Musical interpretation of Wagner 1976-2026

That and how the Wagner stage has changed since the 100th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival in 1976 has been and continues to be the subject of lively debate. We want to ask about something that is often neglected and which has changed and diversified no less in the last 50 years: musical interpretation. The topic is broader than it seems at first glance. It includes listening, the relationship between hearing and seeing and thus also the scene. It encourages methodological diversity, enables performance-analytical and discourse-based approaches, touches on the history of ideas, source research and new ways of sound-based interpretation research. The radius of the symposium is not limited to Bayreuth. The 150th anniversary of the Festival in 2026 is the occasion, but not the subject of the symposium. The speakers are renowned specialists and recognised Wagner experts. Together with younger colleagues, they will offer insights into current research, build bridges to practice and explore the Wagner cosmos from unusual perspectives.

The symposium is an interdisciplinary event organised by the Karlsruhe University of Music. Students of the university receive ECTS points. Registration with the Career Centre via the ASIMUT account is required. Interested guests are cordially invited to attend the symposium. Please register by 8 May by sending an email to: seedorf@hfm.eu
 

Programme

Friday, 9 May 2025

2.00 p.m. 
Greetings

Introduction
Prof Dr Stephan Mösch
Dr Christian Schaper
Prof Dr Thomas Seedorf

2.30 p.m. to 3.15 p.m. 
Prof. Dr Rebecca Grotjahn (Detmold/Paderborn)
"Tired at the hearth I found the man": The heroic tenor in the post-heroic age

3.15 p.m. to 3.45 p.m. Coffee break

3.45 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.
Dr Robert Sollich (Berlin)
"Chéreau's singing actor number one" or "the dignity of the natural". On the discovery of the 'singer-actor' on the Wagner stage of the 1970s

4.30 p.m. to 5.15 p.m.
Prof Dr Stephan Mösch (Karlsruhe)
Who or what is a "Latin" conductor? On wishful thinking and latent traditions in "Neubayreuth"

7.30 p.m.
Concert by the Ensemble for New Music, conducted by Prof. Manuel Nawri
Wolfgang Rihm Forum

Saturday, 10 May 2025

10.00 a.m. to 10.45 a.m.
Dr Christian Schaper (Karlsruhe)
»Die Zeit, die ich hier verweil’, ich kann sie nicht ermessen« ("The time I linger here, I cannot measure it") - Tannhäuser since 1976 in the metrics of software-supported interpretation analysis

10.45 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.
Paul Simon Kranz M.A. (Karlsruhe)/Frithjof Vollmer M.A. (Stuttgart)
Venus' Redemption, Elisabeth's Seduction. On the musical staging of desire in Bayreuth's Tannhäuser 1972 and 2011

11.30 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. Coffee break

12.00 p.m. to 12.45 p.m.
PD Dr Julian Caskel (Essen/Kiel)
Beckmesser's implications, Beckmesser's realisations: Music theory - interpretation research - staging analysis

12.45 p.m. to 1.30 p.m.
Prof. Dr Thomas Seedorf (Karlsruhe)
The Wagner Cycles. The Ring of the Nibelung in historical performance practice - an interim report  

1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Lunch break

3.30 p.m. to 4.15 p.m.
Prof. Dr Friederike Wißmann (Rostock)
Wagner's idea of femininity as an interpretative approach

4.15 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.
Prof. Dr Tobias Janz (Bonn)
»Altgewohntes Geräusch« ("Old familiar noise"). Wagner's sound dramaturgy on sound recording using the example of Götterdämmerung

5.00 p.m. to 5.45 p.m.
Prof. Dr Arne Stollberg (Berlin)
When the forest only sounds in the orchestra. Scenic denial of nature and musical evocation of nature in Ring productions since the 1980s

7.30 p.m.
Evening programme (for speakers and sponsors)

Sunday, 11 May 2025

10.00 a.m. to 10.45 a.m.
Prof. Dr David Trippett (Cambridge)
Siegfried, animality, nature

10.45 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.
Dr Dominik Frank (Bayreuth/Thurnau)
Wagner's redundancy. On the staging of the musico-dramatic principle in the history of performance

11.30 am to 12.00 p.m. Coffee break

12.00 p.m. to 12.45 p.m.
Prof. Dr Gundula Kreuzer (New Haven, CT)
Kundry screams, Cosima is silent: Thoughts on the expressivity of Wagner's last women

12.45 p.m. to 1.30 p.m.
PD Dr Richard Erkens (Venice)
The heirs of Giuseppe Kaschmann: a survey of 'Italian' Wagner singing today

1.30 pm
Final discussion and farewell