Re: thought for the week of August 29, 1999

I guess Wagner is still *the* most popular non-Italian opera composer today. In his days, his music was never considered to be conservative. Now, he is one of the most controversial composers, since he was Kaiser William's and Hitler's choice. Anyway, there are scores of books on how he should be understood and what's so Germanic about him. I never sat through one of the Ring productions, but it is comming up next year at the Berlin Staatsoper and I am looking forward to it allthough I don't like Wagner that much.

Yet, it is essential that contemporary artist can interprete a piece of art. Even an existing copyright should not be an obstacle to creative interpretation of works. Copyright should enable artists and others to make a buck, yet, they should not be able to control the creative reaction on their work during the copyright period (see Nabokov's Lolita v. Loo's Diary; this suit is somehow ridiculous).

Bayreuth is still in the hands of the Wagner family and now they're are fighting since it is not clear who will be director after grandson Wieland Wagner, who's in his late seventies now and "authentic" Wagnerianer. The successor will be another member of the Wagner family. I think it will be one of Wieland's nieces, Cosima (they all have awefull first names). She's more progressive than her uncle. Bayreuth is one of Germany's big whig events during the summer. It's impossible to get tickets so people would kill in order get them.

Luckily, the Wagner family and Bayreuth don't have a monopoly on Wagner. Hey, I don't know why people think opera should still be performed in the same way like the one in the last century. Why should the Walkure be a blond, six feet tall, stout lady?

Jurgen

Jurgen Kesper
<juergenkesper[_at_]01019freenet.de> Received on Wed Sep 01 1999 - 15:54:53 GMT