Wagner Speaks

This one-day workshop brings together scholars and performers to consider questions of  language, translation, and declamation in Wagner’s works. The heritage of Redekunst and Deklamation mit Musik have long informed performance traditions in modern opera houses, notably in spoken genres from Singspiel to melodrama. However, the applicability of this knowledge to performance practise within Wagner’s stage works remains under-theorised amid the influence of the recording industry and its commercial preference for bel canto. Moreover, a habitual separation of professional performers and directors from scholars and historians has meant few attempts have been made to explore this intersection of historical knowledge and practical stagecraft.

 

The proposed workshop aims at deepening our understanding of precisely this intersection, and exploring to what extent it can be put into action in performance today. It brings together musicologists, historians of theatre, theorists of language, singers and stage directors, all linked by strong interest in German theatre, and Wagner’s works in particular.