Tag Archives: Richard Wagner

My eyes are bigger than my stomach

Posted on August 9, 2014 by barczablog

I have reading to do. Do you ever go to a bookstore and get carried away with what you see? Of course with a bookstore there’s no time-limit. You can buy books that you read this week, or this year, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Richard Wagner: A Life in Music

Posted on June 14, 2014 by barczablog

I just finished Martin Geck’s Richard Wagner: A Life in Music in Stewart Spencer’s 2013 translation. Published only in 2012 as Richard Wagner: Biografie you can judge for yourself how good this book must be, that its translation was pushed … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

COC Peter Grimes

Posted on October 18, 2013 by barczablog

Tonight I saw the Canadian Opera Company production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.  I’m late getting to the party for a production that opened on October 5th, but I was out of town that weekend.  Regular readers of newspaper reviews … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

10 Questions for Stuart Graham

Posted on September 26, 2013 by barczablog

Stuart Graham is a teacher, a singer & founder of Atelier S.  The Saskatchewan born baritone received his formal education at the Faculty of Music of McGill University with  Bernard Turgeon.  Graham has been heard in recital, oratorio and in … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Opera | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Whose dream?

Posted on August 5, 2013 by barczablog

We’re in the summer of Wagner’s Bicentennial.  Frank Castorf’s new Ring cycle has opened at Bayreuth, which led to the inevitable boos from the audience. Inevitable?  Two of the greatest Bayreuth productions of the past few decades were booed at … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Wagner and the animals

Posted on May 23, 2013 by barczablog

Don’t mistake me for an apologist for  Richard Wagner.  I am merely seeking balance. It’s the birthday of Wagner: the composer, the dramaturg, the musician, the pamphleteer, the communist, the racist… Yes, all of those and more. Was he also perhaps … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Wagnerian Bicentennial

Posted on May 22, 2013 by barczablog

We’ve come to the first of the three important opera composer birthdays in 2013. May 22:  Richard Wagner’s bicentennial October 10:  Giuseppe Verdi’s bicentennial November 22: Benjamin Britten’s centennial You may prefer Britten’s operas. You may point to the box … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Berlioz, Wagner, love

Posted on February 11, 2013 by barczablog

January 16th I promised to explore connections between Berlioz’s Les Troyens (an opera I’d been obsessing over) to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, currently sharing the Canadian Opera Company stage with Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito.  When music stays inside your … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Wagner and Adaptation: Linda’s Legacy

Posted on February 2, 2013 by barczablog

I use surnames in this blog.  Everyone calls him “Topher”, but when I wrote about him it was “Mokrzewski”.  Some aspects of the naming convention are absurdly obvious.  We call RW and RS “Wagner” and “Strauss not “Richard” and “Richard”, … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays, University life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Seven Liebestod questions for Christopher Mokrzewski

Posted on January 29, 2013 by barczablog

On Saturday February 2nd as part of the Opera Exchange colloquium on Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, with a nod to the composer’s bicentennial, pianist Christopher Mokrzewski will be playing Franz Liszt’s transcription of the liebestod for piano solo. Mokrzewski … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments