The Bayreuth Festival (Bayreuther Festspiele) is held annually under the direction of Richard Wagner’s heirs. The composer’s works are staged in a specially built opera house (Festspielhaus). This year, the festival runs from July 25th to September 1st. In addition to “Tristan and Isolde” and “Ring of the Nibelungen”, “Lohengrin” and “Tannhäuser” will again be performed in Bayreuth. In addition to The Flying Dutchman, as last year, conducted by Oksana Lyniv, Ukrainian, the first conductor in the history of the Bayreuth Festival. Facts to know about classical music’s most controversial genius is at DW.

Text first, then music

Richard Wagner was born on May 22, 1813 in Leipzig. He had a desire for art from childhood – the future composer wrote his first dramatic work at school age, although he was not an exemplary student. Later, he also began writing librettos for his operas, which was unusual for the time.

Wagner incorporated his idea of ​​the harmonious symbiosis of text, music, direction, scenography and architecture in the opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, on which he worked for 26 years. It lasts almost 16 hours and consists of four parts: “Gold of the Rhine”, “Valkyrie”, “Siegfried” and “Death of the Gods”. Based on the events of the medieval poem “The Song of the Nibelungs”, the motifs of Germanic myths and Icelandic sagas. The premiere took place in 1876 at the first Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, thanks to the financial support of the Bavarian King Ludwig II. Since then, the Bayreuth Festival, which exclusively presents the works of Richard Wagner, has become a tradition and later an annual event.

Living in debt and wandering

Richard Wagner lived beyond his means and was almost always in debt. Therefore, for most of his life, he escaped from creditors or went into hiding for political reasons – because of his leftist views. The composer lived in Leipzig, Wurzburg, fled abroad, hiding in Riga, Paris – and returned again to Germany. In 1848, while in Dresden, Wagner supported the March Revolution. Around the same time, the composer met with Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin – they discussed destructive revolutionary ideas as well as Wagner’s operas as a chance to create a new world of music.

Declared a state criminal for participating in a revolt against the king in Saxony, in 1849 Wagner fled to Zurich, Switzerland on a false passport and did not return to Germany for many years until his search was officially over.

In the end, his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, helped Wagner resolve the issue of financial difficulties. Though the subjects were very unhappy with the monarch’s extravagance – including the support he provided to his protégé-composer.

In Russia, they were delighted with Wagner

In February 1863, the composer, after several failures of his operas in Europe, gave three concerts in St. Petersburg. He conducted a 130-person orchestra in the Russian capital and in a new way – the conductor faced the musicians, not the audience, as was usual. The program included symphonies by Beethoven and excerpts from works by Wagner himself.

The result exceeded all expectations: the public was delighted and the royal family openly showed their favor to the composer. Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna welcomed Wagner into her room. In the spring, regular triumphal concerts took place in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Since then, Wagner’s works have firmly entered the repertoire of theaters in Russia: until 1914, Lohengrin was shown 135 times in Saint Petersburg alone, and Tannhäuser – 137.

Most expensive songwriter of all time

Since 1859, Richard Wagner has published his works at the Schott music publishing house in Mainz, Germany – under special conditions of cooperation. As the composer was constantly in need of money, huge sums of money were paid to him in advance.

First production of the opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1876

For example, the composer received the fee for the “Ring of the Nibelungs” before writing this cycle of operas. At the same time, the first production in Bayreuth ended in financial disaster. But in the long run, the songwriter’s success brought Schott money and fame. He printed not only all of Wagner’s works, but also Beethoven’s 9th symphony, as well as some compositions by Mozart.

Wagner is an anti-Semite

In the mid-19th century, anti-Semitic sentiments were strong in Europe. They were shared by Richard Wagner. In 1850, in Leipzig, he published under a pseudonym the pamphlet “Jews in Music”. In it, the composer denied the Jews the capacity for creative and artistic expression. According to Wagner’s anti-Semitic theory, Jews could not be artists, as they were allegedly only capable of repeating and imitating.

In the reprinted version 20 years later – now with attribution and in an expanded version – the tone of the essay became even more aggressive. Wagner was an ardent anti-Semite, but in life he maintained relations with the Jews, did not refuse their help and himself supported those who were useful to him.

Because of the composer’s anti-Semitism, he was especially revered in the “Third Reich” – Wagner was greatly appreciated by Adolf Hitler, who came to the festival in Bayreuth. To this day, there are disputes over whether manifestations of his anti-Semitic phobia can be found in Wagner’s operas and whether all of his music should be recognized as anti-Semitic.

Wagner and the women

In Wagner’s operas, the woman is often a strong and courageous character, and her task is to save a man or atone for his guilt. At the same time, not every woman as a separate person is strong, but one who loves so much that she is ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of her beloved.

In his personal life, there were also strong and dedicated women by the composer’s side. He attracted the opposite sex despite being ugly, short – 166 centimeters, having no titles and being constantly in need of money. He is credited with many love affairs with artists and fans. He was married twice. With his first wife, actress Minna Planer, Wagner lived for nearly 30 years. But she didn’t accept his love affairs and didn’t share his anti-Semitic views, so the marriage broke up.

The second wife, Cosima Bülow, was 24 years younger than Wagner and much taller than him. Cosima was intelligent and well educated. To marry Wagner, she had to divorce, and in her marriage to the composer, she gave birth to three children. It was Cosima who, after Wagner’s death, continued the tradition of holding festivals and, according to Sven Friedrich, director of the Richard Wagner Museum in Bayreuth, she was “recognized and revered by the patriarchal male world”. During her leadership in 1904, the famous ballerina Isadora Duncan participated in the Tannhäuser ballet scene.

“Ring of the Nibelung” – the longest opera in the world

Richard Wagner’s Villa in Bayreuth, beside which the composer is buried

All of Wagner’s operas are many hours long, considered the longest operas in the world. For example, the opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen is usually played several nights in a row. Gods, heroes, magical creatures and a ring that gives power over the world… The drama unfolds over three generations until it ends with the apocalypse in “The Death of God”.

In Bayreuth, Wagner built a unique theater for himself: without boxes and balconies, with acoustics designed for a symbiosis of music and voice, with an orchestra pit located 12 meters deep under the stage, so that the musicians would not distract the audience. public attention from the performance of the artists. Today there are 1937 seats in the auditorium, and the acoustics are considered one of the best in the world.

The composer died in Venice on February 13, 1883 of a heart attack. He died sitting at the piano – while playing the role of the Rhine’s daughters of the “Golden Rhine”.

Richard Wagner was buried at Bayreuth in a crypt in the garden of his villa. And his legacy is being rethought to this day and continues to be played out on the world stage.