Wagner and Us – The Ring comes to Melbourne

Volume 9 Number 11 November 11 - December 9 2013

Albumen silver print of Richard Wagner, 1870, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Albumen silver print of Richard Wagner, 1870, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

 

Zoe Nikakis reports on the forthcoming Wagner and Us conference being organised by the Conservatorium of Music’s musicologists, with guest keynote by Wagner’s great granddaughter, Dagny Beidler. 

Thousands of Wagner enthusiasts will soon descend on Melbourne as Opera Australia stages a production of Richard Wagner’s masterwork, Der Ring Des Nibelungen.

Colloquially known simply as The Ring, the work is four operas spread over 16 hours, beginning with Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) then on to Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and finally the mammoth Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods). 

Staging The Ring is a mammoth undertaking for any opera company, and this Melbourne production promises to be no exception.

To celebrate this rare event and complement the performance, the University of Melbourne is hosting a conference in early December called Wagner and Us.

Written over a period of 16 years, from 1853 to 1869 The Ring and its progenitor caused major changes to opera and music more broadly, particularly with his use of the leitmotif – a short, recurring musical phrase, in association with particular situations or characters. Wagner’s music drama is a comprehensive art form: he joined poetry, music, costumes, scenery and drama in a presentation of myth.

The operas are based on German and Scandinavian folk tales as well as Norse sagas and 12th century German poetry. They tell the story of a magic ring with the power to rule the world (JRR Tolkien maintained his Lord of the Rings books were not based on Wagner’s operas, but rather they both drew on the same source material). The operas explore themes such as the relationship of humans to the natural world, power and the abuse of power, love and redemption.

Head of Musicology at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and symposium organiser Professor Kerry Murphy says the symposium, with its scholars drawn from around the world, demonstrates the Melbourne Conservatorium’s international leadership in musicology.

Professor Murphy says Wagner “explored characters’ emotions and inner workings, but that the deeper meaning of the drama is to be found in the music. The enduring appeal of The Ring lies in the multiple interpretations it evokes and its extraordinarily powerful music.”

 The symposium will include some of the top international names in Wagner scholarship. Speakers including Eva Rieger, one of Germany’s most distinguished musicologists, will examine Wagner´s subversion and affirmation of gender in his musical practice. Wagner’s great-granddaughter, Dagny Beidler will deliver a free public lecture in conjunction with Professor Rieger.

Keynote speaker Patrick Carnegy is the first person to be appointed dramaturg (literary and production adviser) at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, and his paper will consider why modern productions of Wagner’s operas are so unlike the ones he himself envisaged.

 The symposium will also include papers on other topics: Wagner and film, Wagner and politics, Buddhism and Wagner, Wagner and Shakespeare, Wagner in Australia, and even Wagner and heavy metal.

“We are very pleased to also have two round tables, one on Wagner and anti-Semitism chaired by University Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow Maxine McKew, and the other on Wagner production chaired by Michael Shmith, Senior Writer and Opera Critic for The Age,” Professor Murphy says. 

The round tables will be open to the public, free of charge.

There is also an exhibition drawn from items in the University’s collections curated by the MCM’s Dr Jennifer Hill which runs until 19 December. 

Called“Becoming Wagnerites: Richard Wagner and Australia”, the exhibition’s starting point is an original letter written by Wagner in 1877 when told of the first staged performances of Lohengrin in Australia. 

The exhibition includes memorabilia from performances of Wagner’s music in the concert hall and of the staged performances held here by visiting opera companies that culminated in the first complete Ring in 1913. Also featured are items relating to expatriate singers of Wagner’s music, Nellie Melba, Marjorie Lawrence and Florence Austral, and rare scores from the Music Library.

The Melbourne Richard Wagner Society is partnering with the University to present this symposium. Founded in Victoria by a small and dedicated group of enthusiasts in 1981, the society encourages the performance of Wagner’s music, provides a focus for lovers of his music, and opportunities to meet and talk with those of a like mind. The Society is a member of the International Wagner Society, the headquarters of which are in Bayreuth, Germany.

The Symposium gratefully acknowledges the support of the Faculty of the VCA and MCM Master Teachers Fund and the Robert Saltzer foundation.

 

 http://wagnerandus.com.au/