What to Hansel and Gretel have to do with Siegmund and Sieglinde?

What do Hansel and Gretel have to do with Siegmund and Sieglinde? 

Saturday, October 19, at 1:00 p.m. at the JCC-SF in San Francisco.

Our guest is WSNC member Brad Wade, speaking on Hansel and Gretel, by Wagner disciple and one-hit wonder Engelbert Humperdinck. The opera is, of course based on the Grimm brothers’ fairy tale, but Humperdinck cleaned it up somewhat for the stage. Brad will tell us about Humperdinck’s association with Wagner, and his part in the Bayreuth premiere of Parsifal; refresh our memories about the fairy tale; and present a guided tour of the opera with musical examples. Look for a Wagnerian range of colors and textures applied to music of melodic and rhythmic appeal, but without Wagnerian philosophical undertones. 

Our speaker Dr. Bradford Wade, has been a member of the Wagner Society since 2012 and his love of Wagner goes back to his second performance of Die Walküre, in 1976, with Jon Vickers and Janis Martin as Siegmund and Sieglinde.  What was significant about that second performance was that, this time, Wade had learned how to do his homework before attending the opera. Very gradually, over many years, Wade has recruited a group of Opera San Jose patrons who come to his home for illustrated preview lectures for upcoming Opera San Jose productions. Recognizing that both Opera San Jose and San Francisco Opera are presenting Hansel and Gretel this fall, and that Engelbert Humperdinck was closely associated with Richard Wagner, we’ve invited Wade to share his Opera San Jose lecture with the Society. Brad Wade holds a B.A. in mathematics from Pomona College and a Ph.D. in computer science from Purdue University, and worked for IBM Research for 40 years. Now retired, Wade counts “opera lecturer” as his second career.

JCC-SF  3200 California Street – San Francisco, CA    This program is free to members and a suggested $10 donation for non-members.