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Coules...? *Bert* Coules...?

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J D@flat.com Mark J D

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Dec 9, 2009, 8:06:55 AM12/9/09
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Dear Mr Coules,

Can I ask... are you the same Bert Coules who was involved with the Wagner
Society in London in the 1970s...?

MJD


Bert Coules

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Dec 9, 2009, 12:25:14 PM12/9/09
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Mark J D wrote:

> Can I ask... are you the same Bert Coules who was involved with the Wagner
> Society in London in the 1970s...?

Yes, that's me. I'm sorry, but I don't recall a Mark from those days. Do
we know each other?

Bert

J D@flat.com Mark J D

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Dec 9, 2009, 1:19:15 PM12/9/09
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No! Not at all! But you're mentioned in something I've just been going
through! Apparently you interviewed Gotz Freidrich back in about 1974...!?!?
Is this true...???

MJD


Bert Coules

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Dec 9, 2009, 2:31:58 PM12/9/09
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Mark,

> No! Not at all! But you're mentioned in something I've just been going
> through! Apparently you interviewed Gotz Freidrich back in about
> 1974...!?!? Is this true...?

No, I'm afraid it isn't. I might have written up a report (for the Wagner
Society's magazine) on a rather good question-and-answer event they arranged
with Friedrich and Colin Davis, when the first Friedrich Ring was new at
Covent Garden, but I never did a one-to-one interview with the director.

Where did you see this suggestion?

Bert


J D@flat.com Mark J D

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Dec 9, 2009, 2:44:17 PM12/9/09
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Someone mentions it on a decades-old tape recording that I heard! I was
wondering where you might have written it all up...? I'll go through all the
Wagner Society Magazines from '74 to '77, if you can't narrow the range at
all...

MJD


Bert Coules

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Dec 10, 2009, 8:15:27 AM12/10/09
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Mark,

The article was in issue 34 of "Wagner" magazine, dated October 1974. It
was, as I suspected, a report of the recent Wagner Society meeting with John
Tooley, Colin Davis and Friedrich, who talked about, and answered questions
on, the first two installments of the new ROH Ring.

It was interesting, reading it again; brought it all back.

Bert


J D@flat.com Mark J D

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Dec 11, 2009, 9:06:40 PM12/11/09
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Were you there when Deryck Cooke gave his talks...?

MJD


Bert Coules

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Dec 12, 2009, 2:36:17 PM12/12/09
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> Were you there when Deryck Cooke gave his talks...?

I did know Cooke slightly from when I worked in the BBC's music library, but
I don't recall him giving any talks to the Wagner Society during my time,
I'm afraid. Judging from the Decca recording, I imagine he would have been
rather good.

Bert

J D@home.com Mark J D

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Dec 13, 2009, 1:54:21 PM12/13/09
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We'd probably need to ask someone like Michael Trask about the mid-70s and
what the Society did then...
I suppose you remember him...! Where did he end up...?

I'm fascinated to hear that you know Cooke! He seems to have died quite
young -- about 57, I think.

MJD


Bert Coules

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Dec 15, 2009, 6:30:57 PM12/15/09
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> We'd probably need to ask someone like Michael Trask about the mid-70s and
> what the Society did then...

Well, I was very active in the society then (as assistant editor of the
magazine amongst other things) but as I say I don't recall Cooke giving a
talk. Though of course it might simply be my memory at fault.

I do remember Mike Trask very well, together with other society stalwarts of
the time like Andrew Medlicott, Eilen Henebery, Richard Beecher, and John
Baird, who conducted the society's breakthrough London production of The
Valkyrie in 1974.

Bert

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