reopen the Festival in 1951 with chorus and orchestra personnel that were in full cooperation with the Third Reich until the end of the war? Taken as a whole, it is clear that there are two principal leitmotifs running through this documentary: (1) a cast of characters who are perpetually squabbling as to which of the younger generation can and should take over the Gesamtleitung of the Festival, and (2) to this day an unrepentant attitude for not only the Hitler era but also the many years of dangerous right-wing reactionary politics. All of the competitors for the Festival direction reveal in words spoken and unspoken, deeds done and not done, that all they care about is the continuation of this cult’s Festival and their possible future participation in it. There is no real concern for truth or history. One senses this theme at the outset when the first Wagner to speak is Gottfried, who is clearly one of the few in the family who are uninterested in the job description of Festival director. One can safely assert that here is one Wagner who is so repentant about the historical actions of the rest of the family that he willingly isolates himself from all without any regret. There is many an ax to grind here. How could there not be, given Wolfgang’s banishing from the Festival and from Wahnfried of the Wieland side of the family? How could there not be, given Wolfgang’s rejection of his two children by his first wife as possible future directors? How could there not be when most of this family has never disavowed or apologized for its embrace of the Wagner-obsessed corporal from Austria who wreaked such havoc in twelve years? As expected, among the clips seen in this riveting history are many shots of Hitler waving to the crazed throngs gathered outside the Festspielhaus. There are also, unsurprisingly, a few clips from Tony Palmer’s earlier Wagner film. In addition, it is no surprise to find clips from the famous five-hour Hans-Jürgen Syberberg 1975 interview with Winifred Wagner. (These gave me chills of recognition on more than one level, as in 1976 I had asked her many of the same questions and gotten the very same answers in the very same room.) The film is everything one never would want to hear about Wagner and, more so, his descendants; it is disturbing, and yet it is a “must.” For this viewer, the most poetic justice is reserved for the very end, which is the famous 4.5-minute staging by Rudolf Hartmann of the 1876 Ring as portrayed in the classic (and, sadly, mostly forgotten by now) Wagner biopic Magic Fire. This composer biography (in earlier decades a popular Hollywood concept) was filmed in 1954 in the Festspielhaus with a splendid cast of soloists from Munich (Annelies Kupper, Leonie Rysanek, Otto Edelmann, and Hans Hopf); the film’s Jewish music supervisor, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, appeared in his only on-screen appearance as the debonair and dashing goateed Hans Richter conducting his own condensation of the Ring and obvious- ly having a great time in the Festspielhaus pit. How truly appropriate it is for the last Wunderkind, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, to have the final say. –Jeffrey Brody

Donations to the Boston Wagner Society

The Boston Wagner Society gratefully acknowledges the following donors.

THE GRAIL ($500 and up) NOTHUNG (cont.) Tom and Anneliese Henderson Thomas and Amy Kwei Christopher Laconi (with IBM) Arthur McEvily and Davida Bagatelle Preston and Carolyn Reed THE RING ($250–$499) Susan Robertson Miguel De Bragança Margaret Shepherd TARNHELM ($25–$99) Rex and Kristin Britter NOTHUNG ($100–$249) Ron and Joyce Della Chiesa Martin Becker Françoise Ducher-Han Bente and Keith Dawkins Sarah Mason Chariclea and Evangelos Gragoudas Fred Meyer Thomas Hansen Christian and Sabine Raulin McKinney Russell ______

Publisher and Editor: Dalia Geffen Associate Editor: Donald Rosenthal Proofreader: Paul Geffen Logo design: Sasha Geffen Contact us at [email protected]; 617-323-6088

The Boston Wagner Society Presents

“The Unknown Wagner-Humperdinck Collaboration: The Premiere (since 1882) of Humperdinck’s Musical Contribution to Parsifal”

A Lecture-Demonstration by Jeffrey Brody

Sunday, April 22, 3 p.m. The College Club 44 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02116

Parsifal at its premiere at the Bayreuth Festival, 1882

Maestro Brody, conductor, composer, pianist, and coach, will speak about Humperdinck’s musical contribution to Parsifal. Humperdinck’s addition came about in an unusual way. At the opera’s 1882 premiere in Bayreuth, Wag- ner needed a longer Transformation Scene. Humperdinck, who was Wagner’s assistant, stepped in and wrote a few extra bars, which solved the technical problem of the transition.

Humperdinck’s addition to Parsifal languished in obscurity until Maestro Brody, with the help of an archivist at Bayreuth, obtained it from the University of Frankfurt.

In addition to listening to Humperdinck’s contribution, we will watch various Transformation Scenes from different productions of Parsifal.

Tickets: $15; members and students $10

For tickets, go to www.bostonwagnersociety.org or call 617-323-6088