After the Ring: Opera Aus-tralia’s Ring cycle scoopedthe pool at Melbourne

Green Room Awards, winning‘best’ in the categories of operaproduction, conductor, director,leading female (Lise Lindstrom),leading male (James Johnson) andsupporting male (Graeme Macfar-lane), and the Melbourne RingOrchestra received an accolade ofexcellence.

The Melbourne Ring was favour-ably reviewed by Wagner scholarBarry Millington for The WagnerJournal in an article called playfully:‘Gold struck once again in Victoria’that praised the company’s “highlevel of playing and singing”.

Our Ring volunteers might sav-our Millington’s nodding approvalthat “Armfield was brave toattempt to incorporate amateurtalent, thus rooting the venture inthe community—rather as Wagneroriginally intended”, althoughMillington also expressed reserva-tions about it.

Millington’s general observationson the Ring frequently resonate

with those made by our member-ship at the ‘Ring Reflections’ func-tion, which gave us the opportunityto freely express our views, underthe considered moderation ofJanice Carpenter. This event isreported on Page 3.

NNeewwsslleetttteerr:: Our secretarySusan Cumming planned the pres-ent issue of the newsletter to focuson Melbourne Opera’s forthcomingproduction of Lohengrin. Susanrequested contributions and man-aged their acceptance. This was areprise of her role for the single-themed February issue.

Our editor Stan O’Loughlin and our layout designer Dawn Volz co-produced the newsletter,as they have been doing for ourSociety over the past 14 years.Stan planned its structure, andDawn, drawing upon her expertisein book editing and proofreading, performed the page layout.

We will be asking members atrenewal time to state their prefer-ences for receiving the newsletterin print or electronically (in PDFform) as a means of limiting our

postal costs. Although we askedmembers previously, the commit-tee was then hesitant to proceedon members’ individual prefer-ences.

WWeebbssiittee:: You will have noticedrecently that our website is react-ing far more responsively. Ourwebmasters, Tom and Ruth O’Dea,have transitioned it to a new web-hosting service.

Tom and Ruth are collaboratingwith a web sub-committee tostreamline our website. Its im-proved performance opens upoptions for enhancing its visualappearance and simplifying its userfunctionality. Implementation willcontinue throughout the comingmonths.

YYoouutthh IInniittiiaattiivvee:: The youth ini-tiative with Heath Lees, that wasplanned for 1 July, has been tem-porarily postponed. Its organisers,Kate Kimpton and Gavin Cornish,are planning a very special event,and our Society fully supportsthem. Details will be advised onour website.

Continued on Page 22

NEWSLETTER OF THE RICHARD WAGNER SOCIETY INC.

JUNE 2017 VOL. 14, NO. 2

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the Richard Wagner Society Inc.

WAGNERNEWS

OF VICTORIA

Continued from Page 1NNeeww ZZeeaallaanndd RRooaadd TTrriipp:: I recent-

ly toured the four New Zealand Wagner Societies of Auckland,Wellington, Dunedin and Christ-church to deliver a two-hour lectureon ‘Richard Wagner and Visual Art’.

I spoke to more than half of theNew Zealand Wagner Societymembership, and on two occasions I lectured to full houses. I trust thatthis national tour enhances our linkswith all the cross-Tasman WagnerSocieties.

(My road diary is on the websiteat http://wagnermelb.org.au/articles/.The talk will appear at a later date.)

LLoohheennggrriinn:: Melbourne Opera isperforming Lohengrin at Melbourne’sRegent Theatre on Monday 7,Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9August and at Robert BlackwoodHall, Monash University, on Saturday19 August.

It is produced by Greg Hocking,directed by Suzanne Chaundy and

conducted by Dr David Kram. Thelead role of Lohengrin is played byRomanian tenor Marius Vlad, whowas Tannhäuser in MelbourneOpera’s production last year.

Our Society is contributing fundsto support Melbourne-born sopranoHelena Dix in the lead role of Elsa.This is Helena’s first appearance onan Australian opera stage for 15years. She is currently in New Yorkat the Met, covering Electra (Elettra)in Mozart’s Idomeneo under JamesLevine. (See Susan Cumming’s articleabout Helena on Page 5.)

Our Society intends this initiativeto be the first in a long-term associa-tion with Melbourne Opera’s Wag-nerian productions. In return, ourmembers may purchase tickets toLohengrin at reduced rates on theTicketmaster website by using theoffer code ‘ELSA’. (At the time ofwriting, the Regent Theatre seatingplan was not accessible to users ofApple’s Safari web browser.)

PPrroodduuccttiioonn SSuuppppoorrtt:: Our Society,in pursuance of its principal purposeof supporting the production of the works of Richard Wagner in Australia, is contributing funds to Opera Australia for its Sydneyconcert performance of Parsifal inAugust, and we plan major supportof Opera Australia’s Melbourne-onlyproduction of Meistersinger inNovember 2018, with Stefan Vinke,Warwick Fyfe...

Given our financial obligations in line with our charter to supportlocal Wagner productions—such as our recent major support of theMelbourne Ring—I remind ourmembers thatany donationsthey wish tomake to ourSpecial Produc-tions Fund aretax-deductible.

