King Ludwig II of Bavaria gave a lot of money to Wagner to built the new opera house. Wagner also made tours across Germany to get money for it. Societies were established to raise money.
The architect who designed the opera house was Gottfried Semper.
The opening took place on August 13, 1876, with a performance of Das Rheingold. A lot of important people were there, including Kaiser Wilhelm, Dom Pedro II of Brazil, King Ludwig (who came in secret, perhaps because he did not want to meet the Kaiser), and other members of the nobility, as well as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and the composers Anton Bruckner, Edvard Grieg, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Franz Liszt. Hans Richter was the conductor.
During Wagner's life the festival just performed the Ring Cycle and, later, his opera "Parsifal". After Wagner's death, his widow Cosima continued to run the festival. She gradually introduced the other operas Wagner had written, so that all ten operas were in the repertoire. The operas were always performed exactly as Wagner had done. Nothing was allowed to be changed in any way.
After Cosima retired from running the festival in 1906, Wagner's son Siegfried took over management of the festival. He did some things differently, introducing new staging and performance styles. When he died in 1930 the festival was run by his widow Winifred.
In the 1920s, some years before the rise of the Nazi party, Winifred Wagner became a close friend of Adolf Hitler. Because of this, Bayreuth was able to continue getting a lot of money during the Nazi period. Wagner's works were used by the Nazi as propaganda tools. It is strange that Hitler went to performances in Bayreuth that included Jewish and foreign singers, long after they had been banned from performing in all other places in Germany. Winifred's influence with Hitler was so strong that Hitler even wrote a letter to the anti-fascist Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, begging him to lead the festival. Toscanini refused.
It was during this time that the festival made its first break from tradition. They stopped using the 19th century scenery on the stage. Many people disagreed with this, including Toscanini and Richard Strauss, and even some members of the Wagner family. They thought it should stay exactly like Wagner had known it.
During the war, the Nazi party ran the festival. Operas were performed for soldiers who had been hurt in the fighting. These soldiers were forced to go to lectures on Wagner before the performances, even if they were not interested in music.
A lot of Bayreuth was destroyed by bombing in the last days of World War II, though the theatre itself was undamaged. After the war, Winifred Wagner was sentenced to probation by a war court because she had supported the Nazi party. Ironically, it was because of Winifred that the theatre was not bombed. She had not allowed it to be used for military purposes, so it was not a military target. After the war the theatre was used for other kinds of concerts for the next few years. The festival started again in 1951, opening with a performance of Beethoven's Symphony no 9, followed by a performance of Wagner's opera, "Parsifal"
Wieland Wagner, the composer's grandson, had some very new ideas, including very abstract scenery. Some of the audience even booed. What Wieland was trying to do was to make a big break from the past with its association with Hitler. Wieland died in 1966. For a time people wondered whether the festival would continue. There were a lot of arguments within the Wagner family. Wieland's brother Wolfgang Wagner remained in charge of running the festival for the next 42 years, while the money was controlled by the Richard Wagner Foundation.
Wieland Wagner started a workshop in Bayreuth in which directors could meet and discuss new ideas for presenting the operas. This made it easier for new ideas to be accepted, and gave new life to the festival.
The centenary of the festival was celebrated in 1976 with a great production of the Ring directed by the French director Patrice Chereau. His production concentrated on showing how the Ring was about the 19th century working class being used by the wealthy capitalists. Some people thought it was the best opera performance they had ever seen, others hated it.
There has been a lot of uncertainty about what would happen after Wolfgang retired. Many people wanted the festival to continue to be in the hands of the Wagner family. On 1 September 2008, Wolfgang Wagner's daughters, Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Katharina Wagner, were named by Bavaria's culture minister to take over the Festival. They have said that they want to "bring opera to the people". In 2009 Wagner's opera "Tristan und Isolde" will be live on the web. It will only cost £12.90 to watch online. People will also be able to watch it for free on a big screen in the centre of Bayreuth.
Repertoire
Repertoire (pronounce: "Re-per-twahr") is a French word used in music and in the theatre. It means a list of pieces of music or plays. Sometimes the English word repertory is used.
When a pianist speaks about his or her "repertoire", it means all the pieces that he can play. Most famous musicians have a wide repertoire (they can play a lot of pieces).
The "piano repertoire" means all music written for the piano. The violin has a much larger solo repertoire than the viola. That means that much more solo music has been written for the violin than for the viola.
A theatre company may have a "repertoire". That means all the plays that they regularly perform. Sometimes theatre companies are called "repertory theatres" because they have a particular list of plays that they perform.
Working class
Working class is a term used to describe people in society who have jobs which are not academic or highly paid. They're usually jobs which are physical, especially when they are paid an hourly wage.
Different societies will have different ideas about what "working class" is. People started talking about the working class after industrialization in the early 19th century. Karl Marx wrote about the working class.
Working class contrasts with middle class and upper class, which are above working class. The underclass is below the working class.
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II (German: "Ludwig der Zweite von Bayern"; Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was king of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death (Bavaria is now part of Germany, but at that time it was a separate country). He is well known for his support for the composer Richard Wagner.
He is often referred to as the Mad King Ludwig because his behaviour was very odd. For example, he would leave his castle by climbing out of the window instead of walking out of the door. He is sometimes referred to as the Swan King in English and "der Märchenkönig" (the Fairy tale King) in German. This is because he built several very expensive and fancy castles, the most famous one being Neuschwanstein.
It is not clear whether his death by drowning was suicide or whether he was murdered.
Today tourists from all over the world visit the castles that he built. They also visit the Bayreuth Festspielhaus for which he gave a lot of money towards the building.
Real Burgos C.F.
Real Burgos C.F. is a football club that played in Spain.
Folio
When talking about manuscripts, and printing in general, a folio is a sheet, which is used on both sides. One of the sides is known as "recto", the other one as "verso".
Ivan Regen
Ivan (Janez) Regen (called Johann Regen) (December 9, 1868 – July 27, 1947), was a Slovenian biologist. He is best known for his studies in bioacoustics, the science of hearing and communicating.