Report of Monthly Regular Meeting July 2024 (The 221st Meeting of Opera Research Group)
Waseda Institute for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (WIROM), Comprehensive Research Organization,Waseda University
- Time and Date: July 13th (Sat.) 2024, 16:30 – 18:00 (JST)
- Format: Hyflex (On-Campus and Online meeting (Zoom))
- Venue: Waseda University, Waseda Campus, Room 406 of Building 3
- Presenter: KATO, Keisuke
- Affiliation: Language Education Center, Tokai University
- Title: The influence of E.T.A. Hoffmann on Richard Wagner’s Die Bergwerke zu Falun and the attempt to introduce ‘deutsch’ elements into it, comparing it with Wagner’s Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg”
- Language: Japanese
- Abstract: Die Bergwerke zu Falun (1841-1842) is one of Richard Wagner’s projects for which no music was ever written. This work has many features in common with Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg, which was drafted around the same time. The setting of Die Bergwerke zu Falun, for example, is a mountainous underground world and the human society surrounding it, similar to that of Tannhäuser. In addition, both works are partly based on works by Romantic novelists: Die Bergwerke zu Falun cannot be discussed without the influence of E.T.A. Hoffmann, nor Tannhäuser without the influence of Ludwig Tieck and Hoffmann. This presentation will examine the libretto of Die Bergwerke zu Falun, the text of Hoffmann’s novel of the same name, and the libretto of Tannhäuser, in order to find answers to the following questions: What were Wagner’s intentions when he selected Tannhäuser from two works that had common characteristics and completed the libretto in its complete form, and what influence did the attempt to create Die Bergwerke zu Falun have on Tannhäuser and subsequent works? It will also attempt to consider the research significance of Die Bergwerke zu Falun, which has rarely been considered in Wagner studies.
- Profile of Presenter: Keisuke Kato is a lecturer in German und German culture at Tokai University. His research field is German Literature, especially the plays and librettos of the 19th century. He focuses on the works of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and their critical expression of European society. His PhD in literature (Sophia University, Japan, 2021) examined the figure of Wotan in Der Ring des Nibelungen as a characterization of numerous defects in the monarchy and Wagner’s disappointment in it. He is the author of “Die Wandlung der Herrscher-Figur von Wagners Die Sage von den Nibelungen und Siegfrieds Tod zu Der Ring des Nibelungen” (2018) and “Unter dem Einfluss von Shakespeare und Laube. Isabella in Richard Wagners Das Liebesverbot” (2022).
- Moderator: KITAGAWA, Chikako
＊ Comment: There were 24 ( On-Campus 11, Online 13) participants.
- contact information Waseda Institute for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (WIROM), Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University: https://prj-opera-mt.w.waseda.jp/ e-mail address: operaken-uketsuke[at]list.waseda.jp ([at] = @)
