So many aspects of the Wagner festival in Leipzig were gratifying that it is difficult to report on them all. The production level of all 13 performances was very high. The music-making by the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester was consistently brilliant. The city of Leipzig is very attractive and of heightened interest to music lovers – we had the opportunity to hear the Mass in B minor in one of...
Miscellaneous Notes: Ironically for a festival of all of Wagner’s works, no production in Leipzig featured a Wagner Curtain. Three types of front curtain were used: a traverse curtain (parting in the middle and pulled along a track to the sides of the stage, first revealing the center of the stage set), a drop curtain (pulled upward as a whole and first revealing the bottom of the stage set)...
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:34 The July 14, 2022 performance of Parsifal marked not only the end of the mammoth Oper Leipzig Wagner 22 Festival, during which every stage work written by Wagner was performed in chronological order of composition; it also marked the end of Ulf Shirmer’s tenure as General...
Several of the many profound pleasures of the Leipzig Ring were unique. One was the chance to experience the work in four consecutive nights, without pause. Another was the chance to experience the work in its chronological setting – that is, as it fits in the development of Wagner’s artistry: coming after Lohengrin, “during” Tristan and Meistersinger, and before Parsifal. Having taken a detour...
Oper Leipzig’s 2021 production of Die Meistersinger was staged by David Pountney, the famed British director of traditional and contemporary work (including the Ring in Chicago and the world premiere of Philip Glass’ The Voyage at the Met) whose career spans 40 years. It was a joyous evening, richly performed by a capable and insightful cast and played with virtuosic skill by the Leipzig...
The Wagner Blog is a forum for discussion of contemporary themes arising from the works of Richard Wagner. Discussions relating to Wagner’s musical, literary, theatrical, philosophical, political and theoretic work are all appropriate for this forum.
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