Jane Eaglen, who is keeping a public diary of her preparations for the
Seattle "Fidelio" (www.seattleopera.org), is due in California in June,
for San Francisco Symphony concert performances of "The Flying Dutchman,"
but there is no word yet about a "My Life As Senta" online project.
Coming next: "Blogless in SF," the movie.

Michael Tilson Thomas, whose public e-mails are scarce, will make his
Wagner debut locally.  Even though there are five performances scheduled
- June 11, 13, 15, 19 and 21 - and the San Francisco Opera starts up
again at the same time, there may be few of the originally available
14,000 tickets left in a few weeks.  (Already, only June 13 tickets are
available online, at www.sfsymphony.org.) The cast: Jill Grove (Mary),
Mark Baker (Erik), Eric Cutler (steersman), Mark Delavan (Dutchman),
Stephen Milling (Daland).

This will be the Symphony's first complete Wagner since 1945.  Pierre
Monteux conducted the complete "Parsifal," with Dusolina Giannini,
Frederick Jagel, Douglas Beattie, and the SF Municipal Chorus.  A few
days after those performances in March, delegates from 50 nations filled
the Opera House to draft the United Nations Charter, and signed it in
what is now Herbst Theater, next door.  Considering that World War II
in Europe was not over until May 8, it is amazing that Wagner could get
such prominent treatment in an American city, serving as temporary
headquarters for the allies defeating Germany.

When you Google the subject matter, you find the following excerpt
from Joseph Goebbels' diary, dated April 3, 1945 (the week before the
UN conference *began*): "As far as the San Francisco Conference is
concerned, it is already a thing of the past.  It is thought that Churchill
intends to fly to Moscow again to try to persuade Stalin to give way.
The progress of the political crisis among our enemies depends on the
next fortnight's developments.  The main and deciding factor is whether
we succeed in organising some form of resistance in the West again.  The
Jews have applied for a seat at the San Francisco Conference.  It is
characteristic that their main demand is that anti-semitism be forbidden
throughout the world.  Typically, having committed the most terrible
crimes against mankind, the Jews would now like mankind to be forbidden
even to think about them."

A few days after that diary entry, Goebbels had his six children poisoned
with a lethal injection by an SS doctor and then himself and his wife
Magda shot by an SS orderly.  His last statement: "We shall go down in
history as the greatest statesmen of all time, or as the greatest
criminals."

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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