ENDACOTT
SOCIETY April
2004
Retired
Faculty and Staff of the University of Kansas
www.ukans.edu/~emeritus
All activities meet at the Adams Alumni
Center unless otherwise noted.
Armchair
Travel—Bruce
and
Chris Linton (balinton@ku.edu & 843-6796)
Thursday,
April 22. Coffee/tea at 2:00; program at 2:30. Al and Jane Sellen will help
us "FOLLOW LEWIS AND CLARK" via 35mm slides. Did Al and Jane follow
in boats and canoes? Come and find out. And no matter how they followed, it
should be an interesting and delightful exploration.
Card
& Game Theory—Edna
& Karmie Galle
(galle@ku.edu & 843-2950)
Thursday, April 15 at 2:00—The sign up
sheet will be available during the Ten-O'clock Scholars Coffee hour on
Wednesday mornings. Any questions should be referred to Karmie or Edna Galle.
Cinema
Studies—
Grant Goodman
(plim@ku.edu & 841-1066) and Fred Madaus (fmadaus@ku.edu &
841-4939)
Tuesday, April 20 at 2:00—TBA
April 7 at 9:00—Ed Meyen, On-line
education
April 14 at 9:00—Dale Rummer,
introduction to the new Computer Study Group
MicroTech computer
April 21at 9:00—Jeff Lewis (ACS),
continuation of Windows XP
April 28 at 9:00—Louise and Allan Hanson
on Meta searches.
April 5 at 3:30—David Dunfield, Mayor
of Lawrence, “Problems and Possible
Solutions.” Moderator:
Marilyn Bradt
Drama
Study Group—Arnold
Weiss (ahweiss@ku.edu & 842-5502)
Unfazed at finding
themselves at their March meeting traduced yet again by their leader's
misplaced confidence (as blithely advertised in last month's Newsletter--and
dead wrong, as it turned out) that they would be dealing with only one English
version of the text of a play originally written in a foreign language, the
regulars of Drama Study Group wheeled their way unflappably through Act I of
Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit with their characteristic combination
of high good humor and thespian skill. For this they earn the sincerest--if
humblest--thanks from their leader as they brace for Act II, to be undertaken
at 1:30 P.M. on Friday, April 9, in the Music Room. Queries, comments or
(within reason, to be sure) suggestions will be received as
always
by Arnold Weiss via phone or e-mail or in person at Ten O'clock Scholars
gatherings.
Evening Lecture Series—Tom Eblen (teblen@sunflower.com & 865-3634)
Thursday,
April 1—Speaker: Charles Gusewelle of the KC Star. Wine & cheese at
5:30; buffet at 6:00; program at 7:00.
Monday,
April 12 at 3:30—The topic will be Public Diplomacy and U.S. Foreign
Policy. Discussion will be lead by
Georgiana Torres and Margo Gordon. All are welcome.
Gardening—Arno Knapper (knapper@ku.edu
& 312-9422) and Dick Shiefelbusch (843
5869)
April 7, 14, 21, and 28—Wednesdays at
9:00 A.M.
Wednesday, April 14 at 1:30—Jo Scannell
will lead the discussion of “The Bacchae” by Euripides.
Metropolitan
Opera Radio—Al Sellen (jnalsellen@aol.com & 841-7432) and Jim Seaver (843-4081 &
jseaver@ku.edu)
We meet at the home of Vic Wallace, 1509
Massachusetts, each Saturday for high quality listening. Note the early
beginnings for the long Wagner operas.
April 3--(11:30 A.M.)—Die Walküre—Wagner
April 10—Nabucco—(12:30 A.M.)—Verdi
April 17—Siegfried—(11:00 A.M.)—Wagner
April 24—Götterdämmerung—(11:00 A.M.)—Wagner
Music—Arno Knapper (knapper@ku.edu
& 312-9422)
April 7, 14, 21, and 28 —Wednesdays—immediately
following Ten O’clock Scholars, Music Room.
Opera
Study
(jseaver@ku.edu & 843-4081) and Al Sellen (jnalsellen@aol.com &
841-7432).
Our
2003/4 study of Wagner's Ring of the Niebelung will conclude with a
video of Die Götterdämmerung on Friday 2 April 2004 at 12:30 P.M.
This music drama is the longest of the Ring, lasting four hours and
forty-five minutes. It should be over about 6:00 P.M.
