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time, the lights in the auditorium
would be extinguished during the
performance, and comings and
goings were forbidden.Operatic pilgrimage
From the very first festival in 1876,
the great and the good flocked
to Bayreuth, and with Wagner’s
final opera, Parsifal (1882), the
unmistakable allure of the festival
only grew. Things were not
straightforward, however, and the
unprecedented scenic demands
of The Ring were only imperfectly
met at its first production. One of
Wagner’s most vocal critics, Eduard
Hanslick, said that the rainbow
bridge that leads to Valhalla at the
end of Das Rheingold resembled a
“seven-colored sausage”; Wagner’swife, Cosima, famously complained
that the costumes, painstakingly
researched, made everyone look
like Native American chiefs. The
dragon Wagner had ordered from
Manchester, UK, for Siegfried, never
arrived in full—the neck section,
the story goes, ended up not in
Bayreuth but Beirut.A new beginning
The legacy of The Ring, Wagner’s
Bayreuth project, and the composer
himself cannot be overestimated.
Wagnérisme was fashionable in
Paris at the end of the 19th century
as artists were inspired by the
heady mix of religion and sex in
Parsifal. Meanwhile, in Vienna,
debate raged between those who
supported Brahms and his moreconventional symphonies and
those who were fully under the
Wagnerian spell.
Leitmotif became a standard
technique for a generation of
younger composers, many of whom
attempted, after Wagner’s death,
to create earnest facsimiles of his
operatic works. Italy, traditionally
the home of opera, had a crisis
of musical identity, torn between
embracing Wagner’s innovations
and preserving its own revered
traditions. Thanks to Wagner,
opera—which he once criticized
for being too susceptible to
frivolousness—was now an art
form that dealt with the grandest
philosophical questions and
demanded a new revolutionary
sort of music to do so. ■Deep stage to allow
action in the foreground,
middle ground, and
background.Sunken orchestra pit
to give the illusion that
the sound is coming
from the stage. Wooden interior to
provide greater resonance.
No boxes or galleries,
in line with Wagner’s
democratic principles.Darkened auditorium to
create a “mystic chasm.”Fantailed seating
instead of traditional
horseshoe shape to focus
attention on the stage.The opera house Wagner had
built in Bayreuth was designed
by Gottfried Semper, with
continental seating (no central
aisle) that allowed all patrons
an equal view of the stage.Wings providing
access to the stage
from the dressing rooms.Dressing rooms beside
the stage for the opera's
principal singers.Bayreuth Festspielhaus
ROMANTIC 1810 –1920
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