{"title":"Other Back Content","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis page shows all current and previous content of The Wagner Journal \u003cspan\u003efrom its inaugural issue of March 2007.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUse filters to narrow your search by year and article type.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo find specific content, consult our \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/8e5cbc.myshopify.com\/pages\/index\"\u003eindex of contents\u003c\/a\u003e or use the search facility. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you can't find what you are looking for, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/8e5cbc.myshopify.com\/pages\/contact\"\u003econtact us\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"es-lebe-amerika-richard-wagner-and-the-united-states","title":"Hans Rudolf Vaget, ‘Es lebe Amerika!’: Richard Wagner and the United States","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 4–24.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn 1 February 1880, Cosima entered into her diary what is surely one of the most baffling items in her faithful and invaluable recordings of daily life at Wahnfried and elsewhere. Richard and Cosima Wagner had come to Naples for what was intended to be a year-long, restful sojourn in the pleasing climate of the South, far from Bayreuth, far from their exhausting struggle to secure the continuation of the Bayreuth Festival beyond its first season in 1876. That struggle engaged not only the bureaucracy of the Bavarian court but also King Ludwig II himself. Lodging at the Villa d’Angri overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Wagner turned to the completion of his autobiography and \u003ci\u003eParsifal\u003c\/i\u003e, which he knew would be his final operatic work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\"\u003eIn these circumstances, we would expect him to have been entirely absorbed in those two tasks. Instead, Cosima reports something entirely different and unexpected.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47211467506006,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47211467538774,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"adopting-a-pose","title":"Adopting a Pose: Barry Millington admires a world-class ‘Tristan’ in West Horsley","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eTristan und Isolde\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Edwards, conducted Barlow, Grange Park Opera, West Horsley, Surrey, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 73–6.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCharles Edwards’s own sets for his new \u003cem\u003eTristan und Isolde\u003c\/em\u003e at Grange Park adorn three spaces (one for each act) referencing the iconography of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, more or less contemporaneous with Wagner’s opera. Though none of the chief Pre-Raphaelites – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt – was exactly a paid-up Wagnerite, their celebration of medievalism and myth makes them a natural counterpart for \u003cem\u003eTristan\u003c\/em\u003e (the legend of Tristram and Yseult was very much in vogue at the time). As the production unfolds, however, it becomes clear that the association is not merely a decorative one.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47212281659734,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47212281725270,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"wagner-s-worst-joke","title":"Derek Hughes, Wagner’s Worst Joke","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 25–9.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe joke refers to a recent fire at the Ringtheater in Vienna, which started during a performance of \u003cem\u003eThe Tales of Hoffmann\u003c\/em\u003e, and which killed hundreds of people. Wagner had heard (probably erroneously) that the victims included 416 Jews. His joke appears to be that a performance of \u003cem\u003eNathan the Wise\u003c\/em\u003e would have been a far more fitting setting for the calamity.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47218672140630,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47218672173398,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"richard-wagner-and-parsifal-a-jungian-and-eriksonian-perspective","title":"Eric Doughney, Richard Wagner and ‘Parsifal’: A Jungian and Eriksonian Perspective","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 30–49.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichard Wagner first read Wolfram von Eschenbach’s 13th-century romance, \u003cem\u003eParzival\u003c\/em\u003e, in 1845. He decided in 1857 on its suitability for a music drama, and in 1877 changed the spelling of the hero’s name to Parsifal, erroneously believing it derived from the ancient Arabic fal parsi (pure fool), thus reflecting the youth’s ingenuousness. Upon its first performance in 1882, Wagner indicated \u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e would be his final stage work. Henceforth, he felt, his compositions would be in purely symphonic form, sonic expressions of intent liberated from the material constraints and interpersonal issues associated with theatrical presentation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47218759532886,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47218759631190,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"fringe-benefits","title":"Fringe Benefits: Richard Laing gets up close and personal to two productions in London","description":"\u003cp\u003eReviews of \u003cem\u003eDie Walküre\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Staunton, conducted Woodward, Regents Opera, \u003cspan\u003eFreemasons’ Hall, London, \u003c\/span\u003e2023; \u003cem\u003eThe Flying Dutchman\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Bradley, conducted Burke, OperaUpClose, Grand Junction, London, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 89–93.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 2\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen mounting a production of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, it does no harm to hire a venue which bears more than a passing resemblance to Valhalla itself. Freemasons’ Hall, just a couple of hundred yards from Covent Garden as the raven flies, is an art deco palace fit for any number of gods. For \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDie Walküre \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDas Rheingold \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ehaving been staged in November 2022) the self-styled ‘fringe’ company Regents Opera has wisely made no attempt to up-stage the building, with all its brass and golden pomp. Isabella van Braeckel’s designs feature the essentials – a sword, a rocky mountain-top – and little else, while Caroline Staunton’s nuanced direction brings the dynamic and troubled relationships between characters to the fore.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47309100220758,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47309100286294,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"chang-tou-liang-wagner-in-the-tropics","title":"Chang Tou Liang, Wagner in the Tropics","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 50–54.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"TWJBodynoindent\"\u003eThe southeast Asian island-state of Singapore, just short of one and a half degrees north of the Equator, might be considered an unusual place to witness an opera by Richard Wagner. However, given the inexorable rise of professional orchestral music-making \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/strait-into-the-saddle-matthew-schmidt-hails-the-singapore-premiere-of-die-walkure?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eand opera productions in Singapore\u003c\/a\u003e over the past four decades, the staged music of Wagner was the inevitable and logical endpoint.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47604296450390,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47604296483158,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"edward-a-bortnichak-and-paula-m-bortnichak-dreaming-and-being-perspectives-on-yuval-sharon-s-bayreuth-lohengrin","title":"Edward A. Bortnichak and Paula M. Bortnichak, Dreaming and Being: Perspectives on Yuval Sharon’s Bayreuth ‘Lohengrin’","description":"\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e17\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 55–63.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe artists of the Romantic era were obsessed with the blurred border between the real and the imagined, between waking and dreaming. Richard Wagner left an especially rich record of his life-long fascination with all varieties of altered consciousness, including dreaming, that most ubiquitous yet mysterious of such states, and his belief in the power of mind over matter. The three main published accounts of Wagner’s life – his autobiography \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eMein Leben\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the Brown Book journals (intermittently covering 1865–82), and the diaries of Cosima Wagner – are filled with recollections of and reflections on his personal dreams and evidence of his related intense interest in paranormal phenomena. The characters in Wagner’s works likewise form a cavalcade of dreamers, including the battling clairvoyants, Elsa and Ortrud, in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLohengrin\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47614953914710,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47614953947478,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"larger-than-life-barry-millington-is-disappointed-with-the-experimental-new-bayreuth-parsifal","title":"Larger than Life: Barry Millington is disappointed with the experimental new Bayreuth ‘Parsifal’","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReview of \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Scheib, conducted Heras-Casado, Bayreuth, 2023.