~ Trevor ClarkePresident

2

E D I T O R I A LThis newsletter is largely devoted to the forthcoming Melbourne Operaproduction of Lohengrin. Thanks go to the many contributors of the inter-esting articles. Keep them coming. ~Stan O’Loughlin

Back row: Colin Pyman, William Firth-Smith, Leigh Oldmeadow, Neil Day, Kay Cooper-Ward. Middle Row: SophiaErrey, Maxine Cooper, Liz Oley, Justus Lewis. Front Row: David Valentine, Shirley Breese, Michael Wright, MashaSlattery. Absent: David Dorward, Myrna Hepburn, Ruth Rodell, Perri Hammond. Inset: David Dorward.

THE 2016RING VOLUNTEERS

3

Sixty-one members and friendsof the Society attended ourForum to reflect on the 2016

Melbourne Ring and the other Wag-ner events held at the same time.For many of us the period in Nov-ember and December 2016 was amini-Wagner Festival.

A short film of photos and videostaken during the Ring and otherWagner-related events by JaniceCarpenter, and stills of the operastaken by Jeff Busby—to the music of Siegfried’s Journey down theRhine—set the scene for our discussions.

Among those present were Ringpatrons Maureen Wheeler AO andHans Henkel, Opera Australia’sCatherine McElhone, The Parlour’sKaren Van Spall, and numerous Ringvolunteers.

Janice Carpenter led a Forumtitled ‘Melbourne Ring Reflections’.

There was general agreement thatthe number of lectures, symposiums,films, talks and concerts relating toWagner and his music were a wond-erful addition to Opera Australia’sthree Ring Cycles.

‘Exploring the Ring with HeathLees’, a series of lectures held eachmorning before the Ring operas, wasorganised by the Society. The atten-dees praised Heath’s great talent for entertainment while providing a valuable introduction to the operathat night.

The focus of the Forum thenturned to the Melbourne Ring direc-ted by Neil Armfield. Most peoplecommented that the 2016 produc-tion appeared to be much improvedon the 2013 production.

Orchestra Victoria was praised by Gavin Cornish as having a “glori-ous sound, better honed and morecohesive than 2013”.

Maureen Wheeler informed usthat the conductor, Pietari Inkinen,brought 12 section leaders, hand-picked from his orchestras aroundthe world, to add experience andleadership to the orchestra.

The singers were praised, particu-larly Lise Lindstrom and Stefan Vinke,for their leading roles. It was agreedthat James Johnson as Wotan lackedvocal strength; however he actedwell and provided a stronger Wan-derer in Siegfried. Amber Wagnerwas an excellent Sieglinde.

Attendees agreed that OperaAustralia must continue to provideopportunities for our local singers todevelop; however, we need to bringthe best overseas singers that we canafford for the leading roles if wewant to provide a world standardproduction.

One of the most contentious criti-cisms of the Armfield Ring was theuse of the ‘sea of humanity’ volun-teers to send Siegfried down theRhine with dance and rowinggestures. Several of the volunteers,Perri Hammond, Colin Pyman andLiz Oley, defended this segment ofthe production, saying that it waspart of Armfield’s vision of theconnection with humanity of theRing. Liz Oley commented that thiswas a celebration of the last occasionthat Siegfried and Brünnhilde werehappy together.

The volunteers were hurt by thecomments of reviewers such asMichael Rose. Stan O’Loughlin,however, defended his view that theuse of the volunteers in this waydetracted from his enjoyment of themusic. He said that he preferred toclose his eyes so that he could enjoythe music.

Various opinions were expressedregarding Armfield’s interpretation oficonic moments during the Ring.

The Magic Box: Most peopleapproved of this theatrical device toovercome a difficult section of theRing when Alberich is transformedinto a dragon and then a frog.

The Sword: Not everybodyapproved of a sword standing alonecircling the stage.

The packaged Brünnhilde inSiegfried: Maureen explained thatStefan Vinke (Siegfried) did not want

to sing in the atmosphere of smokefrom the ‘ring of fire’ so Armfielddevised a solution in keeping withthe conservation theme. The Spiral Ramp: We had differing

opinions on the use of the spiralramp.

The Standing Corpse: Once again,some loved it, others hated it.

In conclusion, Shirley Breese andLibby Smith provided some usefulcomments comparing the Armfieldproduction with their favouriteproduction of the Rings they haveenjoyed around the world. Somevirgin Ring-goers told us how inspiredthey were by this Ring—their first,but certainly not their last.

~ Janice Carpenter

MELBOURNE RING REFLECTIONS FORUM~ 19 FEBRUARY 2017 ~

Trevor Clarke with Janice Carpenter

Janice at work

Susan Cumming and Janice Carpenter

4

Lohengrin the Nobleman

One of the most famous images ofLohengrin is this one painted on thewalls of the King Ludwig II's livingroom at Neuschwanstein, his castlein Bavaria. Ludwig loved myths andhe also loved Wagner’s music. Hefirst attended a performance ofWagner’s Lohengrin in 1861 inMunich. When his father died in1864, Ludwig became king, a role forwhich he had not been trained forand which he did not enjoy. As heretreated from court life he com-menced his castle building withNeuschwanstein his masterpiece. Hedecorated the castle with themesfrom Wagner’s operas.

