Number 202: July 2011 - Wagner Society of England

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
London and the “performing arm of the Wagner 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 Bayreuth 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 Tony Palmer on “The Wagner Family” film
23 Pleased to meet you: Peter West
24 Parsifal in Prague
26 Tristan und Isolde in Berlin
27 Parsifal in Barcelona
28 Midsummer Opera’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’ancoma
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 England with John Cleese.
mrrdancoma@gmail.com
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. elaine@ed-financial.co.uk
Nina Vincent
Nina is a lover of music and opera who has recently returned from working in the
Middle East. ninavincent@hotmail.com
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. melandpaulsymons@btinternet.com
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.
ewenharris@talktalk.net
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. latissimus@btinternet.com
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.
kensunshine@btinternet.com
Cover: Kelvin Lim with Julian Black. See report on page13
Photo: Peter West donningtonart@aol.com 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
Richard Wagner 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 international 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 Gwyneth Jones (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 tenors 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, Rachel Nicholls, 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 the Young 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.
–7– – 7–
Malcolm Rivers

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 the Daily Telegraph
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 the Observer 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 Siegfried 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 Rigoletto and Tristan und Isolde
Stuart is now preparing Sciarrone in Tosca and Montano in Otello, 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 Hagen 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 Germany 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.
Charne Rochford (Tenor)
Jonathan Stoughton (Tenor)
BAYREUTH BURSARY FINALISTS
– 10 –
Miriam Sharrad (Contralto)
Justine Viani (Soprano)

Simon Lobelson (Baritone)
Thomas Humphreys (Baritone)
– 11 –
Ione Cumming (Soprano)
Photography for the above 6 images by Peter West donningtonart@aol.com
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 donningtonart@aol.com

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: bass 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 Don Giovanni. 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 donningtonart@aol.com
– 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 Benjamin Britten’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
the Royal Opera 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 Curlew River, 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 Royal Opera House
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.
Lindsey Wagstaff Photo: donningtonart@aol.com
– 15 –
Footnote
Following an appeal this event raised
some £700 for the Save the Children
Fund.
Roger Lee

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 donningtonart@aol.com
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 Metropolitan
Opera 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, Bryn Terfel
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 computercontrolled
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: “John Osborne 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
Bayreuth Festival) 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. Wolfgang Wagner 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 Pierre Boulez. “After I had finished it Boulez said ‘There’s one
thing I forgot to tell you.’ For him the real tragedy of 1966 when Wieland Wagner 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 operas 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 Katharina Wagner.”
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 Winifred Wagner. Oliver
Hilmes, in his new biography of Cosima Wagner was the first person to point out that the big
problem about Siegfried Wagner 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 Adolf Hitler. 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 Richard Burton 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 Das
Rheingold 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 Liceu 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 Ride of the Valkyries 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 Gunther 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 jacquelineandreabuchanan@gmail.com 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 LOHENGRIN 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 easylistening,
undemanding, crowd-pleasing production and the audience gave it a tremendous
ovation at the end. So that’s alright then!
– 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 thighslapping,
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 the Proms 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 the times 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 Munich 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. Sara Fulgoni’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 Wahnfried, 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 Cosimasanctified
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 Bodo Lafferentz 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 Anja Silja).
– 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. Nike Wagner 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 Fidelio, 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 leitmotives 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 librettowriting
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 Welsh
National Opera 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
paulizdb@talktalk.net
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 Paris 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.
jonesroweopera@btopenworld.com
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 downto-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 John Tomlinson
Chair and Jeremy Rowe 0207 402 7494 lyceumschool@aol.com
Programme Director: Flat 20, 33 Lancaster Gate, London W2 3LP
Assistant
Programme Director: Gary Kahn programmeassist@wagnersociety.org
Treasurer: Mike Morgan mikemorgan@wagner65.wanadoo.co.uk
9 West Court, Downley, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP13 5TG
Financial Advisor: Ralph Wells ralphwells@o2.co.uk
Membership Secretary: Mrs Margaret Murphy mm@misterman.freeserve.co.uk
16 Doran Drive, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 6AX
Secretary and Bayreuth Andrea Buchanan jacquelineandreabuchanan@gmail.com
Bursary Administrator: 7 Avenue Mansions, Finchley Road, London NW3 7AU
Ticket Secretary: Pam Hudson 01462 675 638 phudson@talk21.com
Howard Gate, Howard Drive, Letchworth Garden City SG6 2BQ
Website and Publicity: Ian Jones webmaster@wagnersociety.org
Flat 20, 33 Lancaster Gate, London W2 3LP
Events Co-ordinator: Ross Alley ross@rossalleypromotions.co.uk
25 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4PH
Archivist and Librarian: Geoffrey Griffiths g.bg@btopenworld.com
Editor of Wagner News: Roger Lee penmaenmawr@hotmail.com
Cefn Maen, Mountain Lane, Penmaenmawr, Conwy, LL34 6YP
Society Website: www.wagnersociety.org
The Wagner Society is registered charity number 266383.
– 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.
– 44 –