CROSSROADS Language StudioÊs Newsletter, May 2010

In 2001, in Israel, the famouspianist and conductor, Daniel
Barenboim,
performed
theprelude to Richard Wagner’sopera
TristanundIsolde,
breaking the ban on thecomposer’s music which had been
Wagner 1813-1883 in place since the founding of thestate in 1948. A national controversy andcondemnation from the Israeli prime minister
was the result.
Wagner was born on the 22nd of this month,almost 200 years ago in Leipzig, Germany. He
is a controversial figure. Though many have alow opinion of the man they regard the artist
as almost superhuman.
Wagner grew up in a theatrical family andhis primary interest was opera. Unlike othersupremely gifted musicians Wagner was not achild prodigy: he did not even start to compose
until his late teens and was an indifferent
pianist. On top of that, his musical education
was sketchy (a few years of composition
lessons starting at the age of 15). Wagner
worked as musical director atvarious
opera houses in theearlypart of his career,
later
concentrating oncomposition. He nevermade much money.
Though in debt for mostof his life, Wagner
could only compose inan atmosphere of luxury,
insisting on silk wall
hangings, cushions andclothes, and exotic perfumes.
He had no shame in asking
his friends, or total
strangers, for ‘loans’(which, of course, henever intended topay back).

His early operas follow the example of suchcomposers as Weber and Meyerbeer. His later
works explore Teutonic and Norse mythology,
the foremost example being Der Ring Des
Nibelungen, a 15-hour cycle of four operas thattook 26 years to write. Wagner wrote both themusic and, unusually, the libretto. The Ring
was first performed in 1876 in a speciallydesigned (by Wagner, of course) theatre inBayreuth. Many people are inspired to learn
German to fully appreciate this epic work. Halfway through his work on the Ring Wagner took
off in other directions – composing the operas
Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger –before returning 12 years later to finish histetralogy. Tristan is an intense and passionate
work and ends with the overpowering Liebestod(literally ‘love death’).
Wagner held pronounced anti-Semitic views
and was Hitler’s favourite composer. Daniel
Barenboim (who is Jewish) has said of Wagner: “Wagner, the person, is absolutely appalling,despicable, and, in a way, very difficult to put
together with the music he wrote, which so often
has exactly the opposite kind of feelings ... noble,generous, etc.” Barenboim believes that thecontradictions within Wagner should be“actively considered” and that, rather thancensorship, people should be allowed to make up
their own minds about him.

Article by Jonathan

NET LESSONS: Try our lessons on the Internet!
It’s CROSSROADS in your home or office! You get
CROSSROADS’ great teachers, teaching programs,
even classmates, on-line! Call for details: 089 9217595

NET SITE OF THE MONTH:
You can find a biography of Wagner here:
www.notablebiographies.com/Tu-We/Wagner-Richard.htm
NET NOTEBOOK: Don’t forget to take a look at theInternet activity notebook in our open-house. You’ll
find games, news and English learning sites.

Joshua Says: I’m pleased to see that many more of you are starting to use thecafé-Open House these days – even to do some extra study! This is a very gooddevelopment and we hope more of you will catch on to this service in the future. But,
don’t forget the roof-top garden is also open to you. The extra rain we have been
having this year has made the garden especially green with flowers popping out allover the place! A coffee, a book to read or study, fresh air, sunny weather and tables
and chairs under the shade from a parasol - Why not give it a try?

Junko Says: Nowadays, many salary men and women are taking lunchboxes to work instead of going to restaurants for lunch. I guess this isreflecting recent conditions in the economy here in Japan. And, I think there isa very interesting spin-off coming out of this situation: people, andmanufacturers, have become more creative, making hand-made items,
producing ecological and inventive products. As an example, the latest lunchboxes can cook rice and heat up side dishes at the same time.

Jonathan Says: We are having a double celebration in our house this month:
our oldest child is four on May 2nd and our youngest (two and a half) has justbecome ‘Pantsman’ (that is, he no longer needs nappies). Those of you more used
to American English may be confused: the American word for trousers is pants.
By pants, we English mean, specifically, underpants (which the Americans callbriefs). And nappies are diapers in America. As someone once said of the USAand England: Two countries separated by a common language

Greg Says: It seems that every year the beer gardens open earlier andearlier… not that I’m complaining! It lets us all know that summer is justaround the corner, and if the other day is any indication it’s going to bescorching this year… my daughter and I were golfing in Tokushima and it
was 33 degrees… in early May!!!.. Beer gardens are a welcome sight toquench the thirst on scorching days… So, bring it on!!

Kevin Dit: "En mai, fait ce qu'il te plait" ! Ou du moins, c'est ce quel'on dit en France, mais nous faisons rarement ce que nous voulons
vraiment, n'est ce pas ? Et vous, que voudriez vous faire en ce
moment ? Le mois commence avec la Golden Week, cette "semainedorée" vous permettra peut être de réaliser l'un de vos souhaits :aller en vacances, sortir avec des amis, faire un voyage, ou tout
simplement se reposer !

For all those poetry fans, we are going to run a (semi) regular English “Poet’s Corner” hereon page 3. For those who are interested in contributing, please jot down your poem andhand it to your teacher. Then watch for it to appear here!
To start to ball rolling, here is the first, a joint effort from Yukiko Yagi and Mami Kido inS(b)1class. It’s an English Haiku:

Early afternoon
Spring wind turns the footpath pink
Petals on my feet

As everyone knows, the Open House isopen to all our students, all day, everyday, 6 days a week. But did you know thatyou can invite a friend to join you for acoffee, too? Yes! You can invite a friend, orfamily member, to come in, have a free coffeewith you, take a look around, use the libraryand the internet – all “on the house!”
And, if they like it, they can join up in our 1+1
campaign, or just join the “easy start” caféclub. We welcome everyone to pop in and havea look around.

G E N E R A L ( ジェネラル) コース
英語+実践練習６０分 x ２ 回 /週：
1学期-４ヶ月毎にレベルが上がる
クロスローズのメインプログラム
９０分x 1回/週：
忙しい方のための週１レッスン
プライベート(個人)
月２回からレッスン回数自由選択
セミプライベート(セミ個人)：
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N E T (ネット) レッスン
COSMOPOLITAN (コスモポリタン) コース グループOR プライベート

英語+実技を通した実用練習、だから誰でも分かる、自然に上達する。
英語でギターを習う
レッスン料￥4,725/月～
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