Talk:Bayreuth Festival

message: Not everyone agreed that the festival was artistically an "outstanding success."  In contrast to Tchaikovsky, George Bernard Shaw, who attended some of Bayreuth’s earliest performances had this to say:
::Those who go to Bayreuth never repent it, although the performances there are often far from delectable. The singing is sometimes tolerable, and some times abominable. Some of the singers are mere animated beer casks, too lazy and conceited to practise the self-control and physical training that is expected as a matter of course from an acrobat, a jockey or a pugilist. The women's dresses are prudish and absurd…Further, whilst Wagner's stage directions are sometimes disregarded as unintelligently as at Covent Garden, an intolerably old-fashioned tradition of half rhetorical, half historical-pictorial attitude and gesture prevails. The most striking moments of the drama are conceived as tableaux vivants with posed models, instead of as passages of action, motion and life.
::I need hardly add that the supernatural powers of control attributed by credulous pilgrims to Madame Wagner do not exist. Prima donnas and tenors are as unmanageable at Bayreuth as anywhere else. Casts are capriciously changed; stage business is insufficiently rehearsed; the public are compelled to listen to a Brynhild or Siegfried of fifty when they have carefully arranged to see one of twenty-five, much as in any ordinary opera house. Even the conductors upset the arrangements occasionally.
Dtaw2001 03:13, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, this refers to what was often called the "Bayreuth style", of rigid poses, actors pacing methodically and stand absolutely still, a very "stiff" production.  And it is associated with the theatre under Cosima Wagner's direction, after Richard death.  It is regarded as her attempt to preserve in as close a manner possible Wagner's direction and staging, and not allowing actors to improvise, modify, or take over the staging.  This existed for many years, and was only somewhat modified during Siegfried Wagner's short stint as director, and Winifred's (really Tietjen's productions) are often refered to as some of the best.  It is the "New Bayreuth" were the style really associated with Cosima disappeared completely.  nobs 03:50, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Artistic acheivements in Early History section 

message: I've tried to include a fair representation of the more important recordings from different eras. I recently added a couple of historical recordings to the CD section. However, I have not been able to find any recent recordings to add to the modern recordings section. If anyone knows of any, please add them. Dtaw2001 22:32, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I've added the Boulez and Barenboim Rings which were originally on CD and two of the many Parsifals by Kna to the Historical CDs section.--Dogbertd 13:16, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  Actually I've now changed this a bit to "Historical" and "Postwar productions", since "Modern productions" was, I thought, a rather arbitrary term. Hope this is OK. --Dogbertd 13:23, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Discography 

message: I'm sorry I forgot to sign in before editing the article, but here's what I've done. The article says: 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 and Adolf Hitler.
I deleted Hitler because we are talking of THE EARLY YEARS of the Festival, Hitler came almost 60 years after 1876, when Bayreuth was already well established. Adding his name at this point seems to me a bit gratuitous (if not malicious). --Moloch981 22:48, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hitler 

message: The article states that Levi was "personally chosen by Wagner". I'd like to see a citation for this. was it not the case that, as the chief conductor of the munich opera he was chosen by King Ludwig, who owned the rights to Parsifal and who bankrolled the first festivals? My understanding was that, far from being chosen by Wagner, Wagner objected to Levi and tried to have him removed - because he was jewish - and that only once Ludwig dug his heels in did Wagner agree to Levi as the conductor for Parsifal. Citation, please.--Dogbertd 15:51, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Herrmann Levi

message: I've looked through several biographies - and Spotts estimable book, but can't see any justification for the statement made here that Wager insisted on real animals onstage. A real bear? a real toad? I know that one of the few participants he praised unreservedly after the first cycle was the (real) horse who played Grane, but were real rams and ravens used?--Dogbertd 13:04, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Animals now removed. I might put Grane back in later.--Dogbertd 19:22, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Get that bear off my stage!

message: Can someone add the IPA version of Bayreuth? --Ferengi (talk) 08:41, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It's here.  Perhaps the story about the dragon being mis-delivered to Beirut belongs in this article, though. Sparafucil (talk) 22:55, 2 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: IPA

message: Has anyone heard what operas will be presented in 2011 yet? --Reverend Edward Brain, D.D. (talk) 18:28, 8 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: 2011 Festival

message: Not wanting to start an edit war here, but I don't believe that my addition of 09:34, 5 November 2013 ("Ticket prices") which was subsequently reverted at 19:17, 5 November 2013 is inappropriate or counts as any sort of advertising.  Certainly for the latter, with the prices as they are, giving a figure would hardly attract anyone other than dedicated Wagner fans, who would know all about the ticketing arrangements already.
As regards relevance, this festival is probably unique given the huge demand for tickets and the typical long waiting time for ordinary customers.  There are several paragraphs above describing the ticketing situation, but it is missing an important piece of information - even just a rough idea of the prices.  After all, any discussion or evaluation of it would have a completely different meaning if the tickets cost of the order of 10EUR than if they cost thousands.
Even if prices are not relevant, surely the information that it is only possible to attend a complete set of the "Ring" performances is - although this small snippet could be added to the section below.
Threefoursixninefour (talk) 15:25, 22 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that Bayreuth tickets are a thorny and widely discussed subject in Germany. This is understably discussed at length in the German Wikipedia article (:de:Bayreuther Festspiele#Vorstellungen und Besucher) and to a lesser extent here (section "Tickets"). However, the subsection under discussion here, "Ticket prices", seems not very encyclopedic to me and of little interest to the general English speaking reader; there wasn't really any information that an interested reader couldn't find just as well and more authoritative at the online Bayreuth ticket office. Moreover, some of the text had quite a whingeing tone to it. I agree with the removal of that section. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 05:12, 23 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I also agree with the removal. It's unencyclopedic. We're not a tourist guide or a place to publish personal commentary referenced to their brochure. At most, one sentence could be added at the end of the second paragraph of the ticket section: "As of 2014, retail ticket prices ranged from €320 for a front row stalls seat to €45 for a gallery (third level) back row seat." But even that is unnecessary and it certainly doesn't need a separate section. If there were significant external press coverage of the prices because there was something extraordinary about them or an on-going controversy, that might be different. As it is, the prices are about the same as those at the Metropolitan Opera and other top-tier opera houses. Voceditenore (talk) 06:55, 23 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Ticket prices and relevance

message: I like personally the datatable of all music works and their mise en scene in the german wikipedia- Is it a idea to copy it in the english? 
I updated the newest productions, and I would volunteer for the translation.QuiEtNon (talk) 00:12, 27 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Datatable from German wikipedia 

message: Substituted at 09:15, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

message: There is some coverage in this article of how the Bayreuth festival and theater were initially financed but... who owns the place now?
The Wagner family?  The City of Bayreuth? Bavaria? The national government? An NGO arts foundation?
Who actually has the title to this structure and the land it operates on?
--23.119.204.117 (talk) 20:35, 8 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: I think that's the :de:Richard-Wagner-Stiftung Bayreuth. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 01:50, 9 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who owns the Festspielhaus? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I take this to mean the first new production following the war rather then the first performance, but am not sure which is actually correct or whether the clumsy wording means something else. According to :de:Bayreuther_Festspiele#Nachkriegsgeschichte_–_„Neubayreuth“  Bayreuth put on Parsifal in 1951. Sparafucil (talk) 23:39, 2 January 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  "first post-war premiere" 

message: — Assignment last updated by Landryoneal (talk) 21:57, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Classic and Romantic Music History