Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-02
WAGNER'S OLD HOME.
Wakeman's Pen Pictures Of the
Apostle of Noise as he Appeared
DURING THE CRAZY KINGS REIGN.
A Theater Made to Fit the Compositions of
the Thunderer.
WHAT LIszrs DAUGHTER GAVE TO HIM

| deep seclusion as possible, and to retire al
most absolutely from all that had flavor ot
the modern about it, his judgment was not
amiss when he selected Bayreuth. The
place is one Of the oldest of Bavar1an towns.
Indeed, if one consider the irregularity Of
the streets and the general struggling, zig
gag, haphazard arrangement, or rather want
of arrangement about everything, the place
must have originally grown up along some
old Roman cowpath, and that one a most &C.
centric cowpsth besides. Somebody has
given Darmstadt the reputation of being the
deadest town in Europe. That person had
not seen Bayreuth. am told that, any time
between the Wagnerian revivals, when a
party of strangers arrive at Bayreuth,
it is such an event that the church
bells are rung and the visitors
are drawn in their fakres to an
inn by the populace. However this may
be, there is q listlessness and a silence here
that are ever painful. Twice week the old
market place brightens up bit. If there is
any other business done nere there are no
| evidences of it. The Rathhaus is a rat
house indeed; the churches are sullen and
ruinous; the hotels are wearisome old places
with their Offices in a chair in a moldy
court, or on an oaken table no larger than
your hat; the residences-but few of which
were built during the present century-are
gray old tombs, about which even wild
things in green have apparently ceased
growing; the people themselvesl seem as
wraiths, who dream between tests, and who
are only revived for a little time to gather
the ptennige and marks that those remark
able events bring here; and as soon as the
strangers are gone the sleep of the years
again Immediately descends for another
dreary cycle.
PREFERRED BEFORE wAGNER'S TIME.
But long time ago, before Wagner was
born, it seems that others chose the place for
a spot for idyllic retirement. The husband
of the illustrious Margarine de Baireuth,
sister of Frederick II. of Prussia, here built
many of the deserted palaces and stately
houses which are now either used as bar
racks or are entirely deserted. The Ermit-
age is one and is located about three miles
from Bayreuth. In this, it is related, the
lady named wrote her famous memoirs"
Also at this period Frederick II built the
fine old theater here, decorated in the rococo
style, which seats thousand people, and in
which, during his time, operas and feras
were produced at great cost Upon one, it is
said, 10000 forms were expended. So it
will be seen that Wagner merely revived and
surpassed what once existed here. Beside
the ancient glories of the Margravines, in
terest attaches to Bayreuth as the home of
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, whose writ
ings gre Known % ali lovers of Iitefature.e
He lived here from 1904 until the date of
his death in 1926, and lies buried in the
little graveyard just beyond the Erlangen
gate. King Ludwig 1. erected his mOnu-
ment the work of Swan.hsler, in one of the
principal squares of Bayreuth. At the little
hostelry called the Rothwenzel, near the
Ermitage, a room is shown where Richter
loved to comeIand rest and write
But above all else, the pilgrim here is
attracted to the Richard Wagner Theater,
the musical Mecca of Bayreutb. 1t is built
fully mile from the center of the town,
half way up the side of little mountain,
whose top is crowned by the soldiers memo
rial of 1928, and, with the exception of a
few modern residences at either side of the
broad, tree-bordered avenue leading to it, is
quite isolated and alone in its glorv It is
most untidy and even repulsive in exterior
appearance, and no style of architecture
could be named in describing it unless, in
deed, it might be called Wagnerian-that is,
ARcHITEcTURALLY FRIGHTFUL,
The material is a composite of stone and
brick and concrete, with here and there the
cross-beams of oak, 80 common in inferior
German buildings, with ruble stone and
plaster in the interstices. AS you approach
the leveled platz, or space, set aside for the
theater and grounds, there are to the right
gigantic detached wine cafe and dance hall.
and to the left an isolated beer hall and
promenade grounds. To describe the an
pearanee of the theater from distance,
k4,.k Is. e., La - 4 i
been built, one would be tempted to say that |
q wealthy German farmer had built a large |
barn, or storehouse upon a high hill, Not |
quite satisfied with the room he had GOT
after little he had shed for his cattle and |
horses erected at either side. Finally, after |
several years of af1uence, and determined to |
outdo any farmer in the principality, he |
had put another barn, twice as high and as
large, behind and against the first one con- |
structed.
But when alive, wise old Wagner couId |
give American theater builders points upon |
interior construction. The stage and acces-
sories have been given the most attention.
and this portion of the theater Representing
the last barn built by the fsrmer) is twice az
large as the auditorium ITSELF The width of
the stage is 80 feet; the depth (stage proper)
is Is feet; to which is an extension 40 feet
deep and SO feet wide; giving, on occasions
like the presentation of 'Parsifal," total
stage depth of 11S feet. The height of the
stage from the floor to the attachment of flies
Is 80 feet. The open space below the stage.
the stage cellar, has depth of "a feet, and
the open space above the flies is 26 feet, CIV
ing a total distance from the highest avail
able point for use in stage mechanism to the
floor of the stage cellar of 150 feet. The au-
- - 6 |
ugly and plain as is possible for
The monkish, morbid genius ofman to create.
But one gradually discovers system and ar
of wondrous real worth. There is
not proscenium box or parquette or dress
circle box in the theater. There is no par
Iuette or dress circle. The seats circle to the
light and lett from
THE CAvERNoUs SPACE
n front of the stage, where the orchestra is
hut out from view, to the rear at an angle of
elevation of about 3Oo. Following these at
,ither side with lessening projection are lat
raj walls reaching to the ceiling, the ends
# which are treated with detached Corinth-
an columns with long. square bases. These
columns terminate at the rear
It either end of the Princes gallery, set i'm
nediately behind the last and most elevated
'ircle of seats. This gallery comprises simply
tx stalls or boxes, the whole capable ofeom.
ortably seating 100 persons, from which ex-
end to the rear large foyers and promenades.
Above this gallery is another smaller
,sllery, accommodating $50 people. so that,
IS the main floor contains !, ,345 chairs, there
S seating capacity for only 1850 persons II
These chairs are of cherry, square-framed, ]
nth square backs and cane seats, and are ]
oomy and comfortable. The ceiling which, {
n gray, vandyke and white, represents a
anopy gathered at the top of the pros I
eniuun and fastened down above the unner !