Fafner's 遁世居

作曲家華格納的孫子沃夫岡．華格納（Wolfgang Wagner）去世了。

他生前的職業，是拜魯特音樂節（Bayreuth Festival）的總監，而且他這個總監從 1951 年當到 2008 年，主宰了拜魯特音樂節半世紀的走向。

我對他的了解不多。唯一比較有印象的，是看了一本叫做 "The Ring - Anatomy of an Opera" 的書。這本書，記述的是拜魯特音樂節 1983 年「指環」的製作過程，這個又被稱之為「英國指環」的製作，是由戲劇導演 Sir Peter Hall，和指揮 Sir Georg Solti 主導，原先被各界寄予厚望，但這個製作從一開始，便災難連連，使得 1983 年的首演風評不佳。雖然之後的演出，漸得到觀眾和樂評的讚譽，但仍扭轉不了先前災難般的形象。總之，這個製作不能算成功。

在 "The Ring - Anatomy of an Opera" 這本書裡，沃夫岡．華格納常常是這次製作的絆腳石，也因此我對他的印象不甚好。

無論如何，願他安息。收錄幾則相關報導如下：

前拜魯特音樂節總監「沃夫岡．華格納」過世 享年90歲

2010-03-22 中廣新聞／葉柏毅

    德國著名作曲家「華格納」的孫子，也是著名的「拜魯特音樂節」前總監「沃夫岡．華格納」，星期天過世，享年九十歲。

    華格納是德國十九世紀非常著名的歌劇作家，他最為人所知的歌劇作品，就是連續要演出四個晚上的巨作「尼伯龍指環」，華格納為了要完美呈現出他心中的歌劇，特地在德國「拜魯特市」興建了一座大型歌劇院，在華格納過世之後，就是由華格納的家人，來主管拜魯特歌劇院，並且籌辦「拜魯特音樂節」，上演華格納的著名歌劇。

    拜魯特歌劇院星期天發佈了一份簡單聲明稿，只說了沃夫岡．華格納過世的消息，並沒有進一步說明相關細節；拜魯特歌劇院在聲明稿中，也讚揚沃夫岡．華格納，投注畢生的精力，發揚拜魯特音樂節與推廣華格納歌劇，光大他祖父留給世人偉大的藝術遺產。

德作曲家華格納之孫去世 享壽90歲

（法新社）2010年3月23日 星期二 01:20

（法新社柏林 22日電） 德國知名作曲家李察．華格納（Richard Wagner）的孫子，也是著名的拜魯特音樂節（Bayreuth festival）前總監沃夫岡．華格納（Wolfgang Wagner）昨天去世，享壽90歲。

沃夫岡的去世，將使華格納家族後裔和專門紀念華格納音樂的拜魯特音樂節展開新的篇章。

同時也是著名演奏家法朗茲．李斯特（Franz Liszt）曾外孫的沃夫岡，以鐵腕方式管理華格納歌劇院，也就是拜魯特音樂節歌劇院，長達不可思議的57年。

沃夫岡一生致力於驅除家族和音樂節蒙受的納粹陰影，並極力吸引全世界最佳歌手和指揮來到著名的綠色山莊（Green Hill）。

德國南部巴伐利亞（Bavaria）的拜魯特歌劇院在聲明中表示，沃夫岡奉獻畢生精力，光大祖父的藝術遺產。

聲明說，沃夫岡領航拜魯特超過了半世紀，使他成為全球音樂史上服務最久的歌劇總監。

沃夫岡．華格納生於1919年8月30日，父親是席格福里德．華格納（Siegfried Wagner，1896-1930），妻子是英國 出生的溫尼福瑞（Winifred，1897-1980）。

沃夫岡是納粹德國獨裁者希特勒（Adolf Hitler）的好友和支持者。

這種感情是相互的。希特勒是反猶太作曲家華格納（1883年去世）的仰慕者，也是華格納家族和歌劇院的常客。沃夫岡和他的家人習慣稱呼希特勒為「沃爾夫叔叔」（Onkel Wolf）。

沃夫岡於32歲時，也就是第二次世界大戰結束後6年的1951年，和兄長魏蘭德（Wieland）一同接掌拜魯特歌劇院。（譯者：中央社郭傳信）

Wolfgang Wagner, Who Led Bayreuth Festival, Dies at 90

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  Published: March 22, 2010

MUNICH (AP) — Wolfgang Wagner, the grandson of composer Richard Wagner and the leader of the Bayreuth opera festival for more than half a century, died Sunday. He was 90.

