“Lohengrin: The Challenge of Production” with Simon Williams

Lohengrin in the 21st Century

Lohengrin is, arguably, the Wagnerian music drama that is most closely tied to the time in which it was composed. In dramatic form, staging, and in much of the music, Lohengrin appealed directly to mid-19 th -century audience tastes; thematically it also engaged with nationalist and Romantic issues. Until well into the 20 th century, it was the most frequently produced of Wagner’s works. Now, it is less frequently performed. This talk will identify both those features
of Lohengrin that appealed to Wagner’s contemporaries and those that indicated his advance into fully fledged music drama. It will then suggest through slides and video how modern performers have interpreted Lohengrin from the perspective of the 21st century.

Simon Williams was a Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance for thirty years. He has taught at universities on four continents, including the University of Regina, of Alberta, Cornell University and, since 1984, UCSB. He has published widely in the fields of European continental theatre, the history of acting, Shakespearean performance, and operatic history. His major publications include German Actors of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Greenwood, 1985), Shakespeare on the German Stage, 1586-1914 (Cambridge, 1990), Richard Wagner and Festival Theatre (Greenwood, 1994), and Richard Wagner and the Romantic Hero (Cambridge, 2004). He has contributed numerous articles in his fields of specialty in edited volumes and leading periodicals. He is also an active director and reviewer of opera. His current projects include co-editing A History of the German Theatre for Cambridge University Press and studies of Shakespeare in the eighteenth century and European opera in the nineteenth.

This event is free for WSNC members and we request a $10.00 fee for any non-members.