Word: wielands
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...stirred hardly at all, and when they did, it was with the slow, deliberate movements of dream figures. The audience loved it, loudly bravoed Conductor Karl Böhm and Mezzo-Soprano Christa Ludwig. But the real star of the evening was not there: Richard Wagner's grandson Wieland...
Lohengrin was intended to be the vehicle for Wieland Wagner's long-awaited U.S. debut, but when he died three months ago at 49, his production was entrusted to his assistant, Peter Lehmann. Still, symbolically, Wieland was there. And fittingly so, for symbolism was his stock in trade. Lohengrin was garbed in heroic gold, Elsa in innocent white, Telramund in malevolent black, Ortrud in sinister green. In the background were painted stylized designs of a madonna, a dove and a swan. The swan, unfortunately, looked more like a Boeing 707, but, said Lehmann, "I wouldn't dare change...
...Died. Wieland Wagner, 49, grandson of Composer Richard and avantgarde opera designer; of sarcoidosis; in Munich. "I was born in a mausoleum," Wieland once said, referring to Bayreuth, where Grossvater Wagner had built his own shrine, and he lost not a moment in "clearing 80 years of Kitsch off the stage" when he was made co-director of the family-run Bayreuth Festival in 1951. He began by throwing out all the traditional trappings-animal skins, horned helmets, swan boats and ponderous sets-replacing them with simple robes and stark, dimly lit slabs designed to evoke modern psychological drama...
...opera buffs will have the chance to see Wieland's workmanship when he directs Lohengrin at the new Met in November 1966. Could be that he will bring a jet-propelled swan...
...Though Wieland is still considered an "irreverent traitor" by oldtimers, he is venerated by all who work for him. Says Contralto Lili Chookasian, who sang Erda in Rheingold: "I would do anything for him. Why, I even took a curtain call wearing that black leather costume that opened up to display two enormous leather breasts with threeinch nipples. And I didn't even blush...