Number 201: APRIL 2011 - Wagner Society of England

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INSIDE Number 201: APRIL 2011 4 Chairman’s Retiring Letter 5 From the Chair-Elect 6 Die Walküre cinema relay from La Scala Milan 10 Parsifal study day with Ian Beresford Gleaves 11 Tannhäuser at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 16 “Donald McIntyre – Colossus from New Zealand” The Paul Dawson-Bowling Lecture 17 “Backstage at Bayreuth”: an evening with James Rutherford 18 “Living in Exile”: The Mastersingers Aldeburgh Programme 20 Parsifal at English National Opera 29 Lance Ryan and Christian Thielemann at Bayreuth 30 DVD review: “Wagner and Me” by Stephen Fry 33 Book review: “Richard Wagner and the Centrality of Love” by Barry Emslie 36 Letters 38 Farewell to... 39 Wagner Society Contacts CONTRIBUTORS The relay from La Scala presented Katie Barnes with “the squalliest and most ill-tuned bunch of Valkyries” she has ever heard, but at the Royal Opera House she found the voice of Christian Gerhaher to be “like a rich silk scarf sliding slowly to the ground”. (See: Stop Press on page 38) katie_barnes_unicorn@msn.com Philip Morgan was converted to Wagner while listening to Karajan’s Die Meistersinger on an old set of vinyls in 1992. pbmorgan@btopenworld.com As a schoolboy in 1958 Paul Dawson-Bowling cycled across Europe to Bayreuth to see Der Ring, Tristan, Die Meistersinger, and Parsifal. paulizdb@talktalk.net A Society member for 37 years, Robert Mitchell is a Yorkshire GP whose interest in Wagner was ignited when he attended Götterdämmerung at Covent Garden in 1963. drrgm@hotmail.co.uk Chris Argent is Editor of the Richard Strauss Society Newsletter. He took over his stepfather’s membership of the Wagner Society upon his death in 1986 (“he and my mother drilled me into tolerating Wagner”) and has being writing for Wagner News ever since. chris.argent@ntlworld.com Cover: Sir Donald McIntyre: See report on page 16 Photo: Peter West donningtonart@aol.com 01256 222 339 Designed & Printed by Rap Spiderweb – www.rapspiderweb.com 0161 947 3700 –2–
EDITOR’S NOTE WRITE FOR WAGNER NEWS! Editing Wagner News is a job to be envied by anyone who would enjoy engaging with a group of very talented and dedicated contributors. We are blessed with volunteer writers and a photographer who produce work of the highest standards for this magazine. Those who make up this well-established and elite squad are small in number. Their response to the demands which we make of them can often be described as heroic. Although this does not compromise the quality of their work, excessively exploiting their goodwill may not be the best way to assure the future development of Wagner News. Such expertise can be all too intimidating for readers who might be considering the idea of contributing to this publication themselves. You may also regard the fact that you have not yet been asked to do so as another inhibiting factor. Few of us could hope to match the experience and ability of those upon whose efforts we have depended year after year. As well as their comprehensive “big” pieces there is also room for reports and comments from others who may also have something to tell our readers. To complement the “conventional” material which appears in these pages ideas and information are also welcome from those who may not have tried their hand at writing for us before, or who may not have done so for some time. It’s your Wagner News, and so I would be delighted to receive your thoughts. I am looking for potential writers who can be encouraged to venture forth and join the team. My knowledge of who might be available is necessarily limited, so please don’t wait to be asked: I enjoy the surprise of receiving unsolicited items! Even very short observations can find a place in the scheme of things being put together for our readers. Pictures are also most welcome as it is simply not possible for our photographer to turn out for all of the events which we cover. We also need proof readers who are able to work via email. Let’s get down to business and start with the sumptuous programme which Malcolm Rivers has put together for The Mastersingers weekend in Aldeburgh (see: centre pages). With no fewer than nine events to cover, I would be very interested to hear from anyone attending these who might feel able to lend a hand in reporting them for Wagner News. Similarly, our readers deserve to share the impressions of those fortunate enough to see Die Meistersinger at Glyndebourne, Tristan und Isolde at Grange Park, Opera North’s Das Rheingold or the Hallé’s Die Walküre at the Bridgewater Hall. So please let me know! Roger Lee penmaenmawr@hotmail.com –3–
Page 1: Number 201: April 2011
Page 5 and 6: FROM THE CHAIR-ELECT There have bee
Page 7 and 8: During the Ride of the Valkyries th
Page 9 and 10: ungainly bustle to reveal black rid
Page 11 and 12: WOLFRAM WAS THE STAR OF THE EVENING
Page 13 and 14: way of presenting the scene, and sh
Page 15 and 16: his fatal inability to declare hims
Page 17 and 18: “BEHIND THE SCENES AT BAYREUTH”
Page 19 and 20: - 19 -
Page 21 and 22: e allowed to look more surprised at
Page 23 and 24: The emasculated sorcerer has usurpe
Page 25 and 26: audience, and their goggles and gas
Page 27 and 28: acting in this scene is horrifyingl
Page 29 and 30: Received after the January issue of
Page 31 and 32: Mathilde Wesendonck, his devious ex
Page 33 and 34: RICHARD WAGNER AND THE CENTRALITY O
Page 35 and 36: emembering first and foremost that
Page 37 and 38: From Colin Humphreys LETTERS I smil
Page 39 and 40: President: Dame Gwyneth Jones Vice

Number 201: APRIL 2011 - Wagner Society of England

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