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	Podcast:		Composers Datebook
	Episode:		Wagner's 'Lohengrin'
	Category:		Health
	Duration:		00:02:00
	Publish Date:		2024-08-28 05:00:00
	Description:		Synopsis In Weimar, Germany, on today’s date in 1850, Hungarian composer Franz Liszt conducted the first performance of Lohengrin, a new opera by German composer Richard Wagner. Liszt was determined to make Weimar famous, musically-speaking, despite the rather provincial nature of the forces he had at his disposal. Liszt had to go out and buy a bass clarinet, since the Court orchestra didn’t own one, and he beefed up the number of violins from the usual 11 players to a grand total of 18. The title role of Lohengrin was sung by a tenor named Karl Beck, who was also a local baker. Even so, Liszt’s unprecedented 46 rehearsals apparently paid off: the premiere of Lohengrin was a big success and helped put both Weimar and Wagner on the map. Ironically, Wagner was unable to attend the premiere. He was a wanted man on German soil, having participated in the unsuccessful Dresden uprising of 1849, and there was a warrant out for his arrest. Liszt had helped him escape to Switzerland, and while his opera was being staged in Weimar, Wagner was at a hotel in Lucerne, listening in his imagination, he later told Liszt, as each scene unfolded. Music Played in Today's Program Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Lohengrin; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; Peter Schneider, conductor; Philips 438 500
	Total Play:		0