In
Die Götterdämmerung the orchestra plays a larger part than in any of the
other segments of the Ring. There are three long orchestral interludes,
which are often performed in purely orchestral concerts: "The Dawn
Music," "Siegfried's Rhine Journey," and "Siegfried's
Funeral March." The other great difference between Götterdämmerung and
the other music dramas of the Ring is that most of its scenes take place
in the world of mortals who live along the Rhine River, not at Valhalla, or the
Valkyries' Rock. In Die Götterdämmerung the immortals all perish along
with Siegfried and Brunnhilde. The destiny of the world is left to mortals and
to human love.
The
first scene of Die Götterdämmerung takes place on the Valkyries' Rock,
where we left Brunnhilde and Siegfried in one another's arms at the end of Siegfried.
Here in the gray pre-dawn the Norns are weaving the skein of life; but the
skein suddenly breaks, foretelling the catastrophe to come. Then dawn breaks
and Siegfried and Brunnhilde come forth from their cavern home. After a
rapturous duet, Siegfried gives the fatal ring to Brunnhilde and then departs
to seek further adventures among those who live along the Rhine. The orchestra
depicts his craft's journey down the Rhine to the Castle of the Gibichungs.
In
the hall of the Gibichungs' castle Hagen, son of Alberich, gives Siegfried a
potion that makes him forget his association with Brunnhilde. Gunther, Hagen's
half-brother, wishes to marry the maiden who is on the mountain surrounded by
magic fire. Siegfried and Gunther swear blood brotherhood, and by means of the
Tarnhelm--and to Brunnhilde's dismay--Siegfried captures Brunnhilde and gives
her to Gunther.
During
Act II, Brunnhilde cannot understand why Siegfried does not remember their
love. Furious, she agrees with Gunther and Hagen that Siegfried must die for
his breach of faith to them and to her.
In
the great final act, Hagen, Gunther, and Siegfried go hunting. Siegfried is
charmed by the Rhinemaidens, but he loses his last chance to get rid of the
fatal ring when he refuses to return the ring to them. When the other hunters
meet with him, Hagen, as they rest, suggests that Siegfried tell about how he
killed Mime and the Dragon. In the midst of this superb narrative, Hagen gives
Siegfried another drink, which causes him to regain his memory of Brunnhilde
and their love. When Siegfried reveals this, Hagen stabs him fatally in the
back with his spear. After the hero's death, his body is carried back to the
Gibichungs' castle in the funeral march, which recalls most of the motifs of
the entire Ring, punctuated by the two stabbing motif of Hagen. Once
Siegfried's body is back at the palace, Hagen kills Gunther, and Brunnhilde has
a huge pyre of logs set up on the bank of the Rhine. In the famous
"Immolation Scene," one of the most taxing and magnificent numbers in
opera for the female voice, Brunnhilde mounts her horse Grane and together they
plunge into the flames. The fire spreads to consume the palace of the
Gibichungs and even Valhalla. Hagen attempts to grab the ring from Siegfried's
dead hand, but the Rhinemaiderns, as the Rhine overflows, drag him down to his
death. The old realm of the Gods is ended, and the music proclaims that the era
of human love has begun.
Our video will star soprano
Hildegard Behrens as Brunnhilde, tenor Siegfried Jerusalem as Siegfried, bass
Matti Salminen as Hagen, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig as Waltraute, and
baritone Anthony Raffell as Gunther. The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and
Chorus will be conducted by James Levine in this production of 1990. We will
have short intermissions after Act I and Act II, during which tea, coffee, and
cookies will be served.
Out
of Town Travel—Ev
Swartz
(evswartz@ku.edu & 841-4065)
The trip to Lexington, Missouri
on Friday, April 16 is full. You may, however, want to be placed on the
waiting list. The trip will include Civil War battlefield and Anderson House;
bus tour of historic Lexington; tour of antebellum mansion, Linwood Lawn House;
shopping; and lunch at the Victorian Peddlers Tea Room. The cost of the trip
will be determined later, but it will not exceed $35 per person. If you want to
be placed on the waiting list, please contact me. You may also sign the list at
Wednesday coffees. No names will be added after April 7.
Ten
O’clock Scholars AKA Wednesday Coffee/Business Meeting—Margery Lamb
(marjlamb@earthlink.net & 749-4647)
April 7, 14, 21, and 28 —Wednesdays at 10:00 A.M.
F
Y I:
*To
subscribe to our listserve, send an email to: listproc@ku.edu
Subscribe emerit-l your-name
Questions? Contact rjsmith@ku.edu
*Endacott Society Newsletter online?
Late breaking Endacott Society news? Check www.ukans.edu/~emeritus.