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Wagner Society in NSW Inc
In a 7 November 2007 article titled “Bayreuth keep its head as Valkyries compete for festival's leading role” for The Times in Berlin, Roger Boyes brings us up to date on the war of succession on the Green Hill. Boyes notes of Mr Wagner's determination to hand the succession to Katharina: “The politicians and businessmen who make up the majority of the Bayreuth Foundation, which supervises the festival, begged to differ at a crisis meeting yesterday. Mr Wagner decided not to attend the meeting and let his lawyer fight his corner in an often passionate and irritable debate.” Also according to Boyes, “ the board called on all contenders to prepare their concepts for the future of the festival. Clearly the intention is to hold a beauty contest and line up a successor whether Mr Wagner approves or not. The tide turned against Mr Wagner when his most loyal allies in the foundation, the Society of Friends of Bayreuth, began to doubt his physical and mental health. ‘Wolfgang Wagner has not been able to run the festival by himself for some time,' said Edgar Hilger, of the society.” According to another source for Boyes' report Mr Wagner has Alzheimers. Boyes also reports Karl Gerhard Schmidt, the chairman of the Society of Bayreuth Friends, as thundering: “The situation has become absolutely critical and demands a solution”. Boyes notes that “It is known that the federal and the Bavarian governments agree. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor — and a great Wagnerian — was shocked when she tried and failed to make conversation with Mr Wagner in Bayreuth last summer. The Government fears that Germany 's prestige as a host of international arts events will suffer if the feuding rages on.” [Would this make it easier for us in Sydney to obtain tickets??? wonders the Editor, hopefully.] Boyes concludes: “The Valkyries [the 3 contenders – Katharina and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 62, Wolfgang's daughter from a previous marriage, and his niece, Nike Wagner, also 62] will have to await their moment; the foundation, though increasingly impatient, is playing for time.” In his article of 7 November 2007, Operatic feud over Wagner's rightful heir reaches a crescendo after 10 years, Tony Paterson fills in with further detail about the war of succession, including noting that “Nike invoked her uncle's fury by publicly referring to Bayreuth as a "musty institution". Yesterday, she insisted that under Wolfgang the festival had become a "perversion of the Wagner idea". According to Paterson , Eva lost out to Mr Wagner's desire for his wife, Gudrun, to take over from him – a desire that was also frustrated. Paterson reports that the “foundation has let it be known that if Katharina is given the job, it would want her to share the post with either Eva or Nike. But Wolfgang has made it clear that such a solution would be totally unacceptable.” So the stalemate continues. Interestingly, Paterson also informs us that Katharina has attempted to out-manoeuvre her competitors “by enlisting the support of prominent conductors and composers. Christian Thielemann, 48, a renowned Wagner conductor, joined her team this year, and last weekend Peter Ruzicka, 59, a former director of the Salzburg music festival, was added. ‘This team is the best conceivable solution for the festival,' Katharina told the Bild newspaper at the weekend. But the German government has declared that it does not think much of the Katharina option.” It appears that a large part of the audience for her production of Meistersingers would agree, given the amount of booing. In a move that would seem a little like a double-edged sword, Paterson reports that “only Nike has argued in favour of liberating the festival from the “‘dictatorship of the [Wagner] gene.'” …‘The issue may have to be solved biologically,' said one exhausted representative.” We may all be exhausted with following the waxing and waning of the war, but I'm sure all Wagnerians hope that the final winner will also mean a win for the Bayreuther Festspiele and for future high-quality, challenging productions. [Editor] The Battle on the Green Hill – The Fran kfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 22.November 2007, carries another story on the succession wars that reports: “Katharina Wagner and Christian Thielemann officially declare their canditature as heads of the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth . [Katharina] Wagner…cites the festival's current contracts as one reason why she is the only serious contender: ‘This means that for the first eight years we will be contractually bound to continue the era of Wolfgang Wagner as administrators of sorts. I don't mean to be uncharming, but for age reasons alone, my cousin Nike and my half-sister Eva would simply not have the possibility to develop their own profile. Before they had a free hand to do their own planning, they'd be well over retirement age'.” The war is getting very personal, but does Ms Wagner have a point?? Given the reports from our Members who have experienced Thielemann's conducting firsthand, and the generally glowing media reports, the musical side of the Festspiele would be in good hands, but many might have reservations about the production values [Ed.].
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