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 64–7.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewith Augmented Reality (AR) glasses: embracing new technology to illuminate the mysteries of Wagner’s most enigmatic work or attention-seeking gimmick? Wagner’s concept of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGesamtkunstwerk\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, or total work of art, is regularly invoked to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecover a wider range of multi-media projects than he could possibly have envisaged. And yet, given his pathbreaking conception of theatre, not to mention the proto-cinematic nature of his works, there is reasonable justification for offering a cautious welcome to an approach such as that of the American director Jay Scheib, who claims to be using, for the first time in opera, the latest technology (AR and video credited to Joshua Higgason) to open a window onto ‘landscapes portraying the past and depicting destruction [...] a story in which everything is coming to an end’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47615209177430,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47615209210198,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"the-sins-of-the-father-edward-and-paula-bortnichak-are-inspired-by-a-bold-reimagining-of-the-ring-at-bayreuth","title":"The Sins of the Father: Edward and Paula Bortnichak are inspired by a bold reimagining of the ‘Ring’ at Bayreuth","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Schwarz, conducted Inkinen, Bayreuth, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 68–72.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith an artwork as vast and multilayered as Wagner’s \u003cem\u003eRing\u003c\/em\u003e, any production must make choices. As Keith Warner, one of the most distinguished directors active today, stated in a 2012 interview, ‘the thing about Wagner is that there can be no true success in any production of his operas, only degrees of failure’. Difficult choices having been made as to where to focus, it is inevitable that strata of this immense work not included in that focus will be counted as among those ‘degrees of failure’. Producing the \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003eis like attempting to photograph the Grand Canyon – you will never capture all of it in your lens, but evocative photography of aspects of it are possible for a true artist. So it is with \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/keeping-it-in-the-family-barry-millington-is-gripped-by-the-dynastic-saga-of-the-new-bayreuth-ring?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003ethe current \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003eat Bayreuth\u003c\/a\u003e directed by Valentin Schwarz with dramaturgy by Konrad Kuhn; one can argue (and it continues to be debated by audience members) about the choice of focus, but this team has certainly dug deep into Wagner’s rich tapestry and elucidated the intergenerational struggles that lie at its core.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47615292277078,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47615292309846,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"ring-of-conviction-david-ames-sees-melbourne-opera-strike-gold-in-bendigo-s-former-jail","title":"‘Ring’ of Conviction: David Ames sees Melbourne Opera strike gold in Bendigo’s former jail","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Kram and Chaundy, conducted Negus, \u003cspan\u003eMelbourne Opera,\u003c\/span\u003e Ulumburra Theatre, Bendigo, Victoria, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 77–82.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMelbourne Opera’s presentation of the tetralogy was only the fifth production seen in Australia, the third fully Australian staging and the first in a regional city. It was given over three cycles in the 800-seat Ulumburra Theatre in the goldfields town of \u003c\/span\u003eBendigo, two hours’ drive from Melbourne, because a glut of musicals made it impossible to find a suitable Melbourne venue this year, or next.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47615314035030,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47615314067798,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"dutchman-in-the-desert-simon-williams-is-thrilled-but-occasionally-mystified-by-santa-fe-s-der-fliegende-hollander","title":"Dutchman in the Desert: Simon Williams is thrilled but occasionally mystified by Santa Fe’s ‘Der fliegende Holländer’","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eDer fliegende Holländer\u003c\/em\u003e, directed David Alden, conducted Guggeis, Santa Fe, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 83–5.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOne of the fascinating aspects of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDer fliegende Holländer \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis the opportunity it provides us to trace Wagner’s journey away from the operatic modes, styles and genres current during his younger days towards music drama. Restrained performances allow us to savour the balance between the elegant music of Biedermeier domesticity and the Romantic outbursts of prodigious anger of the homeless Dutchman and the stormy desolation from which he comes. There was, however, no such balance in the remarkable performance staged by Santa Fe Opera.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47615359713622,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47615359746390,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"minimal-props-maximal-achievement-barry-millington-hails-the-successful-completion-of-longborough-s-new-ring","title":"Minimal Props, Maximal Achievement: Barry Millington hails the successful completion of Longborough’s new ‘Ring’","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eGötterdämmerung\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Lane, conducted Negus, Longborough, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 86–8.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 2\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"section\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s a curious fact that anyone wanting to experience the complete \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003ethis year under one of the world’s leading Wagner interpreters, Anthony Negus, would have to have travelled not to London, Berlin or New York but rather to a converted jail two hours’ drive from Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria, where \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/ring-of-conviction-david-ames-sees-melbourne-opera-strike-gold-in-bendigo-s-former-jail?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNegus conducted two of the three cycles staged in March and April\u003c\/a\u003e in the modestly sized (just under 1000 seats) Ulumburra Theatre, Bendigo. Alternatively they could have waited until 2024 to hear Negus direct the \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003ein the repurposed chicken shed in the small village of Longborough in the Cotswolds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47615417778518,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47615417811286,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"the-tragedy-of-cosima-and-isolde-jonas-karlsson-examines-an-account-of-an-early-rift-in-the-wagner-clan","title":"The Tragedy of Cosima and Isolde: Jonas Karlsson examines an account of an early rift in the Wagner clan","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEva Rieger, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eIsolde: Richard Wagners Tochter \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e(Insel Verlag, 2022).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2023, Volume 17, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 94–6.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe title of this meticulously researched biography contains \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ein nuce \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe tragedy that lies at the very heart of its subject. Whereas Eva Rieger’s previous two books on Wagnerian women – \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/wotan-married-minna-eva-rieger-shows-that-minna-s-relationship-with-richard-wagner-was-more-complicated-than-the-composer-would-have-us-believe-writes-anna-stoll-knecht?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMinna Wagner: A Life, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/wotan-married-minna-eva-rieger-shows-that-minna-s-relationship-with-richard-wagner-was-more-complicated-than-the-composer-would-have-us-believe-writes-anna-stoll-knecht?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWith Richard Wagner\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(about his first wife) and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/settling-scores-eva-rieger-s-biography-of-friedelind-wagner-fills-in-gaps-in-the-fractious-history-of-new-bayreuth-finds-barry-millington?