The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-12-06
BAYREUTlI OPERA HOUSE,
HOME OF THE MUSIC DRAMAS THAT
WAS BUILT BY WAGNER.

A Five Hours Performance-Scenes Around
the Edifice During the Opera Season.
Romantic Walks in the Adjoining For
ests-MeaIs on the Grounds.
Bayreuth was we'll selected by Wagner
as the place for the production of his
music dramas. Situated in broad and
quiet valley, it is the place for sweet
melancholy and the harmony of soft
sounds" At the close of the summer.
toward the festival time, a delicate haze
falls upon the landscape and softens the
outlines OF the blue hills that rise upon
avery side The Wagner theatre is as
skillfully set as the scenes of its finest
operas Probably no playhouse in the
history of the stage has been more poeti-
cally situated. Its surroundings invite
contemplation and repose. At miles
distance from the sleepy little town, it
rests on level spot near the crest of
long wooded slope. A narrow avenue.
densely shaded, with a broad walk on
one side, leads to it. The building itself
an irregular mass of red brick and stone,
blazes out in relief against the back
ground of forest. Cultivated trees, arch
ed and trimmed. darken the ascent from
the town; but behind, old woods, with
unkept glades and tangled roads, mingle
the rustic of their leaves with the strains
Of the great German master
RICH TOILETS.
The avenue curves to the right ill
front of the edifice and encircles it, as
the public entrances are at the sides
BY this way all the carriages arrive, de-
posting their occupants at the right en-
trance. The two arms of the bifurcat
ing avenue separate from the theatre
che two restaurants, the only eating
places on the grounds. All the walks
and drives about the theatre are free to
The public. On festival day an i'm
mense crowd of gapers assemblies about
The right entrance to watch the carriages
unload. A large proportion of these
persons are women and girls, attracted
by the prospect of seeing the fine turn
outs of the visitors Nor are they mis-
collection of toilets than those which
gather there 1t is like a dream Of
beauty to stand at the entrance on an
August afternoon. In an hours lOiter-
ing there | saw more beautiful women
than had ever seen before, even in the
capitals of the world Countesses and
duchesses Of all realms, men and women,
young and old, rich in birth, wealth and
position, alighted in succession. One
young English lady, who was accom-
panied by Frenchman of distinguished
appearance, and who might have been
1 daughter of the gods, she was so tall
and fair, had some difficulty in getting
within, SO closely did the eager crowd
surround her.
About a moment before the beginning
Of the opera little brass band blows a
note of warning from the front porch
Then the doors are closed, and nobody
can get in thereafter until the end of the
act. So scrupulously is this rule OBJ
served that it is said that member of a
royal family, few seconds too late, was
once compelled to wait till the next act
On entering one sees the audience stand
ing up, in order to give holders of inside
seats a chance to take them. There are
no center aisles, all entrance to seats
being at the sides Of the hall.
THE PERFORMANCE.
Suddenly down go the lights. That is
the signal, and there is a great rustling
Of clothes and banging of seats. Then
the lights die down still further, till you
can see nothing of the man in front of
you. There is silence for about half a
minute. No orchestra is in sight, and
you are wondering whence is to come the
music, as the seats seem to run right into
the footlights But suddenly long wall
from flute is heard from somewhere
down below the stage, and in moment
the full orchestra is in play.
The interior is simply succession of
raised seats. and not of the softest kind,
either, without side boxes or any elabo-
rate decoration or trimming. About 1000
persons can be comfortably seated, but
the auditorium looks to be much larger.
A performance lasts about five hours;
three hours of opera and two hours of
entr'acte. Beginning at $3.50, there is
an intermission from 4:30 to $50, and an
other from $50 to 1870. The first entracte
is usually given up to promenading. Dur
ing the second there are scenes like those
at an American railway restaurant. The
cafes are scarcely large enough to receive
1900 hungry mortals at one time, and
many, to avoid the crush, buy sandwiches
and go marching around thegroves, sand
witches in one hand, opera book in the
other. On benches conveniently placed
may be seen swain and sweetheart, oblivi-
GUS to everything but the toothsomeness
of cheese and bread
Every young man tries to get through
the eating part in half an hour, so as to
have the other thirty minutes for prone
made. This walk generally consists of a
plunge into the cool forest, and it is very
romantic in the hum laden air of the
cleaning. To get to the woods it is neces-
sary to pass through several little groves
and by the side of a bayfield, The groves
are usually the stopping places of mater
familias and her brood, and are, there
fore, Stunned by the sentimental Hay
ing and the festival go on about the same
time. and to some very susceptible coup
les the clover is SO irresistible that here
and there, on the little piles of scented
grass, youth and maiden sit with hands
clasped, looking out toward the west and
its slowly fading sunset.-W E. Il. in
New York Star.
An Inir,urovoI Cor,+r