Wagner 1900, University of Oxford, 9-11 April 2018
On 9-11 April 2018 the University of Oxford (Music Faculty / Jesus College) will host the interdisciplinary conference ‘Wagner 1900’. Featuring two performances, the conference will investigate the impact of Richard Wagner on fin-de-siècle Vienna, not only in music but also in visual arts, theatre, literature and philosophy. The two performances taking place during the conference each address different issues related to the topic of ‘Wagner 1900’.
Our reconstruction of Mahler’s production of Wagner’s Tristan in 1903 (entitled Isolde) will open new perspectives to investigate the complex interpretative questions raised by historical performances, while John Casken’s new piece Kokoschka’s Doll (2017) proposes a contemporary vision of fin-de-siècle Vienna. These performances will provide a concrete basis for scholarly discussion and allow for a broadening of the scope of the debate surrounding the figure of Richard Wagner. The focus lies around Vienna in 1900 but the impact of our questions reaches beyond this time-frame and space.
Confirmed speakers include Barry Millington and Patrick Carnegy (keynotes);
Roger Allen (Oxford), Evan Baker (North Carolina), Christopher Fifield (London); Peter Franklin (Oxford), Hermann Grampp (Berlin), Anne Leonard (Chicago), Karin Martensen (Detmold), Hilda Meldrum Brown (Oxford), Eva Rieger (Bremen), Diane Silverthorne (London), Morten Solvik (Vienna), and Laura Tunbridge (Oxford).
Proposals of no more than 250 words are invited for 20 minutes papers in English. As there will be no parallel sessions, the Committee will only be able to select a restricted number of papers. Doctoral students and early career scholars are encouraged to submit a proposal.
Topics to be covered include:
Richard Wagner and Gesamtkunstwerk
The collaboration between Gustav Mahler and Alfred Roller
Roller’s Wagnerian set designs
Adolphe Appia
Wagner and the Arts around 1900
Conducting Wagner; Wagner as conductor
19th C. Historical performance practice
Wagnerian singers and the Bayreuth style
Cosima Wagner in Bayreuth
Wagner and theatre, Wagnerian staging
Wagner and Modernism in Literature and Philosophy
Wagnerism in Vienna
Proposals should be sent to our conference administrator, Lukas Beck (lukas.beck@st-annes.ox.ac.uk), no later than 1st October 2017.
Conference Program Committee:
Dr. Anna Stoll Knecht, (Oxford), convenor
Prof. Peter Franklin (Oxford)
Prof. Roger Allen (Oxford)
Dr. Anastasia Belina-Johnson (London)
Dr. Tosca Lynch (Oxford)
Dr. Merel van Tilburg (London)