The Wagner Society of Washington DC is proud to publish Chairman Jim Holman's latest book, Quo Vadis, Wagner? Approaching the Bicentennial. A collection of essays by distinguished Wagner analysts, the book examines the question of Wagner's place in the 21st century from a number of different perspectives. Contributor's include Leon Botstein, Barry Millington, Thomas Grey, Saul Lilienstein and a dozen others. The book is a significant contribution to Wagner studies as we approach the bicentennial of the composer's birth.

Click here to look at the table of contents and introduction.

The book is available through WSWDC, Amazon, etc --- details. $19.95 list... stay tuned for details.

Our 12th Annual Weekend Retreat (a member-only event)

Rooms in the closer lodges will be assigned to members at patron level and above. All participants will be housed on the property. Register NOW!

DEADLINE TO APPLY: MARCH 1, 2012

Background: Having studied all ten of Richard Wagner’s mature operas, we returned to Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2011. In 2012 we will undertake an in-depth study of Die Walkure. The program features lecture and discussion sessions, informal conversations between sessions and at meals with lecturers and members, and a DVD showing.

The two presenters, our "dream team" veterans, are:
• Pianist Jeffrey Swann offers his prized lecture-demonstrations at the piano. Known from previous Wildnis weekends, his concert performances for the Wagner Society of Washington, DC, his talk for the Smithsonian Institution Tristan und Isolde seminar in 2004, and his lectures at Bayreuth.
• Professor Simon Williams, Chairman, Drama Department, University of California at Santa Barbara, presents his insightful lectures on Wagner and drama. His latest books: Wagner and the Romantic Hero, now in paperback, and A History of German Theatre.

This is our first time at Graves Mountain Lodge, which is this side of Charlottesville and a 2-3½ hour drive from DC, depending on Route 66 traffic. We liked the food and found the place charming. There is no TV and poor cell phone service. Car pools can be arranged. See www.gravesmountain.com for a virtual tour.

Registration Fee to be paid in full by March 1: $420 per person (single room); $375 per person (double room) reflects higher food costs and a living wage for Jeffrey and Simon. Fee is “at cost” and includes all lectures, two nights’ lodging, breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning coffee, afternoon tea, a welcome cocktail, and two after-hours parties. Register below now!

A little Wagner music for your stocking? No politics—no Freudian analysis—no arcane discussions of wives, sweethearts, petty hatreds, financial dealings, egocentricities—vegetarianism or choices in satin underwear distracts from the essential core that keeps us going back to Wagner’s Music Dramas: the greatness within the music, the majesty of his artistic conceptions.

Long awaited recording of Saul Lilienstein’s all-day seminar at the Goethe Institut on March 19, 2011.

$40 for the set of four CDs
(includes shipping and handling)

Order right now for Delivery by December 18, 2011
AVAILABLE ONLY THROUGH WSWDC

Submit your order below through paypal. Alternatively, send a check to: WSWDC—P.O. Box 58213—Washington DC 20037

A partnership of the Goethe Institut and the Wagner Society of Washington DC

Die Meistersinger belongs with Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, all written contemporaneously, as one of the finest ‘novels’ of the 19th Century – only Wagner’s magnum opus is a many-layered musical novel; rich in characterization, comedy, drama, autobiography, German history, varied aspects of love and passion, and philosophic concepts of art, all created in beautiful sound and poetry. Every aspect of that music/dramatic masterpiece will be examined: from musical architecture and its relationship to the stage, to orchestration, leit-motifs, development of character and more. Even one full day is too short a time to discover all that Wagner lays out before us; so clearly and yet so amply filled with the details of his subtle art.

Many of us were in attendance at the Goethe Institut for Saul Lilienstein’s comprehensive view of Wagner’s musical development (Re-discovering Richard Wagner Through His Music) in March of 2011 – soon to be made available in a boxed set of CDs. This year Lilienstein returns to the Institut with a carefully focused study of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg - for many opera lovers, the greatest work in the repertoire.

Tickets are $75 for members of the Wagner Society of Washington DC and members of the Goethe Institut and $100 for non-members. You can register online using the payment buttom below. You can also register by clicking here to download a registration form to mail in. Or you can call 703-370-1923 to register and pay at the door.

Here is a glance at upcoming events of interest to our members during the 2011-2012 season:

March 24: Die Meistersinger Seminar with Saul Lilienstein.

Sunday, May 20, 2012: the All Wagner Program with The Washington Chorus, under the direction of Julian Wachner, with soloists provided by the Thomas Stewart and Evelyn Lear Emerging Singers Program.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012: Gala and Banquet marking the opening of the 200th anniversary year of Wagner's birth.

June 8-10, Wagner in der Wildnis, this year with a concentration on Die Walkure. Lecturers Pianist Jeffrey Swann and Prof. Simon Williams. Graves Mountain Lodge, Virginia.

April and May, 2012: The Metropolitan Opera Ring, in three cycles.

July and August, 2012: The Seattle Opera Ring, in three cycles.

August 2012, Bayreuth Festival, a limited number of tickets are available to Society members.

The Wagner Connection is an online forum hosted by the Wagner Society of Washington DC created to promote discussion, among Wagnerites and other opera lovers, of Wagner's art, life, and influence. Its goal is to facilitate dialogue between members and friends of WSWDC and give them a more active presence online as a community. Want to discuss the best and worse Wagner biographies with other enthusiastic fellow Wagnerites? Have any Wagner collectibles which you would like to sell or exchange? Looking for tickets to buy or sell tickets for a sold out performance? Want to discuss a particular leitmotif with others? You can do this and much more at the Wagner Connection!

The Wagner Connection is open to the public and all you need to get started is a valid e-mail address. There are two easy ways to register and begin using it:

1) Go directly to the Wagner connection by going to connection.wagner-dc.org. If this is your first time, create an account by clicking on "Register" and following the instructions. To log into your account after creating it, you can do so by following the "Login" link.

2) Log on to www.wagner-dc.org. Under the "Resources" top menu, you can find a link to the Wagner connection.

Have questions or comments? There is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to help with most problems which you can find by clicking on the "FAQ" link. You can also contact connection@wagner-dc.org for questions not addressed there.

"The overcoming of all unusual barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the great mystic achievement." --- William James