NEWS FROM THE WAGNER SOCIETY

For more information, Thomas Arthur (press)

Aurelius Fernandez, 301.907.2600 (general)

WASHINGTON, D.C., DECEMBER 2005 ––– The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. presents

Professor Irwin Shainman

Wagner and Strauss Songs:

Women and Love

The illustrated lecture will be on Thursday, January 19, 2006, at 7:30 P.M. at the George Washington University, Funger Hall, 2201 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. It will be free and open to the public.

IRWIN SHAINMAN is a musician, conductor, and teacher. He is Professor Emeritus of Williams College, Massachusetts, where he taught for many years, with time off for engagements at universities and performing organizations. He has presided over the Williamstown Theater Foundation. He has been Conductor of the Berkshire Symphony, and has played trumpet in the Vermont and Albany Symphonies. Professor Shainman served in World War II and was decorated with the Purple Heart. Since the 1990s, he has lectured frequently in the “Performance Plus” series of the National Symphony Orchestra.

THE PRESENTATION. Using recording by famous singers, Professor Shainman will dissect and compare Wagner’s best-remembered songs, the Wesendonck-Lieder, with Richard Strauss’s well- remembered Four Last Songs. Compared to Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner composed few art songs. He wrote his five Wesendonck-Lieder to the ordinary poetry of a woman with whom he was deeply smitten, the wife of his Swiss patron and landlord, Otto Wesendonck. Mathilde Wesendonck and her husband provided a home for Wagner and his wife Minna during his political exile after his revolutionary activity in the 1848-49 Dresden uprising against his employer, the King of Saxony. While staying with the Wesendoncks, Wagner also composed his passionate and revolutionary music drama Tristan und Isolde. Two of the Wesendonck songs are studies for the composition of Tristan. Therefore, Wagner’s best-loved songs were written for the love of the wife of someone else, no particular surprise to those familiar with Wagner’s love life. Richard Strauss composed his Four Last Songs in very different circumstances. During his long career, Strauss wrote many well-remember songs for female voices. Among the most loved are his valedictory Four Last Songs, composed shortly before his death in 1949. They are usually thought to be a conscious farewell to a happy life and were dedicated to his wife of many years.

The Wagner Society of Washington, D.C. is a private, non-profit organization devoted to the study and enjoyment of Richard Wagner’s art. The Society welcomes new members and contributions at any time. Membership information is available at the Society’s website or by telephone.

THE WAGNER SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

P.O. Box 33051

Washington, D.C. 20033

Telephone 301.907.2600 ■ Facsimile 301.907.8671

www.wagner-dc.org