Shakespeare drew inspiration from the ‘dark lady of the sonnets’ and Beethoven found solace in his mysterious ‘immortal beloved’, but Richard Wagner was often inspired by relationships closer to home. Fleeting romantic encounters and domestic celebrations stimulated a private, intimate style of art rarely associated with a composer best known for his lofty theatrical visions […]
Archive | Essays & Reviews
Wagner’s Lohengrin – the facts
Towards the end of 1848, the premiere of Lohengrin at the Royal Saxon Court Theatre was abruptly cancelled, mainly, it seems, because of hostility towards its composer, the thirty-five-year-old Richard Wagner. Dresden audiences had been exposed to some of the music of Lohengrin in a Kӧnigliche Kapelle concert in September that year, when part of […]
A Wonderful Experience: Parsifal in an Unusual Place
Colin Mackerras reviews a Parsifal performance in China.
The first Australian singer at the Bayreuth Festival
Read the fascinating story of Norma Gadsden.