Lohengrin as a knight in shining armour

In the libretto of Lohengin, Wag-ner’s stage directions for the scene as Lohengrin arrives, state, “The boat, drawn by the swan, reaches the bank, centre back; Lohengrin in gleaming silver armour, helmet on his head, shield on his back, asmall golden horn at his side, isstanding in it, leaning on his sword.'”

Most productions of Lohengrinover the years have followedWagner’s instructions and depictedthe hero in shining armour.

Other productions hint of the knight by dressing Lohengrin in a modern-day dress of silver material.

Lohengrin as a troubled man

Many recent productions of Lohengrinhave interpreted him as a complexand unhappy man trying to find hisway in the world rather than a beingfrom another world.

Hans Neuenfels’ infamous ‘Rats’production, staged at Bayreuth in2012, has Klaus Florian Vogt asLohengrin (in the image above)dressed in trousers and white shirtfor most of the opera.

Lohengrin as amodern hero

The Bavarian State Opera, in aproduction directed by Richard Jonesin 2009, introduces Lohengrin (JonasKaufman) as what might be inter-preted to be a football star, dressedin T-shirt and tracksuit pants.

As the opera progresses the Menof Brabant begin to idolise Lohengrinand in their enthusiasm follow hisstyle of dress.

Lohengrin as a swan

The 2016 Kasper Holten productionof Lohengrin (Klaus Florian Vogt) atDeutsche Oper Berlin moves back toa more mystical interpretation ofLohengrin. Here he has taken on thewings of the swan. His costumebeneath the wings seems quitemedieval in design. James Karas statesin his blog, “He looks like an angeland I have some reservations aboutthat appearance.”

~ Janice Carpenter

IIMMAAGGEESS OOFF LLOOHHEENNGGRRIINN

5

The Richard Wagner Society isthrilled to be supportingHelena Dix’s debut as Elsa in

Melbourne Opera’s new productionof Lohengrin. This is the first timeHelena has sung in an opera backhome in Australia in 15 years.

Romanian tenor Marius Vlad, Mel-bourne Opera’s Tannhäuser in 2016,is returning to play Lohengrin oppo-site Helena.

Helena has an impressive CV. Sherepresented Australia in the 2005BBC Cardiff Singer of the World,then won Best Young Singer at TheInternational Opera awards.

Her international acclaim wasassured with brilliant reviews singingthe title role of Cristina Regina diSvezia at the Wexford FestivalOpera in 2013.

Helena’s previous Wagner rolesare as a flowermaiden in ENO’sParsifal and Isabella in Das Liebes-verbot. Winning the London WagnerSociety’s 2012 Bursary Competition,she performed in the 2012 BayreuthStipendiatenkonzert at the Festspiel-haus and as part of the InternationalWagner prize in Karlsruhe.

The first opera Helena heard atBayreuth was Lohengrin. She says shewas overcome with emotion when

hearing the wonderful Bayreuthorchestra playing the overture in theunique Festspielhaus auditorium.

She was then nominated to enterSeattle Opera’s International Wagnercompetition. Making the finals landedHelena her first contract with TheMetropolitan Opera (The Met).Currently she is covering lead rolesat The Met including Electra inIdomeneo under the baton of JamesLevine. She will be covering Normain The Met’s September-Decemberproduction of Norma, with CarloRizzi conducting.

Born in Wheelers Hill, Helenastudied at the Melba Conserva-torium on a full scholarship, studyingwith Margaret Nisbett. She sayswhenever she sings around theworld people ask where she devel-oped such a solid vocal technique.Helena credits Margaret as theperson who gave her everything sheneeded to have an internationalsinging career.

Helena says Elsa is a brilliant rolethat sits beautifully with her voiceand is a career milestone. When shewas starting her career in Mel-bourne, the late Richard Divallinsisted she learn Elsa’s aria ‘Einsamin trüben Tagen’, prophesying that

she would play the role one day.Helena says the major challenge

in learning the role of Elsa is thecharacter of the virginal leading lady.This is in sharp contrast to herrecent bel canto roles of mostlyfeisty women.

Helena loves the beautiful musicof Elsa and is delighted that she canshare her talents with her home-town audience.

Not only will Margaret Nisbett bepart of an enthusiastic audience, sotoo will be many of the Society’smembers and opera fans around theglobe and back home, who havefollowed the career of this incredibleyoung singer.

The Melbourne Opera produc-tion of Lohengrin will be held at theRegent Theatre, Melbourne on 7, 9and 10 August. and MonashUniversity’s Robert Blackwood Hallon 19 August.

Lohengrin isproduced byGreg Hocking,directed bySuzanne Chaundyand conducted byDr David Kram.