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eFriedelind Wagner: Richard Wagner’s Rebellious Granddaughter\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e– provide the full names of their protagonists, Isolde is presented here only by her first name, with the sole specification that she was ‘Richard Wagner’s daughter’. Born in Munich on 10 April 1865, two months before the premiere of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eTristan und Isolde\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein the same city, Isolde was the composer’s first child with Cosima von Bülow. However, as Cosima was still married to the conductor Hans von Bülow, Isolde was never legitimised as Richard Wagner’s daughter, even though it was soon obvious to everyone who her real father was.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47615490261334,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47615490294102,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"adrian-muller-kurt-overhoff-and-wieland-wagner-s-bayreuth","title":"Adrian Müller, Kurt Overhoff and Wieland Wagner’s Bayreuth","description":"\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 4–24.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eKurt Overhoff (1902–86), a fascinating and iridescent personality, was excluded from the classical music scene after the Second World War. My research on the composer, conductor and writer, who has since remained little known, has concentrated among other things on making available the first full, reliable biography.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis article spotlights the period, starting before the war, in which Overhoff came into close contact with Haus Wahnfried, especially Wieland Wagner, and the artistic world of Bayreuth. Much recent scholarship has bypassed Overhoff, although he was clearly influential behind the scenes during years of substantial change on the Green Hill. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBy bringing to light Overhoff’s analytical methods, together with details of his complicated relationship to Haus Wahnfried, we can more fully grasp his central role in the development of Wieland’s evolving aesthetic, as well as the fraught nature of efforts to launch Bayreuth anew.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA pivotal moment in Overhoff’s relationship with Wieland, as the accomplished composer recalled in his unpublished autobiography, occurred in the summer of 1940.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47618933883222,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47618933915990,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"kirsten-paige-on-the-politics-of-wagnerian-care","title":"Kirsten Paige, On the Politics of Wagnerian Care","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 25–42.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn 7 October 1876, the London circular \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Musical World \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003epublished a short column entitled ‘Returned from Bayreuth’. In it, a fictional character, Sir Evelyn Blood, recalls his journey to Richard Wagner’s Festspielhaus in rural Bavaria to witness one of the first performances of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecycle. \u003c\/span\u003e‘Returned from Bayreuth’ was accompanied by a cartoon of Leech as sinewy, leering physician, towering over a bloated Blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622197805398,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622197838166,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"ryan-m-prendergast-deadly-serious-humour-and-humourlessness-in-die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg","title":"Ryan M. Prendergast, Deadly Serious: Humour and Humourlessness in ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 43–59.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn Richard Wagner’s stage works, dying is easy, to invoke the familiar cliché. The comedy, or more appropriately, the humour, is hard. The challenges of Wagnerian ‘humour’ – its analysis, interpretation and embodiment – remain formidable for artists, scholars, critics and audiences. The gravitas of the composer’s cultural legacy places even the most light-hearted instances of mirth in his stage works under suspicion. This suspicion encourages an inverted paradigm of ‘humourlessness’ towards the composer overall, but as Joachim Köhler has recently observed in his study of the ‘laughing Wagner’, ‘whoever would take Wagner seriously, for good or ill, must also take his humour seriously, endure his laughter’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622220906838,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622220939606,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"katherine-syer-it-was-obviously-meant-to-be-an-interview-with-pietari-inkinen","title":"Katherine Syer, ‘It was obviously meant to be’: An Interview with Pietari Inkinen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 60–65.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePietari Inkinen’s path to conducting the \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003eat Bayreuth has taken some pandemic-related twists and turns, and is now on track \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-sins-of-the-father-edward-and-paula-bortnichak-are-inspired-by-a-bold-reimagining-of-the-ring-at-bayreuth?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003efor three cycles of Valentin Schwarz’s production this summer\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 2\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe following material stems from a Zoom conversation between Pietari Inkinen and Katherine Syer in February of this year, in which Inkinen kindly participated from his home\u003c\/span\u003e. The dialogue turned to Wagner with Syer’s query as to whether there were certain ‘aha’ moments in which Inkinen’s interest in the composer’s art began to crystallise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622239224150,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622239256918,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"matthew-rye-1962-2023-barry-millington-pays-tribute-to-an-incomparable-colleague","title":"Matthew Rye 1962–2023: Barry Millington pays tribute to an incomparable colleague","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 66–7.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShortly after the March issue had gone to press, we received the devastating news of the unexpected death of our reviews editor, Matthew Rye, at the age of 60, following a cerebral haemorrhage. Matthew had been a personal friend and highly respected colleague for several decades since his employment in the late 1980s as assistant editor on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eMusical Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622243516758,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622243549526,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"war-and-peace-in-brabant-via-moscow-and-new-york-girard-s-lohengrin-at-the-met-has-become-a-commentary-on-our-times-finds-katherine-syer","title":"War and Peace in Brabant, via Moscow and New York: Girard’s ‘Lohengrin’ at the Met has become a commentary on our times, finds Katherine Syer","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eLohengrin\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Girard, conducted Nézet-Séguin, New York Met, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 68–70.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrançois Girard’s new production of \u003cem\u003eLohengrin \u003c\/em\u003elocates the Grail Knight’s distant homeland in a futuristic realm – one already delineated in \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/bridging-the-sexual-divide-barry-millington-is-stimulated-but-ultimately-unmoved-by-francois-girard-s-new-parsifal-for-the-met?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eGirard’s Met production of \u003cem\u003eParsifal \u003c\/em\u003e(2013)\u003c\/a\u003e. For those already familiar with Girard’s \u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e, Lohengrin’s arrival wearing a crisp white dress shirt and black trousers visually unites the Grail Knights in both productions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622250168662,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622250201430,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"variations-on-wagner-romeo-castellucci-s-revived-production-of-tannhauser-is-not-the-only-imaginative-response-to-wagner-s-work-enjoyed-by-richard-laing-at-the-salzburg-easter-festival","title":"Variations on Wagner: Romeo Castellucci’s revived production of ‘Tannhäuser’ is not the only imaginative response to Wagner’s work enjoyed by Richard Laing at the Salzburg Easter Festival","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eT\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/time-s-arrow-or-the-nature-of-the-offence-michael-fuller-is-stimulated-by-castellucci-s-meditations-on-time-and-sin-in-his-new-tannhauser-for-munich?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eannhäuser\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/time-s-arrow-or-the-nature-of-the-offence-michael-fuller-is-stimulated-by-castellucci-s-meditations-on-time-and-sin-in-his-new-tannhauser-for-munich?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e, directed Castellucci\u003c\/a\u003e, conducted Nelsons, Salzburg, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 71–3.