A Note from the Executive Editor

Readers familiar with The Opera Quarterly will surely have noticed that this edition of the journal has a markedly different look. And not just that—a new editorial board, a new organization, even a new direction. This requires some explanation.

A great deal has transpired since the last issue of this journal appeared—compiled, I should note, with characteristic generosity and care by Joe Law. The most important development involves very sad news indeed: the previous editor of this journal, E. Thomas Glasow, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in June 2004. Tom led The Opera Quarterly with an equal measure of distinction and passion: his sound judgment, extraordinary commitment, and thoughtful leadership are already sorely missed. With his passing, the journal enters into a new phase. Indeed, although the journal's editorial regimes have not come with quite the frequency (nor, for that matter, with the ferocity) of, say, post-war regime changes in Italy, nonetheless the current editorial configuration represents the fifth substantial change since the journal was founded by Irene and Sherwin Sloan in 1983. And while this most recent change is hardly a revolution, it bears a bit of elucidation.

For one, the journal's editorial structure has changed. As executive editor, I have invited a number of distinguished colleagues to form an editorial board. In addition to this small group, which will collectively arrive at editorial decisions for the journal, we will, over the next few months, appoint an advisory board, consisting of leading practitioners and theorists from around the world. Historically, The Opera Quarterly has always been alert to developments in a number of overlapping fields, addressing broad questions of interpretation, history, and practice. The new editorial board would like to extend and refine this focus, locating the journal squarely at the intersection of contemporary developments onstage and in the academy. It is a lively intersection indeed. Far from giving up the ghost, opera in recent years has gained visibility and vitality: popular interest in the genre remains surprisingly brisk. At the same time, a broad range of scholars from a wide variety of fields has become increasingly attentive to opera. All the while, surprising things have been happening onstage and in the pit: beyond the emergence of new personalities, we have been introduced to new types of work and works—with prestigious (and experimental) theater and film directors, not to mention architects, choreographers, and fashion designers, taking an increasing interest in opera. As a result, the stage life of opera has seized upon newfound life—and with it, of course, has come a whole host of issues. These innovations—both in the opera house and in the academy—deserve to meet. This journal will serve as one of their meeting places.

So what, concretely, does that mean? First of all, we will devote individual issues of the journal to specific works or topics, lending a shared focus to the articles we publish. Needless to say, these topics and works should emerge from and engage the intersection of theory and practice announced above. This issue, on Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, represents an initial foray. The issue emerges from a symposium on Wagner's work, organized by Professor Karen Painter (of the Music Department at Harvard University) and Alexander Steinbeis (of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) on the occasion of a concert performance in the spring of 2005 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under their new music director, James Levine. The one-day symposium brought together artists, scholars, and the general public; that day's work is collected and presented here. Ideally, the OQ should serve as a forum for just such meetings, where artists, historians, theorists, and philosophers come together to think through a work—including its historical status, its disposition onstage, and its musical language, philosophical orientation, and dramaturgical aspirations. Not every issue of OQ will be limited to a specific work. Our next two issues will encompass much broader topics: "operatic echoes" and "dance and opera." Subsequent topics will be listed on our website (http://www.oq.oxfordjournals.org), and we invite readers to suggest ideas for the editorial...