Richard Wagner:

"A scoundrel and a charmer. Perfidious in friendship, ungrateful in love, irresponsible in politics, utterly without principle in his professional life." (Virgil Thomson)

"A one-man artistic movement, a figure so massive that his influence was felt by all his contemporaries and nearly all his major successors." (Matthew Boyden)

I have never been an avid admirer of Richard Wagner and I doubt very much that I shall ever be converted totally to his music. In fact, the more I read about him, the more I come to dislike him as a person. Only one person mattered to him and that was himself. He was an ego-maniac, and inveterate gambler – mainly with other people's money, a consciousless womaniser who fathered any number of illegitimate children, selfish beyond belief and an out-and-out racist.

His virulent anti-semetism led him to write such ramblings as “jewish music is bereft of all expression characterized by coldness and indifference, triviality and nonsense [...] harmful influence of the Jewry on the morality of the Nation.” He seems to have singled out Meyerbeer in particular, who was immensely popular and who had extended every kindness to Wagner both musically and financially and one has to wonder why. The only conclusion that I can draw is jealousy as Meyerbeer during his lifetime was extremely popular and successful at a time when Wagner was not. In 1872, Theodore Puschmann, a Munich phsychiatrist concluded that Wagner suffered from "chronic megalomania, paranoia [...] and moral derangement." He was married three times, he tyrannized his second wife then stole another man's wife, presumably seeing in her a reflection of his own monumental self-adoration. He cared nothing for the welfare of his family who struggled in never-ending debt while he developed an obsession for silks and other luxuries. To quote Eduard Hanslick who was a lifetime enemy, "(he) exercised an incomprehensible magic in order to make friends and to retain them; friends who sacrificed themselves for him, and three times offended, came three times back to him."

While these character traits must seriously taint Wagner as a person, the other side of the coin is that he has dominated music and the development of opera as has no other composer. Although his early works were not successful, he did succeed with 'Rienzi' which incidentally was influenced by Meyerbeer and it secured for Wagner a prestigious post as conductor at the Dresden Opera thereby assisting his career in an onward and upward climb to success. His total mastery of the orchestra may well form the larger proportion of his achievements but he was completely absorbed in the smallest detail of his art including music, poetry and drama. Rather than dwell on his musical development, I hope that I will be forgiven if I move direct to Wagner's crowning glory which is 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' (The Ring of the Nibelungs), a four-opera cycle made up of 'Das Rheingold' (The Rhinegold); 'Die Walkure' (The Valkyrie); 'Siegfried'; and 'Gotterdammerung' (Twilight of the Gods).

In June 1837, the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik published an article that emphasized the suitability of German folklore and mythology for presentation on the operatic stage. Then in 1844, Friedrich Theodore Vischer suggested "the Nibelung legend as the basis for a libretto for a great heroic opera [...] the song of the Nibelung was made to be an opera."

Wagner had studied medieval literature as part of his preparation for writing 'Lohengrin' and the catalogue from his Dresden library shows the lengths he went to in his studies concerning the Nibelung legend, there being no fewer than twenty eight works on the subject in the collection, including Icelandic, Scandinavian, Norwegian and German mythological poems. However, when the ring cycle was conceived, Wagner was a struggling young musical director and the project was to be formed over a long period of time during which other works were also composed. In fact the work was written from the end backwards. Wagner first wrote the libretto for 'Siegfried's Tod (The death of Siegfried)' which was the first version of what became 'Gotterdammerung', over a period of a few years, then in 1851 he produced the story of the young 'Siegfried.' Five months later he wrote the first prose sketch for 'Das Rheingold' and this was followed by a sketch for 'Die Walkure.' This timespan is however rather misleading in that before beginning work on 'Siegfried's Tod' Wagner wrote out in prose his conception for the entire cycle. ('Der Nibelungen-Mythus –The Nibelung Myth). From 1848 it was almost 26 years later that he wrote under the final bars of 'Gotterdammerung' the words "I will say nothing more."