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eImmediately after the second performance of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTannhäuser \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein Salzburg, festival-goers were recalled to their seats in the Großes Festspielhaus, so that Herbert von Karajan’s daughter could present prizes to three young creatives whose combined age roughly equalled the average age of the audience. Several of the ticketholders who were now applauding warmly had been looking disapprovingly at the prizewinners’ funky attire in the lobby just before the performance. Clearly there is a need to encourage a younger, more diverse audience, and to overcome some conservative attitudes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622281101654,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622281134422,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"bloody-instructions-michael-fuller-looks-for-more-than-gore-in-michael-thalheimer-s-geneva-parsifal","title":"Bloody Instructions: Michael Fuller looks for more than gore in Michael Thalheimer’s Geneva ‘Parsifal’","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of\u003cem\u003e Parsifal\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Thalheimer, conducted Nott, Geneva, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 74–6.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTo describe a staging as ‘monochrome’ is not necessarily to disparage it. But the colour of blood is such a feature of Michael Thalheimer’s production of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eat the Grand Théâtre, Geneva (shared with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg), that the word immediately feels appropriate. It is an especially strong colour choice in a production that dispenses with many if not most traditional visual elements and symbols.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622300336470,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622300369238,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"rainbow-bridge-over-troubled-water-with-its-future-under-threat-english-national-opera-serves-up-a-rhinegold-to-treasure-writes-roland-matthews","title":"Rainbow Bridge Over Troubled Water: With its future under threat, English National Opera serves up a ‘Rhinegold’ to treasure, writes Roland Matthews","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eThe Rhinegold\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Jones, conducted Brabbins, English National Opera, London, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 77–9.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor the second instalment of its planned \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003ecycle English National Opera has gone back to the beginning, following \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/holding-fire-roland-matthews-has-mixed-feelings-about-the-first-instalment-of-richard-jones-s-third-foray-into-the-ring-cycle?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eits 2021 launch with \u003cem\u003eThe Valkyrie\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. Even further back, in fact, as the Coliseum curtain rises in silence to reveal a dumb show of a bearded man, wearing only a loincloth, dragging a large tree branch to and fro across the full width of a bare stage. Each time he emerges from the wings the branch is in an altered state: first stripped of foliage, then a log, a plank, until finally we see Wotan with his spear. This ‘previously on ...’ sequence of course references Wotan’s violation of the World Ash Tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622309675350,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622309708118,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"all-the-world-s-a-stage-in-the-revival-of-tim-albery-s-tannhauser-michael-fuller-sees-theatre-observing-itself","title":"All the World’s a Stage: In the revival of Tim Albery’s ‘Tannhäuser’, Michael Fuller sees theatre observing itself","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/sense-and-sensuality-ian-palmer-eyes-the-venusberg-in-a-richly-cast-new-paris-tannhauser-from-covent-garden?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTannhäuser\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Albery\u003c\/a\u003e, conducted Weigle, Royal Opera House, London, 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 80–82.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 2\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis staging sets before its audience representations of the theatre in which it is sitting, in an increasingly ruinous state from act to act. In locating Wagner’s ‘Art-work’ amid these ruins, it immediately invites its viewers to reflect both on the theatrical experience itself, and on the extent to which it may prove transformative of the context in which it is placed. Whether or not Albery’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eKonzept \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis ultimately capable of capturing all the dramatic tensions of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTannhäuser\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the images which he sets before us are highly thought-provoking, and in the short time since the premiere of this production they have also become disturbingly prophetic, in ways which Wagner could scarcely have imagined.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47622327697750,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47622327730518,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"judith-cabaud-and-barry-millington-a-breath-of-sorrow-the-tragic-romance-of-richard-wagner-and-mathilde-wesendonck-with-six-poems-of-mathildes-published-for-the-first-time-1","title":"Judith Cabaud and Barry Millington, ‘A Breath of Sorrow’: The Tragic Romance of Richard Wagner and Mathilde Wesendonck with six poems of Mathilde’s published for the first time","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-november-2020-volume-14-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2020, Volume 14, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 5–30.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe American-born writer Judith Cabaud, resident in France, in 1990 published a book under the title \u003cem\u003eMathilde Wesendonck ou le rève d’Isolde\u003c\/em\u003e. Only in 2017 was this finally issued in an English translation as \u003cem\u003eMathilde Wesendonck: Isolde’s Dream\u003c\/em\u003e by the Amadeus Press. The following electronic dialogue between the author (JC) and the editor of \u003cem\u003eThe Wagner Journal \u003c\/em\u003e(BM) took place during the first weeks of the coronavirus lockdown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBM\u003c\/strong\u003e: I would like to begin by thanking you for writing such a fascinating book about Mathilde Wesendonck and for agreeing to discuss it with me. Most Wagnerians are probably aware that in addition to writing the five poems that were set by Wagner – what we now know as the Wesendonck Lieder ­– Mathilde wrote a considerable number of other poems, as well as dramas on both historical and mythological subjects. In order better to understand the nature and course of the relationship between Wagner and Mathilde, you have examined these writings to see what they can tell us.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47624821670230,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47624821702998,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"a-glimpse-behind-the-curtain-richard-laing-has-mixed-feelings-about-the-release-of-some-imperfect-but-intermittently-impressive-recordings","title":"A Glimpse Behind the Curtain: Richard Laing has mixed feelings about the release of some imperfect but intermittently impressive recordings","description":"\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eJessye Norman, The Unreleased Masters, \u003c\/em\u003e1989–98:\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ePrelude, ‘Westwärts schweift der Blick’, ‘Frisch weht der Wind’, ‘Weh, ach wehe! Dies zu dulden!’, ‘Isolde! Geliebte!’, ‘Doch es rächte sich der verscheuchte Tag’, ‘O sink hernieder’, ‘Einsam wachend in der Nacht’, ‘Unsre Liebe? Tristans Liebe?’, ‘So starben wir’, Liebestod (\u003cem\u003eTristan und Isolde\u003c\/em\u003e), Moser, Schwarz, Bostridge, conducted Masur, Leipzig; Strauss Four Last Songs, Wagner Wesendonck Lieder, conducted Levine, Berlin; Haydn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eScena di Berenice, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBerlioz \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eCléopâtre – Scène lyrique\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Britten \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhaedra, \u003c\/em\u003econducted\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eOzawa, \u003cspan\u003eBoston (Decca, 3 CDs).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 83–5.