Friday, April 09, 2010

Wagner: The Big Question

The latest on the Wagner saga at Bayreuth...here's my piece for The Big Question in The Independent today. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-big-question-why-is-wagners-legacy-proving-so-bitter-both-to-music-and-to-his-family-1939675.html

2 comments:

Lisa Hirsch said...

"Wagner founded the festival in 1876; on his death his son Siegfried succeeded him, along with Siegfried's English-born wife, Winifred."

Wondering if your editor introduce a few errors into that sentence. Siegfried was 14 when Richard died, and it was Cosima who dominated the festival for a couple of decades. Siegfried's involvement in Bayreuth seems to have started in the 1890s. He didn't marry Winifred until 1915. She was then 17, so I'm willing to bet she wasn't that involved with the festival until the 1920s.

Jessica said...

Thanks, Lisa...it was all a little condensed, to say the least. Not fair to blame the editor, though - I'm sure any errors are entirely my fault.