~ Susan Cumming

Helena Dix debuts as Elsa in 2017 MelbourneOpera production of Lohengrin

6

Wagner set his RomanticOpera about the SwanKnight in Brabant, a

duchy in the 10th century in whatwe now know as Antwerp. Muchof Belgium and the Netherlandswere part of the large number ofdiverse communities which com-prised a non-unified and still quite‘tribal’ Germany under the HolyRoman Empire

I am reading Brabant as a deeplytraditional society on the brink ofchange. The arrival of Lohengrin isthe miracle that Brabant has beenwaiting for. It is a divided and dis-tressed community, facing oncomingwar and pushed to the brink,desperately in need of a saviour.King Henry the Fowler has arrivedin Brabant as he is recruiting amassed army in an attempt to uniteGermany against the invadingHungarians.

Brabant’s rightful leader, thechild-Duke Gottfried, has vanished,possibly murdered by his ownsister, Elsa, who has retreated intothe protection of the new religion,Christianity. Under the care of holywomen, she could be innocent orguilty, mad or a visionary.

The current leader of Brabant,Count Friedrich von Telramund,was Guardian to these rightful heirsfollowing the death of their father.He was to marry Elsa but, horrified

by her possible fratricide, hasmarried Ortrud, daughter of Rad-bod of Friesland. King Radbod wasthe last great pagan ruler. In visionsElsa has seen a pure and holyKnight who will be her saviour. Thischampion is summoned by KingHenry to appear and successfullydefend Elsa or she is to forfeit anyright to be Duchess of Brabant.

The people want to believe Elsa;she is pure, devout and appearsinnocent. Then in something akin toan incidence of mass hysteria afterthey wait and wait following thesummoning of the champion, theholy knight and saviour emerges,drawn by a swan from the en-shrouding mists.

The triggers into Lohengrin forme are fragility and the ephemeral.Fragility is present from the outsetas the shimmering strings of theprelude transport us to a distantand yet familiar world. This story isset over just two days and nights.We see how, in the blink of an eye,the fate of a person and a wholenation can change. Fragile powerstructures and deep-seated humanfrailties of doubt, suggestibility andmistrust are explored in greatdepth within the microcosm ofBrabant.

The influence of Schopenhauer is very present in the polemic. Hisbeliefs in what motivates human

action, the ‘Will zum Leben’, andbase desires in the face of faith andtranscendence are a chief premise.Fundamentally this is a battle ofbelief and is crystallised into thesimplest and also most complex ofquestions: ‘What is your name?’

Our production will be set withthe suggestion of period and usescutting-edge contemporary tech-nology to create an ephemeral andmysterious world that expressesthis setting and poetic, but lives,breathes and speaks to our 21stcentury audience. We are symboli-cally representing a world in transi-tion as the Yggdrasil (the WorldAsh Tree) shifts from view and aliminal passageway to Christianityemerges. Lohengrin, described as‘eine Romantische Oper’ isundoubtedly a Romantic work withall the trademarks of the Romanticmovement, the power of nature,nationalism and the supernatural,where we have also drawn ourinspiration for the design.

~ Suzanne Chaundy

Suzanne Chaundy is Director ofMelbourne

Opera's 2017Lohengrin production

LOHENGRINDIRECTOR’S

NOTES

7

In Dresden in March 1849, a fewmonths after Richard Wagner hadcompleted his ‘Romantic Opera in

3 Acts’, Lohengrin, the actor EduardDevrient wrote the following in hisdiary: “Met Kapellmeister Wagner on The Terrace, another discussionabout his theories for changing theworld. He still thinks that only bydestroying property is it possible tocivilise mankind... He believes in theabsolute and original perfection ofthe human race, a perfection lostonly as a result of the state. Finallyhe had to agree with me that onlymoral amelioration can put an end to our misery and that this would pro-duce the right types of state, basedon the law of love.”

Consciously or not, in his conversa-tion with Devrient Wagner was justifyinghis impending involvement in the Mayrevolution. No wonder Bakunin regardedhim as an impractical dreamer! However,his remarks also reveal much about hisstate of mind when creating Lohengrinand his attitude to its principal charac-ters. If the Grail is in the world but notof the world, so too is its servant theSwan Knight Lohengrin who comesmysteriously into the lives of Elsa,Ortrud, Telramund and the otherBrabantines.

Elsa needs him as her champion butLohengrin needs her even more, for heseeks the love that is perfect trust. Withall his heart he wishes to marry her, butsuch a marriage is doomed from thestart because, to put it bluntly, Lohengrinis of the spirit and Elsa of the flesh. It isthe hopelessness of trying to reconcilethe irreconcilable that is at the heart ofthis beautiful and poignant opera.

Wagner came to recognise the samedilemma in his own life and works, andunderwent a personal and creative trans-formation after the failure of theDresden revolution and resulting exileand encounter with the writings ofSchopenhauer.

The juxtaposition of the spiritual andthe temporal in Lohengrin is nowheremore apparent than in the abruptdescent from the mystical realms of theprelude to the very tangible realm ofKing Henry the Fowler in which Act 1begins. Trumpet fanfares, the Herald’sannouncements, the King’s summons towar against the Hungarians and prosaiccomings and goings, are a long way fromthe angelic hosts and dazzling Grail

conjured up by the prelude. Never-theless it all marks an advance on therather dull recitative and spoken dialoguethat would once have been typical operatic fare.

