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Dear Members,
In May I was lucky enough to spend a month in Europe
on my way to the San Francisco Ring and was able to enjoy opera
in Dresden, Vienna, Prague and Berlin. Amongst the works I saw Rienzi,
Lohengrin and Dutchman and Rheingold.
Rienzi at the Staatsoper in Vienna was interesting as this
is a work I had not seen. The music was very well played and sung
and Glen Winslade sang Rienzi strongly though he did seem to tire
towards the end. The production, an allegory on National Socialism,
was rather bleak and violent but clearly made the point that power
corrupts. It was a surprise to run into Arthur Carter, one of our
members, at interval. Lohengrin at the beautiful Dresden
Opera was vastly different. Set entirely indoors it was a visually
beautiful production well sung and most enjoyable. In Berlin Dutchman
was at the Deutsche Oper and Rheingold at the Staatsoper.
Both were interesting productions and reasonably well sung though
I was somewhat disappointed with the orchestra under Barenboim in
Rheingold.
The San Francisco Ring was interesting with some very
memorable scenes. The orchestra was highly praised and though Jane
Eaglen was ill she did sing most beautifully and John Tomlinson was
superb as Wotan. Wolfgang Schmidt, not my favourite Siegfried, seemed
to be singing rather more lyrically than in the past and the production
treated the character of Siegfried more kindly which made the role
more attractive. Götterdämmerung started very well but fell
apart badly in the second act when the momentum seemed to get lost.
Fortunately the final act was outstanding and the overall impression
was of satisfaction.
Home again and the year seems to have passed very quickly
and we have enjoyed some very special events at our meetings. Those
of you at our September meeting shared a very special experience when
Stephen Mould and Warwick Fyfe were our guests. Stephen's report of
his time in Europe, as the 1998 Bayreuth Scholar, was most interesting
and then to our delight Stephen and Warwick performed a program of
Strauss and Wagner songs. It was a very exciting afternoon and everyone
present was impressed with the quality of the performance. We thank
them very much and wishe them both every success in the future.
In September Terence Watson gave a most interesting
talk on "Power in the Ring". Unfortunately I was unable
to be present on this occasion but many members have told me how much
they enjoyed the lecture and I am pleased to tell you that it will
be published as an Occasional Paper in the near future. This is the
second paper we have published this year ( the first was Peter Nicholson's
"Wagner as Artist”*) and it is very gratifying to reflect
on the depth of knowledge of so many of our members and the willingness
with which they share their interest and ideas.
Our next function is the Christmas party and I do hope
as many of you as possible will join with us to celebrate. On behalf
of all members of the Committee I would like to wish you all a very
happy festive season and hope the New Year will be a happy and healthy
one.
BARBARA McNULTY
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