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe recordings in Decca’s stylishly presented box set were hitherto withheld from release mostly because Jessye Norman was not entirely happy with them, as the candid essays in the accompanying booklet make clear. Now, with the support of the singer’s \u003c\/span\u003efamily but just three and a half years after her death, Decca believes that technology is able to ‘finesse the edit and mix’ of the recordings, bringing them to a standard worthy of release. It seems that the company has almost succeeded in its aims, but there are moments when one can picture the great but self-critical soprano wincing in the playback room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47625618424150,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47625618456918,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"wotan-married-minna-eva-rieger-shows-that-minna-s-relationship-with-richard-wagner-was-more-complicated-than-the-composer-would-have-us-believe-writes-anna-stoll-knecht","title":"‘Wotan married Minna’? Eva Rieger shows that Minna’s relationship with Richard Wagner was more complicated than the composer would have us believe, writes Anna Stoll Knecht","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEva Rieger, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMinna Wagner: A Life, with Richard Wagner\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, tr. Chris Walton (University of Rochester Press, 2022).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 86–9.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChris Walton’s elegant translation of Eva Rieger’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eMinna und Richard Wagner: Stationen einer Liebe\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, which was first published in German in 2003 and revised in 2019, offers the opportunity for readers without a high level of German to discover this fascinating account of Wagner’s first marriage. The focus on the Bayreuth dynasty has long over-shadowed the personality of the talented actress who shared Wagner’s life for thirty years. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47625670132054,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47625670164822,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"a-contradictory-life-simon-williams-enjoys-a-new-biography-of-cosima-wagner-which-illuminates-the-many-sides-of-her-personality","title":"A Contradictory Life: Simon Williams enjoys a new biography of Cosima Wagner which illuminates the many sides of her personality","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cspan\u003eSabine Zurmühl, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eCosima Wagner: Ein widersprüchliches Leben \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(Böhlau Verlag, 2022). \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 90–92.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSabine Zurmühl’s new biography of Cosima Wagner begins with a list of forty-five affectionate nicknames with which Richard addressed his second wife. They range from the intimate, such as ‘meine Melodie’ and ‘Waldweibchen’ (little forest wife), through the grandly complimentary ‘Grund und Ursache des Lebens’ (foundation and reason for life) and ‘meine Sonne zu alle Tageszeiten’ (my sun at all times of day), to the frankly alarming ‘Napoleon’. The sheer variety of names is testimony not only to Richard’s imagination, but also to the complexity of roles, often contradictory, that Cosima played in his life.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47625694052694,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47625694085462,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"the-magician-of-venice-a-study-of-the-polymath-mariano-fortuny-shines-a-light-on-the-development-of-wagnerian-theatre-finds-patrick-carnegy","title":"The Magician of Venice: A study of the polymath Mariano Fortuny shines a light on the development of Wagnerian theatre, finds Patrick Carnegy","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWendy Ligon Smith, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFortuny: Time, Space, Light \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e(Yale University Press, 2022).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-2?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eJuly 2023, Volume 17, Number 2\u003c\/a\u003e, 93–6.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough the Spanish-born \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/wendy-ligon-smith-mariano-fortuny-and-his-wagnerian-designs?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMariano Fortuny (1871–1949)\u003c\/a\u003e is known principally for his \u003cem\u003ehaute-couture \u003c\/em\u003epleated fabrics, still in exclusive production today, he also played an important role in the development of the stage lighting we now take for granted. On the Wagnerian stage this found its apotheosis in Wieland Wagner’s postwar productions where the subtlest gradations of light from unseen sources were a principal weapon of directorial magic, a strategy that has come to be known as \u003cem\u003eLichtregie \u003c\/em\u003eand has long been commonplace in theatres worldwide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47625718497622,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47625718530390,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"wolfgang-mende-from-the-workshop-of-a-mythmaker-wagner-s-ideology-of-inspiration-and-the-evidence-of-the-sketches","title":"Wolfgang Mende, From the Workshop of a Mythmaker: Wagner’s Ideology of Inspiration and the Evidence of the Sketches","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 4–21.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhoever desires to reconstruct the creative process of a composer will find what seems at first glance to be a state of paradise in the case of Richard Wagner. He was a master of self-dramatisation, and in his eagerness to communicate his thoughts through his writings, letters and autobiographical documents he has few equals among his composing colleagues of the 19th century. What’s more, it was also Wagner’s custom to preserve documents carefully even when they were not intended for the eyes of the public.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47627952783702,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47627952816470,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"genevieve-robyn-arkle-expressions-of-suffering-the-five-turn-motifs-of-wagner-s-parsifal","title":"Genevieve Robyn Arkle, Expressions of Suffering: The Five ‘Turn Motifs’ of Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 22–44.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere can be no doubt that Wagner’s \u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e is a study of religion, suffering and redemption: themes that not only permeate the work’s narrative but are similarly reflected in the drama’s music, with leitmotifs enhancing the expression of pain, suffering, salvation and redemption. Although various studies have sought to construct a lexicon of Wagner’s leitmotifs, both in \u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e as well as more broadly across his works, the turn figure has yet to be investigated as a central feature of Wagner’s leitmotivic vocabulary. Originally termed ‘groppo’ or ‘gruppetto’, the turn originated in the 17th century and was quickly adapted into music of the time as one of the most ‘pleasing of musical graces’. Although predominantly found in music of the Baroque and Classical eras, the turn experienced a somewhat unexpected resurgence in the 19th century, being transformed from its ornamental origins and taking on a more densely motivic identity. This turn revival as well as the distinct evolution of the figure from ornament to motif is perfectly illustrated within Wagner’s oeuvre.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47627975786838,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47627975819606,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"derek-hughes-new-witnesses-of-toscanini-s-bayreuth","title":"Derek Hughes, New Witnesses of Toscanini’s Bayreuth","description":"\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e17\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 45–54.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMany readers of\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eThe Wagner Journal \u003cspan\u003ewill take pleasure in collecting old books and scores with Wagnerian associations.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith such books come, often, the half-glimpsed ghosts of their original owners, whose faded names persist on the flyleaves and title-pages. There is the ‘Schubert’ – not, I fear, Franz – who once owned my first edition of Peter von Winter’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eDas unterbrochene Opferfest\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThere is Robert Ewald Zapp, a bibliophilic SS officer who owned a book on Wagner by the half-Jewish scholar Felix Gross: a book that hailed Wagner as the precursor of Tagore and Gandhi, and as heralding a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003etranslatio studii \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003efrom West to East. There are the two girls who, in about 1920, thought Theodor Fritsch’s poisonous \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eHandbuch der Judenfrage \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ea suitable present for their stenography teacher. And there are Willi and Margarete Paubel of Suhl.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628017893718,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628017926486,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"chris-walton-tribschen-for-the-birds-richard-wagner-enmeshed-in-litigation","title":"Chris Walton, Tribschen for the Birds? Richard Wagner, Enmeshed in Litigation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 55–63.