''Wagner Dream'' is an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

by Jonathan Harvey, premiered in 2007, to a libretto by

Jean-Claude Carrière Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorar ...

, which intertwines events on the last day of the life of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

with elements from a fragmentary opera sketch by Wagner himself, '' Die Sieger'' (''The Victors'').

Background

''Die Sieger'' was drafted between 1856 and 1858, at a period when Wagner had become greatly interested in

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. It is based on legends which Wagner discovered in Eugène Burnouf's 1844 ''Introduction to the History of Buddhism''. Wagner planned a production of this work for 1870 in his programme for King

Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886), also called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King (), was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke ...

but never progressed it – (however elements of the story persist in his opera '' Parsifal''). Harvey described some of the processes he used in creating ''Wagner Dream''. These include the use of a

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

and a sampled

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

playing deep notes at the opera's commencement, representing boat sirens on the Grand Canal. The composer also visited

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (), is a communes of France, commune in the departments of France, department in the regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It was the site of the f ...

to sample a

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

clap, used to preface an argument between Wagner and his wife.

Narrative structure and scoring

The story tells of the love of the outcast chandala Prakriti for the monk Ananda. Although both are ostracized by the other monks,

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

permits their chaste union and allows Prakriti to join the monastic community. ''Wagner Dream'' intersperses the Prakriti/Ananda story with the events surrounding Wagner's death in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. As Wagner dies from a heart attack, he recalls the opera he never completed. Whilst the "Indian" roles are all sung, the members of the Wagner household, including his wife Cosima and the

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Carrie Pringle (with whom it has been alleged that Wagner had his last love affair) are spoken roles. The score uses

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

as well as an ensemble of 24 musicians.

Premiere and performance history

The opera was premiered at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg in April 2007, prior to a run at the Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, in a production by Pierre Audi for

De Nederlandse Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

, which commissioned the work. Its British premiere took place at the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

as a concert performance in London on 29 January 2012. The first British staged performance was given on 6 June 2013 in the Wales Millennium Centre

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

by Welsh National Opera, directed by Pierre Audi. In this production, German was used for the spoken text while the Buddhist characters sang in

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

. In a programme note, WNO's artistic director, David Pountney, stated that this change was discussed with Jonathan Harvey with the aim of "seeking to enhance and clarify the cultural dialogue which is the centrepiece of (Harvey's) opera"."A note about language", in ''Wagner Dream'' programme book, p.52.

Roles

Notes

Sources

"Acclaim for Harvey’s ''Wagner Dream''"
''Faber Music News'', Autumn 2007 * Harvey, Jonathan, (2008)
How do I compose? (Reflections on ''Wagner Dream'')
, in ''Circuit: musiques contemporaines'', vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 38–43.

External links

*
Wagner Dream
' - trailer by De Nederlandse Opera (2009) *
Wagner Dream
' –

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

by Barbican Music, including extracts and interviews with conductor and cast. (2012) {{Richard Wagner, state=collapsed Compositions by Jonathan Harvey Operas 2007 operas Operas set in Italy Operas based on real people Cultural depictions of Richard Wagner English-language operas Operas set in the 19th century Works by Jean-Claude Carrière