Wagner Dream
Wagner Dream is an opera by Jonathan Harvey, premiered in 2007, to a libretto by Jean-Claude Carrière, which intertwines events on the last day of the life of Richard Wagner with elements from a fragmentary opera sketch by Wagner himself, Die Sieger (The Victors).
Background
Die Sieger was drafted between 1856 and 1858, at a period when Wagner had become greatly interested in Buddhism. It is based on legends which Wagner discovered in Eugène Burnouf's 1844 Introduction to the History of Buddhism. Wagner planned a production of this work for 1870 in his programme for King Ludwig II of Bavaria but never progressed it – (however elements of the story persist in his opera Parsifal).[1]
Harvey described some of the processes he used in creating Wagner Dream. These include the use of a
Narrative structure and scoring
The story tells of the love of the outcast
Premiere and performance history
The opera was premiered at the
Roles
Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 28 April 2007, Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg (Conductor: Martyn Brabbins)[8] |
British premiere, 29 January 2012 (Conductor: Martyn Brabbins) |
British stage premiere, 6 June 2013 (Conductor: Nicholas Collon) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Vairochana | bass | Matthew Best | Simon Bailey | Richard Wiegold |
Prakriti | soprano | Claire Booth | Claire Booth | Claire Booth |
Old Brahmin | bass | Richard Angas | Richard Angas | Richard Angas |
Ananda | tenor | Gordon Gietz | Andrew Staples | Robin Tritschler |
Buddha | baritone | Dale Duesing | Roderick Williams | David Stout |
Prakriti's mother | mezzo-soprano | Rebecca de Pont Davies | Hilary Summers | Rebecca De Pont Davies |
Richard Wagner | spoken | Johan Leysen | Nicholas Le Prevost | Gerhard Brössner |
Cosima Wagner | spoken | Catherine ten Bruggencate | Ruth Lass | Karin Giegerich |
Carrie Pringle | spoken | Julia Innocenti | Ulrike Sophie Rindermann | |
Doctor Keppler | spoken | Richard Jackson | Chris Rogers | |
Betty | spoken | Sally Brooks | Jane Oakland | |
Chorus |
Notes
- ^ Prose Sketch for Die Sieger in Monsalvat – the Parsifal Pages, retrieved 28 January 2012
- ^ Harvey (2008), 38–39, 41
- ^ Andrew Clements, Wagner Dream, The Guardian, 3 May 2007 (retrieved 28 January 2012)
- ^ Faber Music News, (northern) Autumn 2007
- ^ Wagner Dream, BBC website (retrieved 28 January 2012)
- ^ Wagner Dream programme book, WNO Summer 2013.
- ^ "A note about language", in Wagner Dream programme book, p.52.
- ^ Allison, John. Report from Luxembourg. Opera, July 2007 (Vol 58 No 7), p828-829.
Sources
- "Acclaim for Harvey’s Wagner Dream", Faber Music News, Autumn 2007
- Harvey, Jonathan, (2008) "How do I compose? (Reflections on Wagner Dream)", in Circuit: musiques contemporaines, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 38–43.
External links
- Wagner Dream - trailer by De Nederlandse Opera (2009)
- Wagner Dream – podcast by Barbican Music, including extracts and interviews with conductor and cast. (2012)