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 2\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter leaving Munich in late 1865, Wagner returned to Switzerland, his place of exile in the 1850s. He spent a few weeks in Geneva, then decided to rent a small villa at Tribschen, a peninsula just outside Lucerne. The owner was one Colonel Walter am Rhyn, a member of one of Lucerne’s old patrician families. King Ludwig II paid the rent, and Wagner remained there until his move to Bayreuth in 1872. The house did not conform to his requirements, however, so in 1867 he arranged for assorted renovation and refurbishment work to be done at his own cost, both inside the house and in the grounds. This work proceeded overall to his satisfaction, but a dispute arose with one contractor, an Ignaz Zeiger of Lucerne (sometimes written ‘Ignatz’) who was a ‘Drahtgeflechtfabrikant’ – a manufacturer of wire netting. Why Wagner needed or wanted wire netting cannot be determined with complete certainty, though it presumably had something to do with his little menagerie at Tribschen, which variously included horses, chickens, black sheep and two peacocks called Wotan and \u003c\/span\u003eFricka. Since the peacocks had their own special house (which still exists, next to the access road leading up to the villa) and since Zeiger was by his own admission a specialist in making chicken wire, the dispute was most likely about a chicken coop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628071764310,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628071797078,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"keith-warner-sachs-in-a-dream-world","title":"Keith Warner, Sachs in a Dream World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 64–9.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe following interview with Keith Warner, director of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/beyond-dreams-katherine-syer-values-an-approach-to-meistersinger-that-engages-with-the-creative-process-as-well-as-the-stage-history-of-the-work?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003ethe new production of \u003cem\u003eMeistersinger\u003c\/em\u003e at the Vienna State Opera\u003c\/a\u003e, is based on one that appeared in German in the programme book for the production. We are grateful to the programme editors, Oliver and Andreas Lang, for their kind permission to reproduce the interview in English in a revised and expanded version. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628096405846,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628096438614,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"o-hehrstes-wunder-for-hermann-grampp-thielemann-s-conducting-of-the-ring-in-the-berlin-staatsoper-s-new-production-is-a-wonder-of-our-age","title":"‘O hehrstes Wunder!’ For Hermann Grampp, Thielemann’s conducting of the ‘Ring’ in the Berlin Staatsoper’s new production is a wonder of our age","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Tcherniakov, conducted \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThielemann, \u003c\/span\u003eBerlin Staatsoper, 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 70–73.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt has been (at least since 1990) an unwritten law in Berlin that, at a certain level of fame, you stick to but one of the two major opera houses in the city and never switch to the other. It may have to do with the fact that Daniel Barenboim had been in power at the Staatsoper (former East Berlin) continuously since 1992, and the fact that Christian Thielemann had been general music director at the Deutsche Oper (former West Berlin) between 1997 and 2004. During this period the rivalry – musically, personally, if not politically – between the two alpha maestros might have added to this situation. At any rate, switching to the ‘other side’ of an imaginary musical Berlin Wall was simply out of the question\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. It was therefore remarkable news when it was an\u003c\/span\u003enounced in June that Thielemann would replace Barenboim, who was ill, to conduct two concerts with the Berlin Staatskapelle, the orchestra of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Barenboim’s child. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628114624854,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628114657622,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"beyond-dreams-katherine-syer-values-an-approach-to-meistersinger-that-engages-with-the-creative-process-as-well-as-the-stage-history-of-the-work","title":"Beyond Dreams: Katherine Syer values an approach to ‘Meistersinger’ that engages with the creative process as well as the stage history of the work","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Warner, conducted Jordan, Vienna, 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 74–8.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Vienna State Opera stacked the deck when it engaged Keith Warner to direct its \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/keith-warner-sachs-in-a-dream-world?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003efirst new production of \u003cem\u003eDie Meistersinger \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003ein nearly half a century, and Michael Volle for the title role. Otto Schenk’s 1975 production, emblematic of a naturalistic, traditionalist approach, was last seen there in 2012. It also served as the basis of the production which premiered in 1993 at the Met in New York, where it remains in repertoire (Peter Gelb’s efforts to import Stefan Herheim’s Salzburg staging having broken down). Many self-reflective, revisionist approaches have sprung to life elsewhere in the interim. Now, after a decade of Vienna without a \u003cem\u003eMeistersinger\u003c\/em\u003e, Keith Warner’s staging has debuted as a savvy negotiation with evolving production practices. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628141101398,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628141134166,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"alden-style-dutchman-returns-to-home-port-wayne-gooding-welcomes-the-revival-of-a-classic-to-launch-the-canadian-opera-company-s-first-full-post-pandemic-season","title":"Alden-Style Dutchman Returns to Home Port: Wayne Gooding welcomes the revival of a classic to launch the Canadian Opera Company’s first full post-pandemic season","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eDer fliegende Holländer\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Christopher Alden, conducted Debus, Toronto, 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 79–81.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlbeit ambitiously opening Toronto’s new opera house in 2006 with \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/barry-millington-the-ring-in-toronto?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003ethe first Canadian-produced \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003ecycle\u003c\/a\u003e, the Canadian Opera Company has had a spotty relationship with Wagner over its more than seventy-year history. The new house has seen \u003cem\u003eDer fliegende Holländer\u003c\/em\u003e, a \u003cem\u003eTristan \u003c\/em\u003eand revivals of \u003cem\u003eDie Walküre\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSiegfried \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eGötterdämmerung\u003c\/em\u003e, but the company’s single shots at \u003cem\u003eLohengrin \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eDie Meistersinger \u003c\/em\u003ewere almost forty years ago, and it has never staged \u003cem\u003eTannhäuser \u003c\/em\u003eor \u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e. The \u003cem\u003eHolländer\u003c\/em\u003e, though, is one of the oldest and most-travelled productions still in the company’s repertoire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628182094166,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628182126934,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"slimmed-down-wagner-matthew-rye-listens-to-a-pair-of-recordings-that-give-wagner-s-dramas-new-life-in-different-contexts","title":"Slimmed-Down Wagner: Matthew Rye listens to a pair of recordings that give Wagner’s dramas new life in different contexts","description":"\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eReviews of Wagner, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal Suite\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003econstructed by Gourlay, conducted Gourlay, 2022 (Orchid Classics, 1 CD); \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWagner by Arrangement\u003c\/em\u003e, vol. 3: excerpts from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDie Walküre\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSiegfried\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGötterdämmerung \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTristan und Isolde, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003earranged Woodward, conducted Woodward, 2022 (Toccata Classics, 1 CD).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 82–4.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWagner’s scores have always been subject to adaptation to circumstances for which they were never primarily intended, from the concert arena to the fringe theatre, and the popularity of the music has spurred on a wealth of creative solutions for alternative presentation to the opera house and its resource-busting vocal and instrumental demands. These two new CDs reflect different aspects of this: a concert suite for orchestra and a paring down of the music to chamber forces.