138 Nietzscheof visitors, a suspicion stole over him that this festival was not likely to
usher in the rebirth of the Dionysian spirit. The "dedicated spectators"
he had described in the fourth Untimely Meditation would evidendy not be
in attendance.
Nietzsche had anticipated that Bayreuth would put an end to the mis-
taking of "entertainment at any price" for art (1,448; WB § 4). As it
turned out, outrageous prices were being charged for food, lodgings,
and carriage rides between the city and the festival hill. Monarchs,
princes, bankers, diplomats, and women of ill repute were the center of
attention. These people typically languished during the performances,
but perked up at social events. Later Nietzsche wrote about Bayreuth:
"It was not just that the complete indifference and illusion of the
Wagnerian 'ideal* was palpably evident to me at that time; more than any-
thing else, I saw how even to the inner circle the 'ideal' was not the point,
that entirely different matters was considered weightier and more pas-
sionate. Moreover, the pitiful assemblage of patrons and litde
patronesses.... The entire idle dregs of Europe coming together, and
every prince racing in and out of Wagner's house as though it were more
of a sporting event" (14,492). Nietzsche was witness to rehearsals,
pompous arrivals of crowned heads at the train station, and stylish
receptions hosted by the Wagners. All the while, he remained confident
that his essay on Wagner represented the most significant intellectual
contribution to the festival. It therefore cut him to the quick when
Wagner failed to grant him due attention in all of this husde and busde.
In Cosima's diaries, Nietzsche's visit was given only a single, brief men-
tion. He was playing an inconsequential role and did not wish to put up
with it. After a few days he left, in a state of turmoil, for the small,
remote village of Klingenbrunn, but did return to Bayreuth on August
12,1876, for the first performances.
Nietzsche endured the appalling situation in Bayreuth until the end of
August. He beat a quick retreat from the few performances he attended.
"I dread every one of those long artistic evenings," he wrote to his sister
even before the rehearsals had begun (B 5,181; Aug. 1, 1876). In Ecce