Wagner’s music-drama about a knight, a swan and a damsel in distress has captivated Melbourne audiences for almost exactly 140 years. Lohengrin, in fact, was the first Wagner opera to be performed in Australia. We are told that audiences and critics hailed the opening night on 18 August 1877 at the Prince of Wales Opera House in Bourke Street as a pivotal moment in the city’s ongoing musical development. Wagner himself was informed of the performances by a German expatriate, Emil Sander. The composer responded promptly and enthusiastically to Sander’s news, encouraging his works to be sung in English, so that the audience would understand the text “intimately”.

Since that ground-breaking season, some things have changed and some have remained the same. Despite Wagner’s wish, that first season was sung in Italian. The conductor, Alberto Zelman orchestrated the work from a piano score, never having heard any Wagner before. (It was said he preferred Rossini.) While performance standards have undoubtedly improved over the years, the financial impact of mounting a production of Lohengrin remains serious. That first Melbourne season ran to 19 performances with an orchestra of about 40 players and 100 singers. It precipitated the financial, emotional and physical...