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628315361622,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628315394390,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"ringing-the-changes-matthew-rye-compares-the-latest-dvd-ring-from-berlin-s-deutsche-oper-with-a-remastering-of-the-classic-centenary-cycle-from-bayreuth","title":"Ringing the Changes: Matthew Rye compares the latest DVD ‘Ring’ from Berlin’s Deutsche Oper with a remastering of the classic centenary cycle from Bayreuth","description":"\u003cp\u003eReviews of \u003cem\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Herheim, conducted Runnicles, \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDeutsche Oper Berlin, 2021 (\u003c\/span\u003eNaxos, 4 Blu-ray discs or 7 DVDs); \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Chéreau, conducted Boulez, Bayreuth, 1980 (Deutsche Grammophon, 5 Blu-ray discs).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 85–9.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe roughly contemporaneous release of the latest filmed \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecycle and a reboot of the first from almost exactly forty years earlier seems an obvious subject for joint consideration. In many respects, Europe is in the midst of a golden era of new \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003es, to the extent that Bayreuth, two of Berlin’s three houses, the Royal Opera in London, and houses in Helsinki, Gothenburg, Stuttgart, Munich and Zurich, to name only the most significant, have recently launched, or are about to launch, new cycles from many of the leading lights of contemporary theatre. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628366643542,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628366676310,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"a-seductive-tale-jonas-karlsson-enjoys-the-german-language-version-of-a-new-novel-about-hermann-levi","title":"A Seductive Tale: Jonas Karlsson enjoys the German-language version of a new novel about Hermann Levi","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cspan\u003eLaurence Dreyfus, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifals Verführung\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, tr. Wolfgang Schlüter (Faber \u0026amp; Faber, \u003c\/span\u003e2022).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 90–92.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHermann Levi, the Jewish conductor of the premiere of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein Bayreuth 1882, has long been regarded as a symbolic, if highly contentious figure in the scholarship on Wagner. Renowned historian Peter Gay rather reductively interpreted Levi as little more than ‘A Study in Service and Self-Hatred’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e In my view, Laurence Dreyfus’s essay ‘Levi’s Guilt and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s Shame’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eremains one of the most level-headed contributions to this debate, sagaciously reading Levi neither as a self-hating Jew who through his actions renounced and even denounced his religious and ethnic heritage, nor as a hapless victim of a rabid anti-Semite, whose cultural importance could be reduced to this aspect alone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628401475926,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628401508694,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"means-and-motifs-niall-hoskin-assesses-a-new-wide-ranging-study-of-the-ring-that-while-valuable-is-in-need-of-an-editor","title":"Means and Motifs: Niall Hoskin assesses a new, wide-ranging study of the ‘Ring’ that while valuable is in need of an editor","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of Charles Ellis,\u003cem\u003e Wagner’s Ring: a fresh look at the dramatic and music structure \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(UK Book Publishing, 2022).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/the-wagner-journal-volume-17-number-1?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eMarch 2023, Volume 17, Number 1\u003c\/a\u003e, 93–6.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is the late work of a remarkable opera enthusiast: having studied literature at Cambridge and with a career in publishing behind him, Charles Ellis began writing this ‘fresh look at the dramatic and musical structure’ of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eten years ago, on his 77th birthday. He brings to it the experience of countless operas attended (including seventeen \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecycles), extensive reading and, as is evident, lengthy cogitation. He lays no claim to being a musician, however; nor does he appear to have an authoritative command of German.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47628438798678,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47628438831446,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"stephen-johnson-janne-s-rhine-journey-what-sibelius-learned-from-wagner","title":"Stephen Johnson, Janne’s Rhine Journey: What Sibelius Learned From Wagner","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 4–17.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReading through various writings on Janne, or as he preferred to call himself, Jean Sibelius, from concert programme notes and CD booklets to biographies and academic studies, one doesn’t often encounter references to Richard Wagner. Wagner is rarely listed amongst the important influences on Sibelius’s development as a composer. It is sometimes acknowledged that Sibelius did experience a brief spell of Wagnerian intoxication in his youth; but the implication is usually this was a passing phase, that the decisive step was in turning his back on Wagner and all he represented – ‘saw sense’, as particularly some of the older Anglo-Saxon commentators would have it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47636108149078,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47636108181846,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"derek-hughes-there-was-no-need-to-spell-it-out-early-wagner-criticism-and-the-question-of-anti-semitism-part-2-parsifal-and-die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg","title":"Derek Hughes, ‘There Was No Need To Spell It Out’: Early Wagner Criticism and the Question of Anti-Semitism. Part 2:  ‘Parsifal’ and ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 18–34.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs most readers will know, one of the most intense controversies about Wagner’s operas concerns their alleged anti-Semitism. How far are they infused with the anti-Jewish views which Wagner so copiously expressed elsewhere? The search for anti-Semitism is generally conducted as a search for Jew-figures, the most popular candidates being Alberich and Mime, Beckmesser, and Klingsor and Kundry. According to Robert Gutman, Amfortas’s sin is against racial purity – what the Nazis termed \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRassenschande\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. His blood is ‘corrupted by sexual contact with Kundry, a racial \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003einferior, this criminal miscegenation epitomizing the Aryan dilemma’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 2\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWagner, of course, never said anything of the kind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638066299222,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638066331990,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"eric-doughney-winifred-wagner-wahnfried-politics-and-individuation","title":"Eric Doughney, Winifred Wagner: Wahnfried, Politics and Individuation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 35–50.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe name Winifred Wagner is heavy with negative meaning. Her personal association with Adolf Hitler, the Nazification of the Bayreuth Festival, and the consequent estrangement from her family have condemned the English-born orphan and wife of Richard Wagner’s son, Siegfried, to be a key figure in the nexus comprising Wagner, Bayreuth, Hitler and Nazism. Many find it difficult to uncouple the individual from the politics with which she has become so closely identified. Understandably so, since it is not easy to be compassionate about a person who supported such an ideology as Nazism. However, following Brigitte Hamann’s respected biography of Winifred, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ean argument can be made in favour of suggesting that, contrary to popular belief, politics, as such, were ancillary to what for Winifred was an agenda rooted in personal need. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638419374422,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638419407190,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"laurence-dreyfus-extract-from-parsifal-s-seduction-a-novel","title":"Laurence Dreyfus, Extract from ‘Parsifal’s Seduction’: A Novel","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e51–63.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe following text is an extract from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal’s Seduction: A Novel\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs yet unpublished in English, a German translation of the original text by Wolfgang Schlüter appeared in August 2022 as \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifals Verführung\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs soon as I encountered the figure of Hermann Levi (1839–1900) – son of the Grand Ducal Hessian District Rabbi of Gießen, intimate of Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner’s chosen conductor for the premiere of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e– I couldn’t help but be riveted by a story rich in personal and cultural resonances. