In Performance: Parsifal - 2015

Only productions that have announced their principal casts have been included. As always, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any listing and recommend that you check with the box office before making any booking    Oper Frankfurt Dates: 15,...

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In Performance: Tristan Und Isolde - 2015

Only productions that have announced their principal casts have been included. As always, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any listing and recommend that you check with the box office before...

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Wagner, The Ring and Call Of Duty?

OK. We  are going to try and explain this, briefly, for most of our readers (the rest of you can go straight to the end): "Call Of Duty" is a "video game". Yes, one of those things your young nephew nodoubt tries to go back after feigning interest...

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Opera North Announce 2016 Ring Cycle Dates & Locations

After four years of individual performances of each part of Der Ring des Nibelungen in concert - although semi-staged - ON have now announced the dates and locations of the full cycle, to be performed in 2016. Leeds Town Hall: Cycle 1: Sat...

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Win Two VIP Tickets To Meistersinger in London

This year,  during February and March, will see the London premiere of Richard Jones’s acclaimed staging of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.  Conducted by Edward Gardner, with a fine cast that includes Iain Paterson performing his first Sachs,...

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Watch Now: Siegfried Act 1.

Queen City Chamber Opera, in collaboration with the Wagner Society of Cincinnati, continue to produce their Ring cycle - albeit one act at a time it would seem - as they turn their attention to act 1 of Siegfried. Well worth your time...

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Who Is Richard Wagner? Paul Dawson-Bowling

The following is the introduction - especially adapted by the author -  to Paul Dawson-Bowling's two volume introduction and analysis of Wagner and his work: The Wagner Experience The Wagner Experience This is a book of enthusiasm. It is...

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Parsifal: Jonathan Meese Is Out And Uwe Eric Laufenberg Is In

Uwe Eric Laufenberg -sans mother or swastikas After  Jonathan Meese's less than graceful exit from Bayreuth's 2016 Parsifal, a replacement has been, very, quickly found. However, one suspects those looking for a straightforward reading and...

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Nina Stemme: Tristan's Death Wish & Why Kundry Must Wait

While a typically pedestrian interview in someways - but one has to consider its audience and the journalists need to write for that audience - Rupert Christiansen's recent discussion with Nina Stemme, never-the-less produced some interesting...

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When Opera Directors Need To Step Back And Reevaluate Their Work

Düsseldorf Deutsche Oper am Rhein's Tannhauser. An interesting discussion from Jessica Duchen which asks "Should an opera production be changed if audiences dislike it?" Sparked by the clear revision of Christof Loy’s production of Tristan und Isolde...

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Lyric Opera's Ring - Reinterpreting Wagner?

 Kearley, Sayers, Pountney,  Lecca, and Matthew Rees With the sad and untimely death of Johan Engels, the remaining  team behind  Lyric Opera's Ring Cycle discuss the productions future, a discussion  that may provide hints...

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Dame Gwyneth Jones Discusses "The Wagner Experince"

We have had many guest authors here over the years but surely none can be as special  as that of Dame Gwyneth Jones. In this review, Dame Gwyneth takes time from what remains an incredibly  busy schedule to review Paul Dawson-Bowling's book...

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Latvian Wagner Coin Wins International Award

Just goes to prove there is no award Wagner cannot win. At the World Coin News’ Coin of the Year Award an international panel of judges bestowed Best Silver Coin honors to Latvia’s 1 lats coin marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer...

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The Wagnerian's Reader Choice Awards - 2014

Update: Due to a technical error (well, to be honest we thought we had closed the voting but we had not) we are keeping the polls open till the last day in November. The virtual award ceremony will run week beginning the 21 December 2014.  Who...

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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - 10 Day Study Course

  Opera in Depth with David Nice: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Frontline Club 12 January – 16 March 2015 14.30-16.30 In the second term of his new Opera in Depth course at the Frontline Club, a year of epics, David...

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Bayreuth Kick Jonathan Meese Out Of The Festival - Making Sense?

Johnathan Meese clearing out his desk at Bayreuth? Jonathan Meese has been a controversial figure from the moment he signed a contract with the Wagner sisters to direct 2016's Parsifal. Even we had our reservations, given his unconventional thoughts...

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Does Listening To Wagner Mess With Your Mind?

  The following, free, event at the Birmingham Hippodrome looks very interesting, We will be there. Details from the organizers below: Hearing Wagner in the Being Human Festival: Does Wagner mess with our minds? Saturday 22 November 10:30...

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Wagner Related Thought Of The Day

One sometimes feels that no one has the measure of Nietzsche like Will Durant:   "Nietzsche was the child of Darwin and the brother of Bismarck.  It does not matter that he ridiculed the English evolutionists and the German nationalists:...

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A Visit To Richard Wagner - And A Special Gift. 1852

"Mendelssohn, was a gentleman of refinement and high degree; a man of culture and polished manner; a courtier who was always at home in evening dress. As was the man, so is his music, full of elegance, grace, finish, and refinement, but carried...

