Under the sign of Wagner
Musicologist Tom Adler joins the staff of the Richard Wagner Sites Graupa near Dresden
Tom Adler, a musicology student from Weimar, will take up a permanent, full-time position as a research assistant at the Richard Wagner Sites in Graupa near Dresden on July 1, 2023. For humanities scholars, this is a great stroke of luck in times of temporary employment, says Adler, "moreover, when you have just completed your bachelor's degree." Tom Adler will be responsible for the museum's scientific content in Graupa and will develop special exhibitions, guided tours, workshops and other informational offerings.
Mr. Adler, what are your initial ideas for the Richard Wagner Sites Graupa?
Tom Adler: I always have a lot of ideas. In the last weeks, an extensive list has grown, which I will bring there. First, of course, I will familiarize myself, get to know the basic work, exchange ideas with my boss and my colleague and then see where I can bring my own initiative. Of course, ideas for special exhibitions are on the list, e.g. with regard to the Bruckner Year 2024. In addition, I would like to develop workshop formats in which school students, but also young students of musicology and school music can deal with the topic of Wagner, as well as special events for certain cultural events in the Pirna-Dresden region. Overall, the focus is to be increasingly directed towards a younger audience.
What methods and approaches can modern museum education use to help keep Wagner's legacy alive and convey it appropriately?
Adler: Not using the digital medium is unthinkable. If Wagner were alive today, he himself would probably be tremendously active in social networks. I'm planning to tie in with this in that I'm creating a podcast that will inform a generally interested audience about a wide variety of topics related to Wagner. Museum content is also to be presented on Instagram and Facebook, but this is currently only under construction. Of course, the digital - knowledge to go - can add value to many things, but knowledge in a museum is predominantly conveyed on site (of course also with digital elements): In the aforementioned workshops, I will try, for ex., to reflect on stage characters like Siegfried (whose haudrauf mentality would certainly be comparable with one or the other teenager) in its psychological layout with young people, to convey Wagner's works not as elite art, but to rob the pieces of their apparent monstrosity through self-evident questioning. Only when you read the pieces naturally, humanly, can you understand them.
What will you focus on academically?
Adler: Transparency with regard to the life, work and impact of Richard Wagner is my top priority. He is perhaps the most polarizing artistic personality of the 19th century to this day. On the one hand, he was an obvious anti-Semite; on the other, he tried to overcome social differences with the ideal of equal rights for all people. His private image of women might be considered regressive today, but early women's rights activists such as Louise Otto Peters and Luise Büchner felt inspired by the strength and independence of his female stage characters. I think it is important, when admiring his art, to also bring the negative sides of this man before one's eyes and to look at them as objectively as possible. That is scientific. We have no responsibility for Richard Wagner as a person, he was an unsympathetic person in many respects, but he has been dead for 140 years. But we, or in this museum I, bear responsibility for conveying his work in such a way that it becomes clear: This dichotomy exists and it is important to know and explore it. What will always be important in the approaches of my work is to make the connection to today. For example, a symposium or an exhibition on anti-Semitism should not only be about Wagner and the 19th century. You have to recognize the structures of that time, look for them in today's world, and give the visitors something to take away with them, and also enter into discussions with them. Cultural sites must be places of lively education and lively exchange, and that of course also applies to museums.
Will there be collaborations?
Adler: Absolutely! Contact with Weimar will be maintained. I have already spoken with Jascha Nemtsov, with whom I also very much enjoy discussing this topic, that I would like to invite him to a panel discussion on Wagner and Judaism. But aspects of Nina Noeske's gender research have also inspired me to think about female characters in Wagner's stage works. I could also imagine a cooperative seminar with her on this subject, together with an exhibition. What would also please me would be an artistic cooperation with instrumental and vocal students of our university; concerts are held regularly in the Wagner sites. Of course, I will also seek contacts with the Dresden Academy of Music; there is already a cooperation with the almost neighboring Carl Maria von Weber Museum in Dresden-Hosterwitz, which will be expanded together with its director Romy Donath. Dresden's cultural institutions such as the Philharmonie, the Semper Opera (Christian Thielemann is patron of the Richard Wagner Sites in Graupa) or the Music Festival are also cooperation partners with whom I will work regularly.
Are you starting out directly in your professional life now, or are you still planning a master's degree and possibly a doctorate?
Adler: I am very happy about the opportunity to study my master's degree part-time here in Weimar. I will also shift my focus there once again, probably to the 17th/18th century with a view to the reception of this period in musical film. The fact that I will be working in the Richard Wagner sites will of course enable me in the most pleasant way to work on my doctorate on Wagner's first opera "The Fairies". There is not much comprehensive literature on this. But it is important to know that Wagner did not fall from the sky loaded with talent (he was a real late bloomer), but acquired his skills and of course had his role models, like any other composer.
What aspects of the musicology bachelor's program in Weimar do you look back on with pleasure?
Adler: I owe my scientific basis, which now enables me to hold this position, to my previous musicology studies in Weimar. The very diverse set-up of our institute in terms of the focus of the chairs has an enriching effect on one's own thinking about music, its content, but also its context. One examines topics from different perspectives, questions oneself again and again, and thus does not get into the embarrassment of thinking oneself the measure of all things. This is made possible above all by the short distances between the lecturers and the students, the respectful relationship at eye level. One of the greatest advantages for me, however, was that the Institute of Musicology is part of the University of Music, so that there is always a connection to musical practice. The exchange with artistic students shaped my thinking about music from music, I made a lot of music with pedagogical students and - even if only from hallway conversations - I always took away suggestions for the teaching of music and knowledge. Studying in Weimar is a period of life in the ivory tower, the beautiful privilege of which I am particularly aware of now in the last few months before a new, beautiful period of life begins. I am very grateful for all the people who have supported and accompanied me on this path.
Thank you very much for the interview!
The interview was conducted by Jan Kreyßig.