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Anton Bruckner & Richard Wagner
March 20 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Conductor Jakob Lehmann presents an exploration of the fascinating relationship between Anton Bruckner and Richard Wagner – a connection that was characterized by one-sided admiration and disappointed hopes. The younger revered the elder, even if the latter did not always fulfill his few promises. For Bruckner, however, Wagner always remained the ‘master of all masters.’ Particular attention will be paid to the myth of Bruckner’s “Wagner symphony” and the facts behind it. Audio examples will show how performance traditions of both composers have changed over the years, from the first recorded performances to today’s interpretations.
“There is so much mythmaking going on in the 20th century, and especially once the Third Reich started to get their hands and their ideology on Bruckner. There is so much mythmaking that has nothing to do with historical precedent – and still today – that mythmaking is influencing the actual musical interpretations of these pieces. And what I think may not really be clear enough to us is that with many other composers, we have tried to make a clean slate: But in Wagner and Bruckner, that just hasn’t happened yet in the way that it maybe should have happened. And this is something that I’ve personally been very interested in exploring.”
About the speaker: Conductor Jakob Lehmann is the Artistic Director of the chamber orchestra Eroica Berlin, and Associate Artistic Director of New York based Bel canto festival Teatro Nuovo. The week after his appearance with the WSNY he will lead period instrument ensemble Juilliard415 in a performance of Beethoven’s Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 2, live at Alice Tully Hall, and streamed on Juilliard.live and WQXR on Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.
The event will be followed by a social hour with refreshments.
Source Material: Mr. Lehmann emphasized the importance of the book Bruckner in Bayreuth, a publication of the Anton Bruckner Institut Linz (2019, Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien – in German).
Livestream: the event will be livestreamed (viewable up to 36 hours after the start of the event). WSNY Members will receive livestream link automatically by e-mail; no need to pre-register.
Accessibility: The Opera America building has ground-level entry with elevators to the 7th floor. Wheelchair accessible; modular seating will be arranged to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. Handicap-accessible restrooms are available on the same floor. The venue is located on the west side of 7th Avenue between 28th-29th Streets, closer to 29th Street. Sidewalk curb cuts at the 29th Street corner are uneven; for easier access and tactile paving enter from the 28th Street corner (at the downtown #1 subway station).