Ann Brandon
|
Thursdays 2:30 – 4:30 PM |
September 29 through November 10, 2005 |
D.O.C. House |
From the late 19th through the first half of the 20th Century, Richard Wagner’s works occupied the most significant portion of the opera repertory. Except for a brief hiatus during the First World War, for example, every season at the Metropolitan Opera has featured Wagner.
The role of Wagner’s Bayreuth theater in the Third Reich and Hitler’s fanatic love for his operas unfortunately forever associated his music with the Nazis. Yet amazingly, it has also permeated all Western culture. Who does not know "Kill the Wabbit," the image of the soprano wearing a horned or winged helmet! How interesting that in Bob Hope's film debut, "The Big Broadcast of 1938," the sole operatic excerpt was Kirsten Flagstad singing, of all things, "Hojotoho!".
Opening in 1876, the theater at Bayreuth was designed and built by Wagner to produce, exclusively, his Der Ring des Nibelungen — a cycle of four operas that comprise the composer's magnum opus — his Parsifal, which was composed with the theater as its impetus, and his five additional operas: Der Fliegende Hollaender, Tannhaeuser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg.
The theater holds many stories within its walls, starting with the composer's life, and his artistic and cultural contributions. It has staged his progeny's saga as his widow, Cosima von Bulow, and their offspring have exclusively controlled the theater since Wagner's death in 1883. Hitler considered the Wagners and Bayreuth his home. The post-WWII reopening of the Bayreuth Theater and the revolutionary work of the composer's grandson, Wieland Wagner, have played an important role in the evolution of all modern opera productions. Finally, the theater has served well its primary purpose, to showcase famous singers and develop a vocal practice and style over the ages, as well as shape the character of the productions and therefore the operas themselves.
We will explore the beginnings and evolution of the Bayreuth Festival, and especially its rebirth in 1951 following a post-war hiatus. We will consider the Wagner family and the conductors, producers and singers who have graced the stage. We will also explore Bayreuth’s rivals: New York’s Metropolitan Opera and opera houses in Munich and Dresden. Lectures will be illustrated with recordings and video clips.
Class is limited to 20 members.
RON LUCHSINGER, Associated with Opera North since 1988, was named Director of Productions in 1997. Recent productions include last season’s Rom8Eo et Juliette and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and recently Le nozze di Figaro and Eugene Onegin. Engagements for 2004/05 included Gilbert and Sullivan a la Carte, which he co-authored for Simsbury Light Opera, and Handel’s Agrippina. Ron has been Visiting Artistic Director at the University of Connecticut and has served on the faculties of the Mannes College of Music, New England Conservatory, the New York Opera/Drama Studio, the California Music Center, and the Hartt School.
ANN BRANDON is a writer with an unpublished novel on Richard Wagner’s life, which she researched while earning a Masters in Liberal Arts from Dartmouth College. She has taught Music Appreciation for Community College of Vermont, and presented talks for Opera North and Dartmouth’s Outing Club on Wagner. She is author of Artful Italy: The Hidden Treasures (Invisible Cities Press).