'Das Rheingold ' has dealt with the theft of the Rhinegold from the Rhinemaidens by Alberich, its forging of the magical ring which conveys mastery of the world to whoever possesses it, the theft of the ring by Wotan (the chief God) in order to pay for the building of Valhalla, the cursing of the ring by Alberich and the steps taken by Wotan to ensure the protection of Valhalla by way of him consulting with the Earth Goddess, Erda in a meeting here described by the irrepressible Anna Russell in her "Analysis of the Ring" as follows: "[...] and she (Erda) says to Wotan, "weiche Wotan, weiche" ... it means "be careful Wotan, be careful" (pause) ... she then bears him eight daughters!! These daughters are the Valkyries, headed by Brunnhilde, and they are the NOISIEST !!!"

Between the ending of “Das Rheingold” and the beginning of “Die Walkure” a number of years have elapsed during which Wotan has been wandering the Earth, again with reference to Anna Russell: "[...] and he has a couple of illegitimate children by a mortal – Siegmund and Sieglinde – while disguised under the singularly appropriate name of WOLF. These children become separated at birth and Sieglinde marries a funny sort of a man called HUNDING. He plays the Wagner-tuba! He also has an Ash tree with a sword stuck in it growing through his living-room floor!! Well one day, who should turn up but Siegmund and he falls madly in love with Sieglinde regardless of the fact that she's married to HUNDING, which is immoral, and she's his own sister, which is illegal! [...] and after having given HUNDING a 'Mickey Finn' so that they won't wake him up, they certainly do sing it! (WINTERSTURME) [...] well when they've got that off their chest, Siegmund pulls out the sword that's stuck in the tree that grows in the house that Jack ... er ... HUNDING built and they run away together."

Although Anna Rusell makes fun of Wagner, her description of the first Act of “Die Walkure” is quite accurate but of course very brief, missing out a few details. The actual love scene is actually of more than an hour's duration interrupted only by a conversation with Hunding and there are few composers able to express the emotional and physical effects as subtly and thrillingly as Wagner.

I do not propose to venture further into “Der Ring des Nibelungen” at this stage and by quoting Anna Russell, I hope that I have not given offence to the true-blue Wagnerites but I cannot think of a better tribute to Wagner than that of Miss Russell's. To hear her 'Analysis of the Ring' in its entirety, along with her piano descriptions of leitmotifs, characters etc, is quite simply an education. She obviously researched her subject at length and as she has said, as much material was left out as was included, to the point that she could have produced a further analysis of the same duration without having had to repeat herself. In that respect, we are so much the poorer because it did not happen.

Giovanni Martinelli (22.10.1885 – 2.2.1969). Born in Montegnana, Northern Italy, he studied in Milan where he made his debut in 1910 in Ernani. He was a true tenor with no trace of any baritonal quality, with a strong, clarion voice and ringing top notes although possessed of a somewhat erratic vibrato. He had a remarkable breath control and superb phrasing and his career lasted at the top level until 1945.
          Following his debut, he quickly established himself as a contender to the title of successor of Caruso. His career was mainly in North America with the New York Metropolitan becoming his operatic home although he was also a regular and popular performer at Covent Garden. For Martinelli, Verdi was King although he also sang Rossini, Puccini, Halevy, & Leoncavallo, with a total repertoire of more than 50 operas. He retired from the NY Met. In 1945 but was still singing in his eighties with a true tenor voice. He died in New York in 1969.

Giuseppe Borgatti (1871 – 1950). He was born in Cento, Ferrara, into an agricultural labouring family. He first worked as a bricklayer before entering into service with the Marquis Plattis where his vocal talents were quickly recognised. A recommendation from the Marquis allowed him to study under Al;essandro Busi in Bologna and he made his debut in 1892 as Faust (Gounod). For the next few years he learned his trade in theatres throughout Italy and the turning point came for him when in 1894, he was a huge success as Puccini's Des Grieux in Venice. Later the same year he sang Wagner's 'Lohengrin' in Milan before singing in Spain and St Petersburg. He was a huge success in the first performance of 'Andrea Chenier' and from then on his career was one success after another in a number of major opera houses. He was the foremost Italian heldentenor and he went on to sing all the major Wagnerian tenor roles. In 1907, his eyesight began to fail and in 1914 he was diagnosed with Glaucoma which led to total blindness over the next few years which forced him to retire from the operatic stage although he continued to sing in concert until the end of the 1920's.