Wagner’s practice was to bringtogether a variety of legends and ideaswhen fashioning his operas, and this wascertainly true with Lohengrin, whichcombines the legends of the SwanKnight, the forbidden question, the iden-tity of Lohengrin himself and, of course,the Grail.

The legends of the Swan Knight werewell known in the 12th century, bornperhaps of a need to ascribe a supernat-ural origin to a ruling house. An unidenti-fied stranger arrives within a community,becomes their ruler and then disappearsagain. It was often a way of explainingthe unexpected appearance of an heir—dramatised in the opera by the mysticaltransformation of the swan into the boyGottfried. The oldest literary version ofthe legend relates to the 13th centuryFrench house of Godfrey of Bouillon and contains many of the narrativefeatures of the opera, including thearrival of an unknown knight in a skiffdrawn by a swan.

The ‘forbidden question’ myth goesback to the ancient Greeks and the storyof Zeus and Semele, as Wagner himselfnoted in ‘A Communication to myFriends’ of 1851. The legend ofLohengrin is referred to in Wolfram vonEschenbach’s Parzival, where the knight isidentified as Loherangrin (Garin ofLorraine). His father was Parzival and hismother the beautiful lady Condwira-murs. Wolfram tells how the Duchess ofBrabant was approached by many suitorsbut vowed to take only the husbandwhom God had chosen for her. ThenLoherangrin was sent from Munsalv-

aesche (Monsalvat) and brought toAntwerp by a swan. The peopledeclared him to be beautiful andmanly, courteous, generous andinnocent of all wrongdoing. He said,“My Lady Duchess, if I am to be thelord of this country, hear what I amabout to ask of you. Never ask mewho I am; then I shall be able toremain with you. But if I amsubjected to your question you willlose my love.”

“There are many people inBrabant even now,” says Wolfram,“who know of these two, of herwelcome and his departure, andhow her question drove him away.

He left much against his will.”Act 2 of Wagner’s Lohengrin has many

remarkable musical/dramatic featuresthat anticipate what is to come in theRing, particularly in Götterdäm-merung.The atmosphere of the opening scenewith Ortrud and Telramund at thecitadel of Antwerp by night foreshadowsthe scene in which Alberich and Hagenplot the downfall of Siegfried. The musicis heavy with bitterness and revenge. Wehear a theme associated with Ortrudand then, on the cor anglais, a reminderof Lohengrin’s warning to Elsa. In Götter-dämmerung, the doom-laden atmosphereis broken by the aural equivalent ofmoonlight breaking through the clouds.In Lohengrin, the evil communion isdisturbed by bursts of gaiety from theknights’ quarters within the citadel.

Wagner’s handling of his musicalthemes in Lohengrin is simpler and moredirect than in later works, but thisdoesn’t detract from the appropriatenessof the themes and the skill with whichthey are orchestrated. Above all, theymatch perfectly the long poetic lines ofthe text and the opera’s general air ofromantic melancholy. The graceful linesand end-rhymes could hardly be moredifferent from the short, pithy lines andalliterations that we find in Das Rheingold,whose text was completed in 1852.

Wagner was never more lavish with his melodies than hewas in Lohengrin, andone is bound to saythat anyone whodenies that he was amelodious composerhas never listened tothis wondrouslybeautiful work.

~ Peter Bassett

LOHENGRIN: WAGNER AT THE CROSSROADS

Citadel at Antwerp—in the distance is the River Scheldt

8

Wagner finished the score ofLohengrin in 1848, at theage of 35. If you fast

forward another 35 years you arriveat 1883, the year of the composer’sdeath, which means that Lohengrinmarks his life’s exact mid-point.

In a striking parallel, Lohengrin alsomarks the mid-point of Wagner’sgrowth as a composer for the theatre.To put it very bluntly, you might saythat pre-Lohengrin you get romanticopera; post-Lohengrin you get music-drama.

For Wagner himself, Lohengrin wasvery much pre- rather than post-, anend rather than a beginning. In histitle page he announced the work asa ‘Romantic Opera in Three Acts’,and, soon after its completion, heconsigned it firmly to the past, withan almost embarrassed tone. In 1851,in a letter to the journalist AdolfStahr, he actually dismissed it as a“snake-skin” that he had sloughed offand left behind.

But probably the most telling indi-cation that Lohengrin was an endrather than a beginning were the fiveyears of almost complete musicalsilence that followed the opera’scompletion. Lohengrin had demon-strated to the composer that heneeded to reconfigure his musicallanguage, and to re-draw his theatri-cal goals. So, over the next five yearsof searching thought and hard-wontheory (think opera and drama),Wagner was to position himself forhis first real music-drama, which wasDas Rheingold.

Contemporary information

sources like Wikipedia jump the gunand state that Lohengrin was actuallyWagner’s first music-drama. But onlytwo reasons are given. First is the lackof musical ‘numbers’ that traditionallymarked out recitatives, choruses,duets etc. Yes, Wagner did dispensewith these progressive counters inLohengrin, but if you scratch theopera’s apparently ‘seamless’ surfaceyou will quickly find the many breakswhere one typical number gives wayto another. The fact that the num-bers aren’t printed doesn’t mean thatthey aren’t there.