His death was announced by the festival in a brief statement on its Web site. It did not give further details.

“Wolfgang Wagner dedicated his whole life to the legacy of his grandfather,” the festival said, adding that his long service as the event’s leader means that he “goes into history as the longest-serving director in the world.”

Mr. Wagner stepped down after the 2008 festival following a long power struggle in which he resisted efforts to dislodge him.

He had led the festival, which is dedicated to his grandfather’s works, since 1951, first with his brother, Wieland, and then as the sole director, with a lifetime contract.

His insistence on serving out that contract led in his later years to clashes with officials who oversee the event, held every summer in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth in the small brick theater built by Richard Wagner in the 1870s.

It also triggered a spat within the Wagner family that itself was worthy of opera.

For years, Wolfgang Wagner insisted that only his second wife, Gudrun, could replace him, although German government officials and others overseeing the festival refused to accept her.

By the time Gudrun died in November 2007, Mr. Wagner was insisting that only the couple’s daughter, Katharina, could fill his shoes, putting him at odds with two other Wagners who also sought the job.

Wolfgang finally agreed to step aside in 2008; Katharina and Wolfgang’s long-estranged daughter from his first marriage, Eva Wagner-Pasquier, teamed up to beat out a rival bid from their cousin. They took charge last year.

Born on Aug. 30, 1919 in Bayreuth, Mr. Wagner studied the trumpet and French horn before being sent to fight on the eastern front early in World War II. In 1939, he was severely wounded and sent back to Berlin.

He first took charge of the festival, along with his brother, Wieland, in 1951, reviving the event that had been stopped by the war.

The pair worked to restore its tarnished name, with Wolfgang Wagner concentrating on organization and finances of the festival. He founded the “Society of Friends of Bayreuth” to accept donations and won government support.

Following Wieland’s death from cancer in 1966, Wolfgang took over as sole director.

In addition to increasing the funding and establishing a separate foundation to oversee the composer’s library, Mr. Wagner also invited directors from abroad to direct individual operas.

While many of the versions sparked controversy at the time, they were often groundbreaking interpretations of Richard Wagner’s operas, in keeping with Wolfgang’s idea of broadening their meaning by emphasizing their universal human context.

His own productions, including “Lohengrin” in 1953 and his second “Parsifal” in 1989, reflected this. Mr. Wagner remarked in 1957 that the “human, the Wagnerian being” was the most important element of his own productions.

The Wagner family’s close connections to the Nazis and their ideology were a recurring theme during Wolfgang’s tenure.

In 1997 his estranged son, Gottfried, published a book on the issue accusing his father of failing to renounce the virulent anti-Semitism of Wolfgang’s mother, Winifred, a glowing admirer of Adolf Hitler. She headed the Bayreuth festival under the Nazis in the 1930s. During her tenure, Hitler not only helped fund the festival but was allowed to meddle in artistic decisions.

Wolfgang Wagner denounced the book as “one-sided” and “primitive” and banned Gottfried — one of two children from his marriage to his first wife, Ellen — from the family home.

Its publication came at a time when Mr. Wagner was also under pressure from Wieland’s daughter, Nike Wagner, who criticized what she called her uncle’s “monarchic” leadership style.

In May 1999, Mr. Wagner himself began the process to find his replacement, but when the German government launched a public discussion over funding for the festival, the then 80-year-old director said he could not step down until the legal and financial future of the festival had been secured.

After several top artists refused to participate in the 2000 festival, festival board members named Eva Wagner-Pasquier as the new director, but Mr. Wagner refused to step down, insisting on the life term in his contract. He held on to power for a further eight years.

Mr. Wagner “stamped his mark on the festival like no other,” Horst Seehofer, the governor of Bavaria, said. “It is thanks particularly to Wolfgang Wagner that the Bayreuth festival is a hallmark of Bavaria and a magnet for visitors from around the world.”

Mr. Wagner is survived by his three children.