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638446834006,"sku":"","price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638446866774,"sku":"","price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"keeping-it-in-the-family-barry-millington-is-gripped-by-the-dynastic-saga-of-the-new-bayreuth-ring","title":"Keeping it in the Family: Barry Millington is gripped by the dynastic saga of the new Bayreuth ‘Ring’","description":"\u003cp\u003eReviews of \u003cem\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Schwarz, conducted Meister, Bayreuth, 2022; \u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eTristan und Isolde\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Schwab, conducted Poschner, Bayreuth, 2022; \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDer fliegende Holländer\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Tcherniakov, conducted\u003cspan\u003e Lyniv, Bayreuth, 2022.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 64–70.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 2\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGiven that Wagner’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecentres on a dynastic struggle and its consequences for civilisation at large, it’s perhaps surprising that more directors have not thought of setting their productions against the backdrop of such a conflict in the modern world. When the original idea of a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003emounted by four different directors fell through, and then the German director Tatjana Gürbaca also declined to take up the challenge, the Bayreuth Festival invited the relatively little known Austrian Valentin Schwarz to devise and execute his own concept. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638485107030,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638485139798,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"desert-island-trysts-hamburg-s-new-tannhauser-leaves-matthew-rye-feeling-dramatically-abandoned","title":"Desert-Island Trysts: Hamburg’s new ‘Tannhäuser’ leaves Matthew Rye feeling dramatically abandoned","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eTannhäuser\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Mundruczó, conducted Nagano, Hamburg, 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 71–2.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe difficulties directors encounter in trying to put Wagner’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTannhäuser \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eon stage are perhaps a reflection of the hoops that the composer himself went through in trying but not succeeding to produce the finished work to his satisfaction. So often some bits work, others don’t, which seemed to sum up the latest attempt from Kornél Mundruczó in Hamburg.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638537404758,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638537437526,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"school-for-scandal-michael-fuller-ponders-a-new-staging-of-die-meistersinger-at-the-deutsche-oper-berlin","title":"School for Scandal: Michael Fuller ponders a new staging of ‘Die Meistersinger’ at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Wieler, Viebrock and Marabito, conducted Stenz, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 73–4.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Deutsche Oper’s new staging of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, by the production team of Jossi Wieler, Anna Viebrock and Sergio Morabito, is set against the backdrop of the musical and sexual revolutions of the late 20th century. The set for Act I locates us in Dr Pogner’s conservatoire. Magdalena is a Dozent (lecturer) within this institution, with the Masters making up its faculty and the apprentices its students.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638579609942,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638579642710,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"back-to-basics-simon-williams-is-entranced-by-a-production-of-tristan-that-imprisons-its-audience-as-much-as-its-characters","title":"Back to Basics: Simon Williams is entranced by a production of ‘Tristan’ that imprisons its audience as much as its characters","description":"\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eTristan und Isolde\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Winokur and Castañón, conducted \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGaffigan, Santa Fe, 2022.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 75–8.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThere is an intriguing anomaly about the way in which many productions at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico have been staged. The semi-open-air theatre is generally agreed to be one of the most gracefully designed auditoria for opera, while the mountain and desert setting in which it sits is arguably unmatched anywhere in the world. It is the ideal site for staging Romantic opera. But directors seem resolutely to deny, even defy, the scenic potential the theatre itself offers. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638629482838,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638629515606,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"crown-in-the-gruel-longborough-s-ring-sweeps-towards-a-promising-conclusion-reports-barry-millington","title":"Crown in the Gruel: Longborough’s ‘Ring’ sweeps towards a promising conclusion, reports Barry Millington","description":"\u003cp\u003eReview of \u003cem\u003eSiegfried\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Lane, conducted Negus, Longborough, 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 79–81.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith its new \u003cem\u003eSiegfried \u003c\/em\u003epresented at the end of May, the unfolding \u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003eat Longborough Festival Opera has at last got into its stride. Rhiannon Newman Brown’s sets for \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/das-rheingold-with-a-twist-kate-hopkins-christopher-wintle-and-barry-millington-report-on-a-staging-with-dickensian-overtones-at-longborough?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eDas Rheingold \u003c\/em\u003ein 2019\u003c\/a\u003e amounted to little more than a black box with rock-like structures at the left and rear, plus a screen for projected images. Thanks to the exigencies of social distancing, the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/no-nothung-barry-millington-assesses-longborough-s-pared-down-walkure?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003e2021 \u003c\/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/no-nothung-barry-millington-assesses-longborough-s-pared-down-walkure?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eDie Walküre\u003c\/a\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ewas given as a ‘concert production’, most of the action taking place in the rear half of the stage area, behind well-spaced string players. For \u003cem\u003eSiegfried\u003c\/em\u003e, a more developed staging brings Amy Lane’s intelligent production concept into clearer focus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638803972438,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638804005206,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"quarts-into-pint-pots-as-matthew-rye-discovers-no-german-theatre-seems-too-small-or-unambitious-to-stage-wagner-s-most-demanding-music-dramas","title":"Quarts into Pint Pots: As Matthew Rye discovers, no German theatre seems too small or unambitious to stage Wagner’s most demanding music dramas","description":"\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" title=\"Page 1\" class=\"page\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eReviews of \u003cem\u003eDie Walküre\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Müller-Elmau, conducted Carter, Coburg, 2022; \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eParsifal\u003c\/em\u003e, directed Dietze, conducted Merkel, Koblenz, 2022.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/copy-of-the-wagner-journal-volume-16-number-3?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard\u0026amp;utm_medium=product-links\u0026amp;utm_content=web\"\u003eNovember 2022, Volume 16, Number 3\u003c\/a\u003e, 82–5.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"layoutArea\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"column\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEver since Angelo Neumann first took Wagner’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRing \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003ebeyond the confines of Bayreuth and out on tour in the 1880s, smaller theatres have been staging the composer’s more personnel-demanding dramas. This summer offered an opportunity to experience how two of Germany’s most bijoux operatic venues, both of them former court theatres, coped with the issue of squeezing a Wagnerian quart into a theatrical pint pot.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":47638870393174,"sku":"","price":2.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":47638870425942,"sku":"","price":4.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/collections\/thematic-catalogue-and-back-issues.oembed?page=49","provider":"The Wagner Journal","version":"1.0","type":"link"}