Only at a Seattle Ring

It's coming round again - The Seattle Ring - the 'green' Ring that looks to the gorgeous natural setting of this Pacific Northwest City for its inspiration, will be back in August 2009. There's a major cast change - Janice Baird replaces Jane Eaglen as Brunnhilde but the sensitive, intelligent and beautiful production by Stephen Wadsworth will be unchanged. On its last outing, Wadsworth had given the end of Gotterdammerung (sorry can't find umlaut key) a rethink and had come up with what is, for me, one of the most moving and visually stunning Ring finales ever. Last time I attended this Ring, I had the good fortune to find a houseboat on Lake Union (through good old Craigslist). What better way to spend a hot August week than listening to Wagner's music, lectures by Seattle's education guy, Perry Lorenzo and a cast of guest speakers from across the globe, then return to the house on the water and go for a swim.

Seattle is unembarrassed in its celebration of Wagner during Ring Week. I'm pasting a shaky (sorry) video clip of the fountain behind the opera, here as an example.
I can't imagine this ever happening in Germany!

"Wagner without Fear" - my favourite guide to Wagner

This is not a new book. I was surprised to see that the first edition goes back to 1998 but William Berger's "Wagner without Fear" is one of the most enjoyable, informative, loving and entertaining books on this very trying genius that I have ever read. I picked it up at Seattle Opera last summer. I was in town preparing a feature for BBC Music Mag (US edition) on Seattle's ongoing, rather astonishing passion for Richard Wagner. I'd taken in a Ben Heppner recital, the International Wagner Voices Competition and a knock-out Aida with my best-ever Amneris, Stephanie Blythe. For the sake of my bank balance, I try to stay away from the shop at Seattle Opera. Their Ring-related stock is tasteful, often beautiful, sometimes amusing. There's a little corner for second-hand books on opera that often throws up a treasure I can't afford. And anyone passing through should treat themselves to Seattle education director Perry Lorenzo's insightful and entertaining CD guide to the Ring.

But this summer, I wandered in - I always do, and there was William Berger's 442 page guide to Wagner. I'd intended to save it for the bus journey back up to Vancouver. It looked like a dip-in kind of a book. I read it in one go. Berger welcomes us to the art of Richard Wagner and takes us on through his 'strange life and career', all the operas, guides to 'Wagner Issues' (anti-Semitism, nationalism among others) Wagner on CD, Wagner on Film, Wagner Soundtracks and rounds it all up with "Making the Hadj" - a pithy guide to a trip to Bayreuth.


If this all sounds like standard fare for a Wagner guide, Berger's combination of vast and deep knowledge with a sense of humour and an awareness of how uncomfortable and absurd Wagnerian ecstasy can be, make this the one book to buy for any of your friends who are contemplating a plunge into the Wagnerian ocean. Not only does he explain the plots and tell the reader what to listen for musically, he also provides sections such as: "Basics: When to Eat, Drink And Visit the Restroom", "Lobby Talk" (In Walkure this is "a note about horses and music") and, my favourite, the refreshingly honest: " Rough Spots and How to Get Through Them."