A letter from the President…
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Washington National Wagner Society’s web site. The Washington National Wagner Society has been organized to promote highest standards in music by helping to promote the best and the brightest singers, instrumentalists, and lecturers.
In 1884, one year after the year of Der Meister's death, Dr. Anton Gloetzner, a professor of music and chair of the music department at Georgetown University, as well as a prominent pianist, piano teacher, vocal coach, and composer, established the first Richard Wagner Society of Washington, DC in order to "introduce chamber music into this city". In its early days it was primarily a performance group and did not start regular lectures on Wagner and his music until 1899. This Richard Wagner Society met regularly for performances once a month on Friday nights at what is now known as the Universalist National Memorial Church in Washington , DC (in its former location at 13th and L Streets, NW - and it was called the Universalist Church at that time) for chamber music concerts.
One of the noteworthy things about this chamber music group was its use of both amateur and professional musicians and sense of community, reaching out to and showcasing the best of untapped talent. One of the performers during the late 19th Century was the young and talenteed violinist Maude Powell, who later achieved international fame as a pioneer paving the way for other women to achieve success as profesional musicians.
This may be the first "Richard Wagner" Society on record in Washington , DC . Between World War 1 and World War II, interest in Wagner (and anything else German) waned. However, the Metropolitan Opera has continued to present Wagner’s musical dramas regularly from its opening years through the present except for a 4 year hiatus between 1917 and 1921. Interest in Wagner in the US came alive again in 1976 with the founding of the Wagner Society of America in Chicago . Since 1976, there has been, in the words of the Wagner Society of America founder Art Clifton (in 1976), a “Wagner Renaissance,” with renewed and steadfast interest in Richard Wagner, his life, music, drama, and influence on art, society, and culture worldwide.
Between 1976 and 2004, there was a growing Wagner Renaissance through the United States. In the Nation’s Capital, for instance, a number of Wagner study groups and larger organizations flourished and some are still in existence. With the need for and interest in communication and bringing together the vast amount of resources worldwide on Wagner and his works as well as reaching across multigenerational, multicultural, and multiethnic communities, and performing artists from these communities, the Washington National Wagner Society was founded and incorporated in September 2004, and carries on the Wagnerian tradition in the Nation's Capital as well as nationwide and internationally.
Sincerly,
Janice Rosen
Welcome the Artistic Director…
Welcome! For those new to us; our goals and programs will be quite different from other musical societies bearing Wagner’s name. We are a more performance and information oriented organization. Although other organizations throughout the country bear the name of Richard Wagner; it is our intent to carry on the musical traditions of the original Wagner Society which started in 1884 in Washington, DC. That was truly a performance group that not only presented the works of Wagner but the works of other composers from the Classical Period through the early 20th Century. Unlike the earlier musical group Wagner’s music will be featured on every program in some form. It is also our aim to restore the “bel canto sound” back into Wagnerian singing as it flourished before World War II. Join us in our quest of finding the “Holy Grail” of singing.
And like the earlier Wagner Society, we too are housed in the National Universalist Church. With your patronage we look forward to presenting musical programs which will be of the highest musical quality and informative as well as entertaining. We look forward to having you as a part of our musical family.
Sincerely,
Darryl Winston
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