Wikipedia also points to the leit-motif, in particular the doom-laden‘forbidden question’ theme. But hereWagner is simply using the device ofa ‘motif of remembrance’ that wasalready common in the operas of theday. His later development of theleitmotif was light-years away fromthis. In the works of his last 25 years

—all post-Lohengrin—the leitmotifwas not just a musical statement buta musical embodiment of a person ora thing, “an instinctively enthrallingmoment of feeling”, as Wagner wasto put it in Opera and Drama.

Later, the developed leitmotif’smost unique quality lay in its ability totransform itself into myriad guises atany moment, and to allude subtly toother leitmotifs. It is not fair to retro-project this developed type of leit-motif so as to transform Wagner’sromantic opera of the 1840s into amusic-drama of the 1850s or ’60s.

But there are undeniable music-drama moments in Lohengrin—moments that strain so hard againsttraditional practice that they ‘trembleon the brink’, thrillingly poised on theedge of a great leap forward towardswhat will become Wagner’s Music ofthe Future.

Take the traditional Italian belcanto opera. Lohengrin’s two famoussolos—the Farewell to the Swan inAct 1 and, in Act 3, the Grail Narra-tion—are both very lightly accompa-nied, and pre-suppose a tenor voiceof luminous charm and tonal purity à la Bellini rather than the normalWagnerian requirement of passionwrapped up in strong delivery.

But turn to Elsa’s prayer in Act 1.She too begins softly in a vocallyradiant bel canto style, but when sherecalls her dream, a totally originalharmony surges out. Enharmonicchanges tumble over each other inan astonishing mixture of keys andchords such that the music acts outthe idea of an intermixing of two

TREMBLING ON THE BRINK:OLD AND NEW IN LOHENGRIN

9

different worlds. For a moment, theold bel canto opera has suddenly litup with the future flame of music-drama.

Wagner’s use of the chorus inLohengrin is another example of newdirection. In this very ‘public’ opera,there are many occasions when themassed choral tableaux of, say, Spon-tini and Meyerbeer are suggested.Act 1 begins with a large choral presentation of stereotyped militarygreeting by King Henry’s armies, andthe act ends with loud choral fare-wells, all built around the typicaltheme of general rejoicing.

But in thecentre of the act,listen to the wayWagner splits uphis choir at thedramatic momentof the swan’sarrival: first a fewsoft voices, thenothers, more defi-nite, join in to leadthe transition fromamazed percep-tion to gradualacclamation. Thechorus evolvesfrom its initial,tentative make-upof individuals. It isnot merely relay-ing events to the audience; it gradu-ally becomes the audience, and itsmusic swells into life, seemingly of itsown volition.

This is an exciting glimpse of whatWagner was to describe in Operaand Drama as the ideal function ofthe chorus. Contrary to what mostpeople believe, he did not ban thechorus. What he deplored was thekind of chorus he had inherited fromthe old school, with its overpoweringspectacle and large choral mass. “Amass can never interest but onlydumbfound us,” he said .

What he wanted was the gradualappearance of “the surface of melodyout of the depths of harmony”. Thearrival of the swan is a fine example,but so too is the soft, choral awe thatgreets Elsa’s first arrival, or on a larger

scale, her gradual (interrupted) pro-cession to the Minster in Act 2.

Not all of Lohengrin’s forays intothe future were successful. In tryingto treat the traditional ensemble inthe same new manner as the chorus,i.e. as an increasingly growing blendof individual strands, Wagner com-posed semi-independent lines of suchdifficult harmony that singers usuallyfind it impossible to keep in tune.Listen to a live performance of theensemble ‘Herr und Gott’ prayerbefore the duel in Act 1, and you’llhear vocal wobbling and sliding fromthe second phrase onwards. By the

end, the common-chord entry of themale chorus appears like a rock in astorm.

On the other hand, Wagner’s useof instrumental sonority in Lohengrinwas never miscalculated. It wasunique, continually futuristic, andutterly musical. Lohengrin showsconclusively that Wagner had anunerring instinct for blending togethermoods, feelings and ideas in perfectlychosen instrumental wrappings andnaturally suited keys. And this giftbegins from the first notes of thePrélude, and continues to the end.Indeed, it continues after the end,and flows over into all the laterworks, including Parsifal.

It’s in Lohengrin that Wagner’sspecial kind of ‘sound-cathedral’ (touse Debussy’s phrase) first takes

shape. Lohengrin’s A-major Prélude(no longer ‘just’ an overture) is awholly new conception, and amasterpiece of sculptured sonority.The music does not move forwardalong a horizontal story-line or alinear path of development. It seemsto arrive from above and spreadsitself out in three-dimensional space,beginning sky-high with barelyperceptible violin harmonics thatgradually grow into a heavenlysphere, filling the orchestral spacewith an increasingly warm bath ofsound, before slowly draining away,leaving only memory behind.

So Lohengrin isnot yet music-drama. As Wagneraffirmed right at thestart, it is a romanticopera. But, yes, inmany parts it isuniquely forward-looking, and it wasto provide Wagnerwith the mosttangible springboardyet to his newmusical language. Itis not an opera ofthe past nor is itmusic of the future.It is rather a musicof Becoming.

