Click to listen to the Bayreuth Festival Performance Broadcasts
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Compared to other world famous opera houses, the Festspielhaus is quite small and plain: an amphitheatrical auditorium with a mere 1,925 seats. In contrast to such plush opera houses as La Scala in Milan or Covent Garden in London, its thirty rows of seats are wooden, un-upholstered, and do not even have arm rests. Following Richard Wagner's specifications, the floors are also made of wood and, to this day, remain uncovered in fear that carpeting might absorb the fabled sound and thus disturb the famous acoustics of the theater. The Festspielhaus is a unique place. It's singular world status begins with the fact that it is the only theater built from the ground up to the strict specifications and whims of one creative talent. Further the place was erected to present exclusively the handful of works of this composer. The theater was erected to present the premiere of "The Ring of the Nibelung" and to this day remains a place to listen to the work of only one composer. Since the beginning, the Bayreuth Festival has been in the hands of the Wagner family. When the composer died, his wife Cosima took control of the enterprise and it has been passed down through the various generations of the family. Currently, Wolfgang Wagner, the composer's grandson, is at the helm, and many believe that his daughter Katharina will take control in the future. The festival that takes place at Bayreuth every summer is a mixture of time-honored tradition and adventuresome experimentation. So powerful are the festival's contrasting values that, at times, its dichotomy has threatened its very existence. However, the Festspielhaus survived two world wars, and it celebrated one hundred years of existence in 1976. In the initial years of its second century it is still thriving as the one and only, ideal place to experience Richard Wagner's operas.
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The Bayreuth Fanfares Before each performance is given at Bayreuth, and towards the end of each interval of those works that are divided into acts, a group of brass players appears on the balcony above Ludwig's extension and plays a fanfare based on a motive from the act of the opera that is about to start inside. They play three times before the performance begins or continues. It is a great Bayreuth tradition, and the magnificent playing gives you a hint of what you will hear inside. Here are the motives used, as specified by Richard Wagner. TANNHÄUSER LOHENGRIN TRISTAN UND ISOLDE DIE MEISTERSINGER DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN PARSIFAL Richard Wagner did not specify a fanfare for Der fliegende Holländer, therefore before the start of this one act work, a motive from the opening of the overture is used. |
Opening Night of the 2006 Bayreuth Festival On the left you will find footage from opening night of the Bayreuth Festival 2006. The opera was Der fliegende Holländer as you can hear from the fanfare on the balcony playing one of the motives from the overture. Opening night of the Bayreuth Festival is attended by many important figures from around the world, although German political and artistic figures predominate. This clip concludes with a mini interview with Katharina Wagner, daughter of Festspielchef Wolfgang Wagner. This year, Katharina's new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg will kick off the 2007 Festival. |
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Click above to enter a database of performers and performances at the Bayreuth Festpielhaus, from 1876 to the present |