Walter Widdop (19.4.1892 – 6.9.1949). He was a Yorkshireman from Norland, West Yorkshire, the son of a stonemason. Upon leaving school, he worked in the heavy woollen industry while singing as a chorister in his local church in Halifax and did not seriously pursue a professional singing career until first studying with Arthur Hinchcliffe in Halifax. He also studied for a short period with the baritone Dinh Gilly and made his operatic debut in 1923 as Radames, with the British National Opera in Leeds. The following year he made his debut as Siegfried at Covent Garden where he became a regular performer. He also had an impressive technique in Oratorio, where he was also in constant demand. His career took him to Europe (Spain and Germany) and he appeared in concert in North America. Widdop never forgot his home roots and he made it a habit to frequently appear in oratorio in the churches and chapels surrounding his home town. It could be said that his career ended with his death after singing Lohengrins farewell at a Promenade concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, the previous evening, while in his mid- 50's.

Alberto Remedios (b.22.2.1935, Liverpool, U.K.). He began his working life at a docker in his home town while studying singing with Edwin Francis. A fellow student was the soprano Rita Hunter who was to sing regularly with Remedios throughout their respective careers. His first operatic performances both on tour and in London, were with the Sadlers Wells Opera Company, singing such roles as Alfredo (La Traviata), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Faust (Gounod), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Grimes (Peter Grimes). While he became one of Britain's leading tenors, it was years before he was invited to sing at Covent Garden, to that company's shame and embarrassment. However, he has become known for his splendid singing in Wagner's Ring cycle, in partnership with Rita Hunter, and he sang in many of the world's foremost opera houses including the the New York Metropolitan, and through North America and also in Buenos Aires. He presently lives in retirement in Australia.

Franciso Viñas (1863 – 1933). Born in Moia, Barcelona, this Spanish tenor received his first musical instruction at an early age in his local parish church and followed this up with singing studies at the Liceu Conservatorium, Barcelona, with Gonzalo Tintorer. On the 9^th February 1888, he made his debut at the Liceu in 'Lohengrin' – the opera with which he was to be associated throughout his career. The following year, he appeared at La Scala Milan in the same opera and he went on to perform throughout Italy. In three years, he sang Lohengrin 120 times then in 1891, he made his first London appearance which led to a private appearance before the Royal Family. His career continued throughout Spain and Italy and he returned to London's Covent Garden in 1893, again as Lohengrin although in the meantime he had considerably extended his repertoire. He then toured the United States, taking in the New York Met., Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. His career continued at the highest levels in opera until 1916 and his final concert took place in Barcelona on the 3^rd March 1918, bringing to an end an artistic career of 3o years.

Jaques Urlus (1867 – 1935). Dutch tenor, born at Hergenrath, although his family moved to Tilburg when he was one year old. He first worked in the steel mills at Utrecht and also did military service and when he was 26 years old he married Hendrika Johanna Jacobs who was a serious music lover and between them, they saved and struggled for him to study formal voice training. He early career was centred on oratorio and numerous church recitals and he made his operatic debut as Beppe, in 'Pagliacci' in Amsterdam on the 1^st September 1894. His first two years at Amsterdam were spent in learning his trade and extending his roles which included Lohengrin and Tannhauser. He first sang in Germany in 1898 and his career continued to progress steadily thoughout German where he extended his repertoire which varied from Mozart, through Verdi to Wagner. He first appeared at Covent Garden in 1910 and in 1912 he first appeared in America to rave reviews. He first appeared at New York Met. In 1913, as Tristan and it was a disaster as he tried to sing through a heavy cold. A week later however, he triumphed as Siegfried as a result of which he commenced a long association with the Met., At the same time, he went from strength to strength throughout Europe while returning to sing in America. His stage career came to a close in June 1933 and he died on the 6^th July, 1935, while undergoing routine surgery.