The Viennesecritic Hanslick was closer to the truththan he realised when he mockedWagner for not writing the kind of‘Music’ that he understood. Withcurled lip he dismissed Wagner’soeuvre by saying, “There’s music in it,but it isn’t Music.”

In terms of Lohengrin, we can fixthis for him just by adding the word‘drama’, to read: “There’s music-drama in it, but it isn’t Music-Drama.”At least not yet. In fact, Lohengrinshows us Opera trembling on thebrink of Music-Drama. And it’sthis ‘trembling onthe brink’ thatmakes it such aunique and fasci-nating work.

~ Heath Lees

10

It seems such a long timeago now since our pre-Ring get-togethers in

Melbourne. Kiel in Germanyis treating me very well. Theweather is much colder thanyou are experiencing backhome.

The company has suppliedme with a lovely centralapartment with enoughroom for my wife and twodaughters to come and visitduring the school Easterbreak. They have also loanedme a bike, which is a won-derful way of getting aroundGermany (even in sub-zeroconditions). A good scarf isindispensable!

I have just finished my fourthweek of rehearsals for this newproduction of Siegfried and duringthat time we have basically blockedthe entire opera, except for Faf-ner’s scene which requires sevenpuppeteers to operate the dragon.

It is a wonderful internationalcast, with many newcomers to theirprospective roles, like myself. Therole of Mime is shared by JoseMontero, wonderful Spanish tenor,

and Michael Müller, a youngGerman singer on fest contracthere. We have a Finnish Fafner(Timo Riihonen), Alberich (JörgSabrowski) and Brünnhilde (KirsiTiihonen), an Argentinian andGerman Vöglein (Mercedes Arcuriand Karola Schmidt), a Russian Erda(Tatia Jibladze) and an AmericanWotan (Thomas Hall). So it’s quitea menagerie. Such is the wonderfulegalitarian world of opera. If onlythe world, at present, could learnsomething from this.

Our director Herr Karasek (sonof the notable art critic HellmuthKarasek) comes from a straighttheatre tradition and is also Gen-eralintendant of the Schauspielhaus.He is a very busy man and, like NeilArmfield, he likes his opera real.Herr Karasek also enjoys practisinghis Spanish. So because two of ourcast members speak Spanish astheir mother tongue, our rehearsalsoften operate within a strangehybrid of German, Spanish andEnglish.

We rehearse a 20-minute driveaway from the Kiel Opera Houseat a venue strangely named the

Fisch Markt. This is becausethe rehearsal stage is notlarge enough for the set,which in Act 1 consists of awonderful apparatus ofWilly Wonka proportions.Mime uses this machine toforge Siegfried’s variousswords that I keep breaking.

Fortunately I still get toforge Nothung myself with abig hammer and traditionally(tuned) anvil for the famousHammer Lied. Next weekwe start rehearsing on themain stage with orchestra. It is only two weeks untilopening night.

Before we started properrehearsals, I had the luxury of twoweeks solid music rehearsals withthe head of music, Herr ReinhardLindon (a wonderfully experiencedand canny Wagner technician). Ialso worked in depth on the musicwith Herr Fritzsch (MusikalischeLeitung) and brother of our veryown maestro Johannes Fritzsch,who I have worked at home withat Opera Queensland. “Piccolomondo”.

I am loving every moment of thiswonderful experience.

Thomas Molke in his review ofthe Kiel Siegfried wrote, “TheAustralian tenor Bradley Daleygives his debut as Siegfried in Kieland convinces with a strong heroicpresence, even if his performance is affected by the frequent search-ing of the visual contact to theconductor. In some places, heforges the sworda bit too sharp,but he hasenough vocalreserves to bringthe forging to abrilliant conclu-sion.”

~ Bradley Daley

SIEGFRIED IN KIEL...SO FARThe Wagner Society supported Bradley Daley singing Siegmund in the 2016 Melbourne Ring.The following report arrived in early March. Bradley debuted as Siegfried in Kiel in mid-March.

Kiel Opera House

Bradley Daley in rehearsal

11

Melbourne Opera was foun-ded in 2003. It was bornout of the dissatisfaction

felt by a large number of Mel-bourne opera lovers resulting fromthe perceived failure of the mergerbetween the Victorian State Operaand Opera Australia.

This year the company cele-brates its 14th birthday. This is asignificant achievement for a profes-sional opera company which hasreceived no recurrent funding fromany arm of government. No operacompany anywhere in the world is able to survive on box officereceipts alone.

Melbourne Opera offers free-lance employment to a pool ofmore than 150 singers, musicians,technicians, directors and designers.The company has only one full-timeemployee, our business managerRobbie McPhee, who has becomeadept in all areas of an operaticbusiness.

The company has to dateproduced over 40 seasons of 29different operas. The company hasrecently ventured into the Wagner-ian repertoire, having performed aconcert version of Rienzi, and last

year a full-scale performance ofTannhäuser. This year the companywill be performing Lohengrin.

The company has been able tocontinue because of the generosityof individual patrons, coupled withstringent financial control.

A major contribution to thecultural life of Victoria has been thecompany’s touring programme. Forthe past 14 years MelbourneOpera has performed extensivelythroughout outer suburban andregional locations, offering the fulloperatic experience, includingorchestra and chorus.

