For More
Information:
Thomas Arthur
(press)
Aurelius Fernandez at 301.907.2600 (general)
WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER 20, 2007 ——
The Wagner Society of Washington will present a free lecture by its own member
on Thursday, November 15 at 7:30 pm at the George Washington University, Funger
Hall, 2201 G Street, N.W.
Jessica K. Quillin
Wagner, Shelley, and the Musico-Poetics of the Lyric Drama
The
Program. In her lecture Dr. Quillin will focus on
Wagner’s musical and literary inheritance from the British Romantic poets,
particularly Percy Bysshe Shelley.
She will explain philosophical, narrative, and structural connections
that have been identified between the poetry and aesthetics of the British
Romantics and Richard Wagner’s ideas on music, drama, and poetry that lead to
his conception of the universal work of art that he called
Gesamtkunstwerk. She will
show that George Bernard Shaw’s comparison between Wagner’s Ring and
Shelley’s four-part lyric drama Prometheus Unbound is fitting due to
numerous similarities between the
two works, notably the overthrow of the previous godly orders of Jupiter in
Prometheus Unbound and of Wotan in The Ring. Also, she will show how Shelley attempts
to achieve through words and poetry a harmonization of words, music and art
similar to that which Wagner aspired to in The
Ring.
The Presenter.
Jessica K. Quillin received her Ph.D. in 2005 from Cambridge University
where her research focused on the influence of music on the life and work of
Shelley. She is currently at the
American Institutes for Research, Washington, and does freelance work for
various international opera organizations.
She is the former Communications Manager of the Washington National Opera
where she was editor of all print and electronic publications. She is currently at work on a novel.
The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C.
is a private, non-profit organization for the study and enjoyment of Wagner’s
art. Many programs are free to the
public. Membership information and
forms are obtainable at www.wagner-dc.org or by calling the
Society.
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The Wagner
Society of Washington, D.C.
· P.O. Box 58213 · Washington, D. C.
20037
Telephone
301.907.2600 · Facsimile
301.907.8671
www.wagner-dc.org