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Although M.J. Albacete has been in the museum business since 1975, his interest in Classical music goes back to high school days when an initial passion for Tchaikovsky led him to explore everything the Russian master wrote including his opera. Local productions of The Bartered Bride and The Elixir of Love presented by the Canton Civic Opera attracted his attention, and broadened his horizons. In the meantime his LP collection grew from dozens to hundreds, eventually to thousands.

As his personally amassed knowledge of music grew, he found himself called to lecture on symphonies and opera. For five years he wrote reviews of Canton Symphony concerts for the Canton Repository, he contributed record reviews to Fanfare Magazine for a similar period and for The New Records out of Philadelphia. He is a "regular" pre-concert lecturer for the Canton Symphony, but in the past has provided similar services for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Akron Symphony Orchestra. When a popular lectures series at Border's was terminated, Albacete revived it at the Canton Museum of Art, later turning it into an Opera Appreciation series. More than 120 operas on video were available through this agency, which continued for five years.

Albacete's interest in opera is quite diversified, ranging from the early works of Peri and Monteverdi to Tan Dun's The First Emperor. His lectures on opera have included many from the popular repertoire, but he has also explored farther afield with such works as Bluebeard's Castle, Jenufa, and one of his favorites Schwanda. Wagner's operas were an early challenge, but he was determined to master these monumental obstacles. After going through the whole catalogue from Rienzi to Parsifal (by way of the Ring) Albacete began to wonder if Wagner had ever attempted compositions of a different nature, and that answer is the substance of his lecture on "The Unknown Wagner."

	M.J. Albacete

M.J. Albacete will present a fascinating lecture exploring what has happened to Wagner's Music. Albacete maintains that "since the very beginning Wagner's music has been plundered and modified and adapted and transformed in every conceivable way including the cylinder, the 78 rpm disk, music boxes, organ arrangements, jazz versions...and guess what?Wagner would have loved it." And so , Albacete's slightly irreverent survey explores his copious Wagner collection of CDs for oddities that will surprise, entertain and perhaps even shock devout Wagnerphiles.For those who happened to hear Albacete's previous lecture on the "Unknown Wagner, " here he goes even further into the realm of the obscure musical selections, concluding with ...well an amusing surprise. The title for this presentation is borrowed from the words of one who heard him in Boston. When he said Wagner might have said "What have they done to my music?" a woman translated it in German to another in the audience, "Was haben Sie meiner Musik angetan?"		$100.00 patrons may bring a guest. Those attending the WSO meeting for the first time will be our guests. Non members will be charged $10.00
		Although M.J. Albacete has been in the museum business since 1975, his interest in Classical music goes back to high school days when an initial passion for Tchaikovsky led him to explore everything the Russian master wrote including his opera. Local productions of The Bartered Bride and The Elixir of Love presented by the Canton Civic Opera attracted his attention, and broadened his horizons. In the meantime his LP collection grew from dozens to hundreds, eventually to thousands. As his personally amassed knowledge of music grew, he found himself called to lecture on symphonies and opera. For five years he wrote reviews of Canton Symphony concerts for the Canton Repository, he contributed record reviews to Fanfare Magazine for a similar period and for The New Records out of Philadelphia. He is a "regular" pre-concert lecturer for the Canton Symphony, but in the past has provided similar services for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Akron Symphony Orchestra. When a popular lectures series at Border's was terminated, Albacete revived it at the Canton Museum of Art, later turning it into an Opera Appreciation series. More than 120 operas on video were available through this agency, which continued for five years. Albacete's interest in opera is quite diversified, ranging from the early works of Peri and Monteverdi to Tan Dun's The First Emperor. His lectures on opera have included many from the popular repertoire, but he has also explored farther afield with such works as Bluebeard's Castle, Jenufa, and one of his favorites Schwanda. Wagner's operas were an early challenge, but he was determined to master these monumental obstacles. After going through the whole catalogue from Rienzi to Parsifal (by way of the Ring) Albacete began to wonder if Wagner had ever attempted compositions of a different nature, and that answer is the substance of his lecture on "The Unknown Wagner."


This session will take place at the Canton Museum of Art Library on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 1:00 P.M.