The company has nurtured alarge number of young artists whohave gone on to successful operaticcareers with the national companyand overseas. These artists includeAntoinette Halloran, Steven Smith,James Egglestone and ElenaXanthoudakis.

The company has a particularlystrong community involvementthrough its chorus, which is madeup of volunteers who have a loveof singing and theatre. Competi-tion is fierce for a place in thechorus.

The company has for the last six

years enjoyed a mutually beneficialrelationship with Monash University.The company provides educationalassistance to undergraduate andpostgraduate students, and stagesthree or four performances a yearat the university. This has built asubstantial new audience in theouter south-eastern suburbs. Inreturn the university provides somefinancial assistance and the financialexpertise of its CFO, Mr David Pitt,who is a member of the Board.

The administration of the com-pany is lean and highly efficient. It isable to channel 95 per cent ofrevenue from both box office anddonations directly back into pro-duction costs. Thisefficiency ratio isunlikely to bematched by anyopera companyelsewhere in theworld.~ Michael Wright

QC

Michael Wright, a member of theWagner Society and Melbourne Ring volunteer, was chairman ofMelbourne Opera up until 2016.

A SHORT HISTORY OFMELBOURNE OPERA ~~

Melbourne’s Ringproduction honouredOpera Australia are delighted toannounce that the Melbourne Ringcycle received multiple accolades atMelbourne’s Green Room Awardson 21 March. Opera Australiareceived an award in each of theopera categories and a special awardfor orchestral excellence was presen-ted to the Melbourne RingOrchestra. Many artists from theRing were honoured, including PietariInkinen, Neil Armfield, Lise Lind-strom and James Johnson.

Debus on WagnerCanadian Opera Company conduc-tor Johannes Debus is frank abouthis relationship with the music ofRichard Wagner.

“I always tried to avoid Wagner,”he says. “There is something in thismusic that is so sick. Something in itthat takes you over and doesn’t letyou go. It manipulates you. Ofcourse, there are those moments ofecstasy that are so powerful, sostrong. And yet, sometimes youdon’t want to get close to that,because it’s somehow dangerous.There's a reason why that music hasbeen used and abused in ourhistory—in German history.”

But Debus has been unable toavoid Wagner any longer. Over thepast three years, the CanadianOpera Company has presentedthree of the four operas of the Ringcycle, with Debus leading the orch-estra, and soprano Christine Goerke—the next great Brünnhilde—feat-ured on stage. Two years ago, it wasDie Walküre. Last year, Siegfried. And,in February this year, the last of thecycle, Götterdämmerung.

Jonas KaufmannTenor Jonas Kaufmann will sing hisfirst Tristan in a concert perfor-mance of Act 2 of Tristan and Isoldein Boston, in April 2018.

As we know, he is singing Parsifal

in concert performances at the Syd-ney Opera House on 9, 12, and 14August. Originally Kundry was to besung by Jacqueline Dark, but, formysterious reasons Ms Dark hasbeen replaced by Michelle DeYoung.Aware of Kaufmann’s common with-drawals due to medical conditions,we hope there are no further castchanges.

RICHARD DIVALL9.09.1945 - 15.01.2017

Professor Richard Divall AO OBE,music director of the Victoria StateOpera for over 30 years, conductedhundreds of concerts, recitals andoperas. Even battling cancer in 2015,he managed to lead MelbourneOpera’s acclaimed production ofDonizetti’s Mary Stuart. He will befondly remembered by WagnerSociety members as conductor ofour Lohengrin, directed by the lateAugust Everding in 1985.

He was the consummate classicalmusic man, a multi-talented maestrowho conducted more than 150operas and nurtured the careers ofAustralia’s finest classical singers

KURT MOLL11.04.1938 - 5.03.2017

Whispering WoodbirdRenowned German basso profundoKurt Moll has died at the age of 78.He was one of the most respectedWagner singers of his time.

Kurt Moll made his debut at theBayreuth Festival in 1968, as Nacht-wächter in Die Meistersinger vonNürnberg, and sang there for severalyears as Fafner in Der Ring des Nibel-ungen, Marke in Tristan und Isolde andPogner in Die Meistersinger. Gurna-manz was his signature Wagner role.

He retired from the stage in 2006,after singing the Nachtwächter at theBavarian State Opera in Munich.

~ Stan O’Loughlin

RICHARD WAGNERSOCIETY INC.

Registration No. A0004004PABN: 62057122885

OFFICE-BEARERSPresident: Trevor Clarke

0409 898 444president@wagnermelb.org.au

Secretary: Susan Cummingsecretary@wagnermelb.org.auThe Richard Wagner SocietyPO Box 7367Melbourne Vic. 3004

Treasurer: Tom O’Deatreasurer@wagnermelb.org.au

Committee: Miki BrotzierJanice CarpenterGavin CornishLesley HaleKate KimptonColin Pyman

WagnerNews Editor: Stan O’Loughlin

5156 2636solust2@bigpond.com

Newsletterlayout: Dawn VolzWebsite TomO’DeaManager: wagnermelb.org.au

R.I.P.