|
Dear Members
My trip to Bayreuth this year, while greatly anticipated, proved
to be somewhat of a disappointment. While in Salzburg we heard all
sorts of rumours that Hans Sotin and Waltraud Meier had pulled out
of their roles as Gurnemanz and Sieglinde. Newspaper crits of the
new Ring were passed from hand to hand and eagerly discussed with
the result that we went to Bayreuth not knowing what to expect.
Parsifal was our first opera and Matthias Hölle was singing Gurnemanz
and, while Christoph Eschenbach conducted the second slowest performance
on record, it was well sung and seemed to have a new lease of life.
Meistersinger was good and Lohengrin well sung. Roland Wagenführer
was ill and so Lohengrin was sung by Robert Dean Smith (who also sang
Walther the preceding night!). The production remains very dark in
many ways.
Now at last The Ring and Rheingold was most enjoyable. The singing
was good and the production by Jurgen Flimm and Erich Wonder, while
very contemporary, worked well. The only cause for concern was Giuseppe
Sinopoli's conducting, which was uneven and inconsistent. Walküre
opened with a wonderful depiction of Hunding's house and I shall treasure
for many years the scene between Placido Domingo and Waltraud Meier
as Siegmund and Sieglinde. Unfortunately, the third act with the Valkyries
was a huge let down. Much flashing light and abseiling down the walls
of Valhalla while a small army of women engaged in some form of military
drill and queues of walking dead heroes made for a very busy and rather
messy stage.
In Siegfried things went from bad to worse and the appearance
of a young Hagan as a snivelling schoolboy in Act 2 served no useful
purpose. The scene was bleak in the extreme and the dragon, made of
black plastic, was not effective. The third act is best forgotten
as Gabrielle Schnaut was having great difficulty with her voice.
Götterdämmerung opened well, but the last act was very disappointing
as Flimm seemed to have run out of ideas. A series of scrims does
not suffice for the immolation or the destruction of the world. A
young Parsifal just before the final curtain left us puzzled.
Since my return I have met with Adrian Collette from Opera Australia
to talk about a closer relationship. I was glad to assure him of our
continuing support for future Wagnerian productions. I asked him about
the possibility of a future Opera Australia Ring Cycle and await his
response with interest. I have also contacted Craig Bush from the
Art Gallery of NSW and we have arranged a seminar on Lohengrin at
the Gallery on 4 August 2001.
It is with great sadness that we record the death of Lady Finley.
Berry had many friends among our members and will be missed by all
who knew her. We extend our sympathy to her family.
Those of you who were at the Annual General Meeting are aware
that the Committee is concerned about our financial position and that
it has been necessary to increase membership fees for next year. Our
Society's primary aim is to support and encourage regular performances
of Wagner's great operas.
To be able to maintain our past level of grants, it is essential
that we cover the costs of all functions including our monthly meetings.
The Committee resolved to seek your cooperation in attending as many
meetings as possible as we need a minimum of 40 members to cover the
costs of a film afternoon and 50 when we have speakers or singers.
It is expensive to use the Goethe Institut, but I doubt if we
could find anywhere that gives us such pleasant surroundings, in a
venue that is so convenient, together with high quality audio visual
equipment. With this in mind, the Committee has decided to change
the format of the Christmas Party slightly by asking each of you to
bring a plate to the party. We will supply wine and soft drink as
well as Christmas cake and of course we will run our usual raffle
with prizes of a Christmas cake, a Wagner watch and a bottle of champagne.
On Friday, 24 November Terence Watson and I were pleased to have
the opportunity to farewell the German Consul to Sydney, Dr Roever
and his wife who are returning to Bonn. We look forward to developing
an equally friendly relationship with his successor.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the Christmas party and
extend my best wishes to you all for a happy festive season and a
happy, healthy New Year.
BARBARA McNULTY
21 November 2000
Back to Society Home Page
Back to About Us and Previous President's Reports
This Page was last updated on:
10-Mar-2004
© Wagner Society in NSW Inc 2004 |