Potential Translations of the Ring: Brief Upload For Feedback.

 Potential Translations of the Ring:Version 1: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)Dramatis PersonaeSiegmund (a mortal, son of Wotan by a mortal woman)Sieglinde (Siegmund’s twin sister)Hunding (Sieglinde’s husband)Wotan (chief of the gods)Fricka (Wotan’s...

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Bayreuth Festival Restructures Sesquicentennial Season Amid Financial Strains

In a decision that underscores the economic realities of our time, the Bayreuth Festival has announced significant adjustments to its 150th anniversary season in 2026, necessitated by financial constraints. The festival, a cornerstone of the Wagnerian...

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Wagner Was A Socialble Chap: Now On Bluesky

Sadly, Twitter is not the place it was for those interested in the arts a few years ago - never mind 15 or so. So, we are more active on our Facebook page and on Bluesky Social. Sadly. While it is still in beta, it remains invitation-only (although it...

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Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90 (Arr. for Violin & Piano by Fazil Say) : Liebestod

From the new album: "Liebestod - Works for Violin and Piano" from Friedemann Eichhorn & Fazıl SayTurkish pianist and composer Fazil Say is joined by his long-standing friend, the violinist Friedemann Eichhorn, in an album of mid-19th-century German...

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From Wascally Wabbit to Wagner

From 2016, but still, who can't resist an excuse for Bugs and Elmer perform Wagner:Many of the people involved in the Washington National Opera's production of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle say their first exposure to opera came from the same source--Bugs...

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A Concerned Author Suggests What Form The New, 1914, Covent Garden Ring Cycle Might Take

Those who critique the arts are ever-abounding in opinions. And the question of what constitutes a “superior” rendition of the Ring Cycle has long been a source of contention. As proof, presented here is a page from “The Illustrated London News" of the...

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Review: "The Cambridge Companion to Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen

This is a review that has been long in the making, as long as Wagner spent on the Ring Cycle - or so it has seemed to me. It started and changed many times in the most stiff and formal way. An early draft begins something like this:"The Cambridge Companion...

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Reviews Of Solti's Recording of the Ring Cycle by: AI, Fredrick Nietzsche and Hanslick.

It is nearly impossible to peruse a newspaper these days without encountering someone expressing fear regarding the rise of AI. Much of this apprehension, a concept that science fiction has been exploring since Issac Asimov's works in 1939, seems to...

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Parsifal Study Day 13 May 2023 Manchester

 Should you be in Manchester, well worth attendingWagner Society ManchesterPARSIFAL STUDY DAY13 May 20239.30am until 16.30Anthony Burgess Centre, Manchester, M1 5BY.The Societ's president,Derek Blyth, will guide us throughthis complex work.Cost...

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New Edition Of The Wagner Journal Published

The March 2023 issue (vol.17, no.1) of The Wagner Journal has been published and contains the following feature articles:• Wolfgang Mende on Wagner’s compositional process as revealed in his sketches• Genevieve Robyn Arkle on Wagner’s use of the turn•...

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Wagner & Desire

All things partake in the Oneness of Reality and therefore all things are interconnected. The sacred threads that weave through the various art forms reveal this truth. The interconnectivity of the ancient art forms is best depicted in the paintings...

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Watch Now Complete: RHINEGOLD Wagner – Birmingham Opera Company

Birmingham Opera Company, known for staging opera in empty warehouses and disused factories, here performs RhineGold in the relatively conventional surroundings of Birmingham Symphony Hall. The production is from August 2021 with the pandemic still dictating...

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Watch Now: PARSIFAL: Hungarian State Opera

Streamed LIVE on OperaVision on 15 April 2022 at 19:00 CET and available until 15 October 2022: CAST Amfortas: Michele Kalmandy Titurel: István Rácz Gurnemanz: András Palerdi Parsifal: István Kovácsházi Klingsor: Károly...

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March Issue Of The Wagner Journal Available Now

And a rather good one it is. Highly recommended - perhaps essential. It is worth buying for Justin Mueller's item on Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s classic 1982 film Parsifal - alone. Also includes:Derek Hughes challenges the theory of a conspiracy of silence...

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Watch Now: The Complete Herheim' Directed Ring From Deutsche Oper Berlin

ARD 1 Has made the entire 2021 Deutsche Oper Berlin Ring Cycle available online, free. This will be until 13, July 2022. Act one of Walkure below as a taster. To watch the entire work, follow this link. For full cast and production details follow...

