Bayreuth Festival Theatre 1876

Orgins The origins of the Festival itself lie rooted in Richard Wagner's interest in

establishing his financial independence. A souring of the relationship with his patron, Ludwig II of Bavaria, led to his expulsion from Munich, where he had originally intended to launch the festival.

In April 1870, Wagner and his wife Cosima visited Bayreuth. On inspection, the Opera House proved to be inadequate.

Nonetheless, the Burgermeisters proved open to assisting Wagner with the construction of an entirely new theatre and the Festival was planned to launch in 1873.

After a fruitless meeting in the spring of 1871 with the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to obtain funds, Wagner embarked on a fundraising tour across Germany, including Leipzig and Frankfurt.

An initial public subscription proved disappointing, however. As part of the effort to secure further financing for the Festival and the building of a new theatre, Wagner, on the suggestion of his friend and admirer Emil Heckel, launched a number of Wagner Societies to increase participation in the Festival's subscription. Societies were established, among other places, in Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna.

Grand Opening Since its opening in 1876, the Bayreuth Festival has been a socio-cultural

phenomenon. The inauguration took place on August 13, 1876, with a performance of Das Rheingold.

Actors Heinrich Vogl (January 15, 1845 – April 21, 1900) was a German

operatic heldentenor.o He played the role of Loge in Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold at

Munich Court Opera on September 22, 1869, with his wife, Therese Vogl, playing the role of Wellgunde.[

o He also played the role of Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre, also at Munich, on June 26, 1870.[1] Therese Vogl played the role of Siegmund's sister and lover Sieglinde in the same performance

Karl Fischer as AlberichConductors and singers

Hans Richter, who conducted the premiere of the Ring Cycle in 1876 conductor Hermann Levi, who was personally chosen by Richard Wagner

to conduct the debut of Parsifal in 1882 with the assistance of the young Engelbert Humperdinck.

Managers-Richard Wagner-Following Wagner's death, his widow Cosima continued running the festival-After Cosima's retirement in 1906, Siegfried Wagner took over management of the festivalWagner's dream, as described in a letter written in 1882, was that his Bayreuth Festival would be free for everyone to attend, however this was never possible because of the extremely high costs to organize and produce it. Nonetheless, based on Wagner's desires, societies refocused their efforts and began making it possible for promising talented musicians to attend. Public interest in supporting subscriptions to fund scholarships was initially tepid, but from 1919 forward, the number of societies increased steadily. Today, more than 26,000 members in 147 societies belong to the International Association of Wagner Societies around the globe.

Wagner explains “ My intention was to offer the public free performances, solely supported by individual contributions. But in Germany I did not find those thousand generous patriots. Worse still, the entire press opposed my idea and stood against me.”

Fundraising and fan clubsDreams need cash to become reality. Wagners story of fundraising is an early example of the new relationship between art and money in modern times and alss a testament to wagners’s creativity and flexibility.

Wagner Societies The first Richard Wagner society was launched in Mannheim, Germany in

1871, one year after the premiere of the German composer's opera Die Walküre ("The Valkyrie") in Munich. The brainchild of Wagner's longtime friend, the music publisher Emil Heckel, the first society was a simple, locally-conceived venue for celebrating Wagner's music. In the wake of Wagner's difficulties in securing interest in the public subscription for his future Bayreuth Festival, Heckel suggested to the composer that he sponsor additional societies to help secure support. Wagner embraced the idea enthusiastically, and by 1872, societies had been established in Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig and London (the latter founded by Edward Dannreuther (1844-1905), the author of Richard Wagner: His Tendencies and Theories published in 1873).

Wagner was delighted. This plan wold allow him to “collect contributions for the realization of a national idea,” charting a middle course between older and newer forms of funding: a conglomerate of small-scale patrons instead of a single benegactor or the mercantilism of selling tickets at a box office. Tickets would be given to the “patorns” who—through their support—had earned the right to attend a performance, with reaming tickets given free of charge to those without fincancial resources, but

deemed worthy.

Finance Financially, however, the festival was a disaster and did not begin to make

money until several years later. Wagner abandoned his original plan to hold a second festival the following year, and travelled to London to conduct a series of concerts in an attempt to make up the deficit. Although the festival was plagued by financial problems in its early years, it survived through state intervention and the continued support of influential Wagnerians, including King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

He was forced to compromise and do whatever was necessary, even relenting on the last vestige of his utopian vision, by agreeing to charge admission for tickets.

The theatre was built and the festival was laugnched on August 13th, 1876k. Nevertherless, short term, Wagner seemed to have failed completely, capitulating to both medieval and modern forms of fundraising, and still posting a significant loss from the first festival.

The job of securing financial support was inseparable from the equally crucial effort to attract and hold public attention. This attention is what keept the festival afloat in the long term.

Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival - all the productions

Richard Wagner's main work is the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner wrote the libretto and music between 1848 and 1874. The four operas that constitute the Ring cycle are: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods).

1876 (3 cycles) - Richard Wagner

Stage director Richard Wagner Conductor Hans Richter

Josephine Scheffsky as Siegline in Die Walküre 1876. Josephine Schefsky (sometimes spelled Scheffzky) (1843-11

November 1912) was an opera singer who had an active career during the latter half of the 19th century. Possessing a powerful voice with a wide vocal range, she tackled roles from both the soprano and mezzo-soprano repertoires. She is best remembered today for portraying several roles in the first complete presentation of Richard Wagner's The Ring Cycle at the very first Bayreuth Festival in 1876.[1]

 Wagner heard Schefsky perform in Munich and was very impressed by her vocal and dramatic abilities. He invited her to take part in the first presentation of the complete Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1876.

1896-1914 (29 cycles) - Cosima Wagner Stage director Cosima Wagner (co-director from 1901: Siegfried Wagner) Conductors Felix Mottl (1896)Hans Richter (1896, 1897, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1906,

1908)Siegfried Wagner (1896, 1897, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1906)Franz Beidler (1904)Michael Balling (1909, 1911, 1912, 1914)

From 1872 through 1876, with support from King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Wagner built a theater at Bayreuth, Germany, which was designed especially for the performance of his works. The Bayreuth Festival, managed by Wagner's descendants, produces Wagner's works annually. His theorectical writings, letters, an autobiography, and extensive entries in several diaries would fill a large bookcase. He completely revolutionized the operatic form through artworks which many feel are the most expressive and psychologically profound in all of musical theatre.

I]n 1854, Wagner reconciled his debts (10,000F). Wagner's later years house the creations of such masterful works such as the Ring Cycle and Tristan und Isolde. His musicality blossomed along with his fame and a steady cash flow (although he never managed to stay out of debt). In 1883, Wagner died of a heart attack in Venice. A private burial was held in the grounds of Wahnfrie in the city of Bayreuth.

In 1872 Wagner moved to Bayreuth, where in 1874 he completed the third act of Siegfried and all of Götterdämmerung, the last work of the Ring cycle. There he was able to build a theater, Das Festspielhaus, adequate for the proper performance of his works, in which the complete Ring was presented in 1876. At Bayreuth, Wagner entertained the great musicians of his day. Parsifal (1877–82) was his last work.

Anton Seidl (1850-1898)

Anton Seidl was born in Budapest on May 7, 1850, and entered the Leipzig Conservatorium at the age of twenty in 1870. He remained there until 1872, when he was summoned to Bayreuth as one of Wagner's copyists. At Bayreuth he assisted in making the first fair copy of Der Ring des Nibelungen basing himself on the composer's manuscript score. Wagner and Seidl worked together closely between 1872 and 1876. Thoroughly imbued with the Wagnerian spirit, it was natural that he should take a part in the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. During this time, Wagner wrote to his young assistant: "My dear friend, pay more attention to the stage, follow my staging directions ... and you will find the correct way through the music." His chance as a conductor came when, on Wagner's recommendation, he was appointed to the Leipzig Stadt-Theater, where he remained until 1882 when he went on tour with Angelo Neumann's Nibelungen Ring company. The critics attributed much of the artistic success that the company had at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in June of that year to his great conducting.

Felix Mottl, conductor of Tristan und Isolde at the Bayreuth Festival in 1886

Wagner commissioned Viennese landscape artist Josef Hoffmann to design sketches for the production.

Amalie Materna(-Friedrich) (10 July 1844 St Georgen, Austria- 18 January 1918 Vienna) was an Austrian operatic soprano. While possessing a famously powerful voice, Materna also maintained a youthful bright vocal timbre throughout her career which spanned for three decades. She is best remembered today for originating several roles in operas by Richard Wagner.

Das RheingoldAugust 13, 1876 Hans Richter (conductor)

Wotan - Franz BetzDonner - Eugen DuraFroh - Georg Unger

Loge - J. Michael VoglAlberich - Karl Hill

Mime - Karl SchlosserFasolt - Herr Eilers

Fafner - Herr ReichenbergFricka - Friedrike von Sadler-Grün

Freia - Marie HauptErda - Luise Jaide

Woglinde - Lilli LehmannWelgunde - Marie LehmannFlosshilde - Marie Lammert

Die WalküreAugust 14, 1876 Hans Richter (conductor)

Siegmund - Albert Niemann

Hunding - Herr Niering

Wotan - Franz Betz

Sieglinde - Josephine Scheffzsky

Brünnhilde - Amalie Materna

Fricka - Friedrike von Sadler-Grün