Arts & Culture

Wolfgang Wagner , grandson of composer Richard Wagner, died March 21 2010 aged 90.  For over 40 years he was the sole director of the Bayreuth Festival, Germany's premier opera festival. Focussing on the operatic works ofhis grandfather Wolfgang successfully managed the re-branding of Wagnerian opera, the Wagner family and Bayreuth after the close ties they had had with Nazi Germany.  He was less successful with personal relationships and alienated himself from much of his family.

Wolfgang Wagner wrote an autobiography , other family members have also written about their own experiences and there have been several books written about the family as a whole.

Much has been written about the controversy surrounding the personal association of the Wagner family with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi appropriation of Richard Wagner's music. As well, Richard Wagner's own anti-Semitic writings have caused some questioning about the intrinsic nature of his operas.

In 1976, the centenary year of theDer Ring des Nibelungen, Wolfgang engaged Patrice Chereau to direct the 100th anniversary Ring Cycle in what became an important avant garde production.

Between 2004-2006 the Canadian Opera Company (COC)  commissioned and produced the first ever complete Canadian production of Wagner's epic Ring Cycle. Canadian designer Michael Levine was responsible for the overall design and he also directed Das Rheingold. In September 2006 to celebrate the opening of the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts the COC mounted the first complete Ring Cycle to be done in Canada. 

The Performing Arts Department of the Toronto Reference Library has original costume designs by Michael Levine from this production (as well as an extensive collection of other original Canadian stage designs). Above you will see one of the many original Levine costume designs the Library owns – here we see the character Alberich from Das Rheingold.

In the next blog posting there will be more information of the many interesting productions for which the Library has Records, CDs and also DVDs available for use either at the Toronto Reference Library or to be  borrowed at your local branch library.