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Now Available: Wagner Journal November 2014

Contents: • 'Kundry’s Baptism, Kundry’s Death' by Christopher Wintle• 'Timely Timelessness: Regietheater at Bayreuth in the 1970s' by Simon Williams• 'Wagner Manuscripts at the British Library' by Nicolas Bellplus reviews of:the Hans Castorf...

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How Much Would You Pay To Watch Gergiev Conduct The Ring?

Valery Gergiev - Going cheap? About a year ago, the Birmingham Hippodrome (UK) and the Mariinsky Opera announced that the Mariinsky Opera/Gergiev  Ring would be performed, complete and fully staged, this November. Now, as I am sure most of...

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Boston Wagner Event: The Beauty of the Abyss

Jean Delville, "Tristan et Iseut,   The View from the Rim: Tristan, the Grand Canyon, and the Beauty of the Abyss Presented by James Holman, Chairman of the Wagner Society of Washington DC The quarter century from 1857 to 1883, from the composition...

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History Of The Ring Cycle In The USA - 1850-1903

"While Tommasini’s statement seems to neatly encapsulate the Ring cycle’s significance today, it also raises the question of why it appears to be Wagner’s cycle, and not some other operatic work, that now defines one pinnacle of opera production, or...

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The Fatality of Romanticism vs. The Metaphysics of Sexual Love: Wagner's Love Letter

The Fatality of Romanticism vs. The Metaphysics of Sexual Love: Wagner's Love Letter to Schopenhauer and the Break-Up with Nietzsche. Robert Cowan Journal Article Monatshefte 106(1) 1-16 (2014)  "Goethe hat sich einmal die Fragevorgelegt,...

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Book Of The Month:Treacherous Bonds and Laughing Fire

Update: Sadly, it seems that Amazon has now "sold out" and are awaiting new stock. It has, however,  been bought to our attention that it can still be bought directly from the publisher, Ashgate. It is also a little cheaper there too. More details...

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Free Audio Book: The Case of Wagner / Nietzsche Contra Wagner

From those very kindle volunteers at LibriVox. The Case of Wagner / Nietzsche Contra Wagner / Selected Aphorisms...

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Two Free Wagner Books For Your Kindle By Judith Gautier

"Chère, I am sad! There is another reception this evening, but I shall not be going to it! I reread a few pages of my life which I once dictated to Cosima! She sacrifices herself to her father's habits, - alas! Could it have been for the last time...

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LFO Announce Cast Of New Tristan Und Isolde - 2015

Tristan and Isolde lithograph by Milen Litchkov   Longborough return to Wagner after a, sort of, rest season, with a new production of Tristan. Details below. 12, 16, 18, 20 June CONDUCTOR Anthony Negus DIRECTOR Carmen Jakobi DESIGNER ...

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Washington National Opera Announces Complete Casting for 2016's Ring

Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced complete casting for its first full presentation of Richard Wagner's four-part Ring cycle. Three cycles will be presented from April 30 to May 22, 2016 and will be directed by Artistic Director Francesca...

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Bernd Weikl And Why You Should Simply Not Take It Anymore

Sarcasm and satire - dangerous tools. Not for the power their use may have when used well (although this too has its dangers), but if they are misunderstood by their audience. No more so then in 'Wagner studies' where, if one didn't know better, it...

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Ring Cycle Player - Listen While You Read

Wagner Composing The Ring of the Nibelungen: L. Balestrieri We have tried various methods of bringing a permanent Wagner music player to the site over the years - I think the first was back in 2011. However, there have been problems with most of them,...

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New Book: Wagner's Parsifal: An Appreciation in the Light of His Theological Journey

Expect a review in the next few months. Wagner’s ParsifalAn Appreciation in the Light of His Theological JourneyBy Richard H. Bell SBN 10: ISBN 13: 978-1-62032-885-9 Pages: 400 Binding: Paperback/Ebook Publication Date: 11/12/2013 Street Date:...

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Free: The Parsifal Libretto Retold As Epic Poem - Oliver Huckel

PARSIFAL: A DRAMA BY WAGNER RETOLD BY OLIVER HUCKEL Oliver Huckel's poetic rendition in English of the libretto of Richard Wagner's opera 'Parsifal'. This book was originally published in 1903 by T.Y. Crowell & Co. The original illustrations...

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Free Epub/Kindle Book: Wagner As I Knew Him - Praeger

Previously available in other formats but now as an Epub or in Kindle format. Click the relevant link below to download - or read and search online...

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Why Bernd Weikl Doesn't Want To Ban Wagner.

Confused? All will become clear tomorrow when we publish a recent conversation with the great Mr Weikl, Let us just say that for one of the late 20th century's most successful  Hans Sachs there is certainly Wahn, oh too much Wahn  but just...

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The Reinvention of Genius: Wagner's Transformation of Schopenhauer's Aesthetics in “Beethoven

Originally published: postgraduate journal of aesthetics. Vol 4 The Reinvention of Genius: Wagner's Transformation of Schopenhauer's Aesthetics in “Beethoven” Menno Boogaard ABSTRACT Wagner's treatise Beethoven (1870), written to celebrate the...

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