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Watch Now: Die Walkure. Longborough Festival Opera 2021

Only available until 26, February 2022. Watch it, while you canFollowing Longborough Festival Opera’s critically acclaimed Das Rheingold, Wagner’s epic tale of Der Ring des Nibelungen continues with Die Walküre, conducted by Longborough’s Music Director...

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Tristan und Isolde: 11, 000 Years Old And Counting

The Ain Sakhri LoversIt takes little for us to shoehorn another story to become one involving Wagner's work. It's also not that difficult, given how much Wagner used mythic archetypes in his work. But as we emerge from lockdown, hopefully, (as to is...

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3 Months Of Online Wagner Events With The Wagner Society: April to July 2021

In these very strange times, various organisations have turned to the internet to continue their work. No less so, than the Wagner Society Of London. While it remains impossible to meet up, they have lead the way here, with a constant stream of online,...

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You Have Four Days To Watch Göteborgsoperan's Siegfried Premier, Free Online

We have been lucky enough to catch Daniel Brenna's wonderful Siegfried, live, a few years ago and cannot recommend anything he appears in enough - and this production has much else to recommend it. Provided free by GöteborgsoperanThe film was shot at...

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Post Lockdown, ENO To Begin New Ring Cycle

We, shall be looking at this closely, especially if it is as good as ENO seems to thinkDirected by Richard Jones and conducted by Martyn Brabbins, The Valkyrie will form the first part of a complete Ring Cycle over the next five years.English National...

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Watch Now, Full Documentary: Pierre Boulez - Emotion and Analysis

Pierre Boulez and the Berliner Philharmoniker rehearsing and performing Béla Bartók's Concerto for OrchestraThe conductor Pierre Boulez (1925 - 2016) best described his relationship with the music of composer Béla Bartók (1981-1945) as a “sympathy between...

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Watch Now, Full Documentary: The Colón Ring: Wagner in Buenos Aires

It was an ambitious project: staging Richard Wagner's powerful music drama, the Ring Cycle, in a single day. To honor Richard Wagner's 200th birthday in 2012, Latin America's famous opera house, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, hosted this one-of-a-kind...

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Bayreuth To Get, At Last, Its First Female Conductor.

A new production of the The Flying Dutchman, to premiere during the 2021 season, will be directed Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv. The 42-year-old conductor will be the first woman to take the podium...

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Bayreuth 2021 To Go Ahead And How To Get Tickets

At least we hope it will. Will include sections outdoors this year. You will have a very short window to buy, we suspect very limited tickets, online on June 6th.In addition to the new production of “Der fliegende Holländer” (7 performances), there will...

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Opera Meets Film: Yuki Mishima’s ‘Patriotism’ & Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde

We really can recommend all of this series from David Salazar. We have included the full short film below.Yukio Mishima’s “Patriotism” is arguably one of the finest cinematic adaptations of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.”The 28-minute short silent...

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Opera Meets Film: How ‘Promising Young Woman’ & ‘Tristan und Isolde’

We enjoyed this. Suggested.Opera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a film section or a film in its entirety and highlight the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections...

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Is Richard Wagner the Most Controversial and Influential Composer Ever?

 We didn't choose the title, indeed edited it. Ignore some of the inanities of the introduction then read Alex Ross attempt to bring some clarity to the usual tropes. The interviewer warms up well as it continues, also. We talked to New Yorker...

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The Meaning Of The Ring?

There are, as many interpretations of the Ring as there are CDs. Tom Service thinks that at least he knows what it's not about - maybe: It’s a question that has taxed musicians, philosophers, politicians and audiences ever since its sensational...

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Rolling Stone Magazine Includes Wagner Book In Its "Best Music Books Of 2020"

It's not that often Rolling Stone Magazine features Richard Wagner, but I think we can never recall it featuring a book about Wagner in its "Music Books Of The Year" round-up. However, this year sees Alex Ross' "Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow...

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Richard and the revolutionaries: why did lefties love Wagner? Alex Ross

In 1883, the year of Richard Wagner’s death, the theatre critic William Archer noticed a red-haired, bearded youth who was sitting day after day in the British Library with two volumes open on his desk: the French edition of Das Kapital, which Karl Marx...

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Listen now: Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen – Explorations

We recommended this audio exploration of the Ring on release in 2013 - and we still do, although it's still not always easy to get outside of Australia. We noted then: "Recorded for the Decca label by Australian Wagner scholar, author and lecturer...

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