New Britain herald., 1925-09-26
BAYREUTH, CITY
 MADE BY MUSIC
Wasnerlan Annual Musical FeS,
 tiYal Held There

Washington, n, C, s'pt. :5 -- "seldom does genius riso who can put an entire city in bondage 10 his . achievements" says bulletin o' the National Geographic society on Bayreuth wAcre the annual Wag- ner musical festival has just com- plated it's second season since the interruption by the World war. "To Bayreuth, Wagner intrusted the perpetuation Of his operas. For almost two months each summer the Festsplelhaus, the thcater de- signed by Wagner himself, rcsounds with his music and his only, For those two months BayTcuth is all hustle and stir.
 "Bayreuth, each summer ceases to be little German town Wag- ner wrote for the ear of the world. not Germany alone. so Bayreuth be- comes & sounding board for the cosmopolitan discord Of many tongues
 City's Gift to Wagner
 1.-TWO golden months are over al last, and then Bayreuth does little but wait until the festival two months of next summer. Of course there is a trickle of tourists to show the great slab of marble unmarked by inscription or design, that covers the master composers grave. And from the grave they go 10 the Villa Wahnfried, Wagner's refuge of peace, now occupied by his aged wife, their children and children's children. It is the gift of a grate- ful city to Wagner.
 "wagner's City is just off the youte to anywhere. Its very isola- t,on endeared 1t 10 Wagner. Many cities offered to do homage to the masters operas as long as there were listenere to hear, but Wagner chose Bayreuth. It lies in noun tainous southwest Germany. Scale 40 miles west of the westernmost wedge of Czecho-sovakia on the map and you will find 1t. Nurem- berg Is another 40 miles south of Payreuth. An airplane journey from Nuremberg 10 the metropolis of Leipzig would take a sky-sight- seer right over Bayreuth but the forested mountains that close around 1t compel the main line railroad to seek valley farther east
 Audiences Worthy Of Music
 "If Wagner, remembering how Paris hoodiums howled down Tam hauser, intended that Bayreutf should be g. temple giving admit tanre only to music lovers he sue ceeded. Devoted appreciation mus Are travellers to search out this ht tie hiltown. The journey onc' started becomes a pilgrimage. Ant njvgrims who will travel hundred and sometimes thousands of mile to hear an opera make eager listen CTS. So here arc found audience worthy of great work superbI done.
 "Once in Bayreuth, the interes Ia not in the heart of town but 1 the lovely little hill' toward wh'c s broad. tree -bordered boulevsr points. The lovely little hill ts perfect setting for the Wagner the ater. No other thcater in the Worl Ia like this one. Wagner's aim wa 10 knit drama. stage setting an music In closest unity. Only in tn .perislly designed auditorium, h believed could his operas fulfill 1T ideal of his conception. We've from without, the theater IS plal hut graceful. Not until one ente do the unusual details ot cons'ru ton become apparent, Seats rise
 tters like those Of a Greek thea'' leaving no space for balcony or ga lery. The musicians are out
 sight.
 Nearby the theater is gras rsrk which nightly becomes Playground of tho Gods Wagner operss are peopled with PagS dsitles, giants. witches, herof heroines. dwarfs and monsters, o ot the stage doors they nour al into the park during the long I terrssions as If from a magic box