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Bayreuth Festival 2009 and beyond: a  preview by Jim Pritchard (JPr)


It will be an interesting time up on this Green Hill this summer as the 2009 Bayreuth Festival will be the first in 58 years that does not see Wolfgang Wagner taking a leading role. How much planning for the recent festivals owed to the collaboration between Wolfgang and his late wife, Gudrun, is a matter of conjecture but the battle for the succession is over – at least for the time being – and Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Katharina Wagner, Wolfgang’s daughters, now have Bayreuth’s future in their hands. Christian Thielemann will be present in coming years to advise them however and is - in all but name - Bayreuth’s music director.

A potted history reminds us that the Bayreuth Festivals began with the first ever performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen on 13th August 1876 conducted by Hans Richter - one of the greatest artistic events of all time. Almost anybody who was anybody attended, including composers Bruckner, Grieg, Liszt, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky. Parsifal is the only opera Wagner wrote for his special Bayreuth Theatre, the Festspielhaus, and was the only one he conducted there in 1882, the year before he died. He wanted Parsifal only to be performed there and no where else.

Wagner’s wife Cosima, then their son Siegfried, followed by his English-born wife Winifred continued the Festivals through to the Second World War. Eminent conductors were always on hand to serves as the festival’s principal conductor including Hermann Levi, Felix Mottl, Heinz Tietjen and Karl Elmendorff. Tainted by the use the Nazi made of the Festival during the war because of the close ties between Winifred and Hitler, Bayreuth did not reopen until a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on 29th July 1951 followed by the première of the famous Wieland Wagner staging of Parsifal. Wieland’s productions were innovative whilst those of Wolfgang, who directed the festival after his brother’s death, were more ‘old-school’ harking back to the naturalism of the pre-war productions. Werkstatt Bayreuth (Workshop Bayreuth) of the 1970’s had its culmination in Patrice Chéreau’s Centennial Ring in 1976 with Wagner presented as George Bernard Shaw inspired social commentary. However as time has gone on, the artistic reputation of Bayreuth as the premier summer festival has been steadily declining and since the end of the twentieth century no longer do the world’s best stage directors, conductors and singers see the festival as somewhere they aspire to work.

What does the future hold and what can Wolfgang’s daughters do to change this? This summer will not tell us anything new because the programme will have been planned in advance. There are no new productions although Christoph Marthaler's 2005 Tristan und Isolde will be filmed this year for live Internet transmission, for public viewing on the big screen in Bayreuth and for later DVD release. This happened for the first time last year with Katharina Wagner’s Die Meistersinger and seems to be establishing itself as an annual event. Last year too, Stefan Herheim marked his Bayreuth debut with a staging of Parsifal that was very well received by many critics, as well as the Bayreuth audience, but did not win me over (see review.) It will be released on DVD in 2010.

Another change has been the more user-friendly website (http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/) which went on line in July 2008. In addition to all the expected information about the Festival's performances, casts and production teams, the site has a newly designed homepage that includes numerous other features such as offering a very special, multimedia insight into how the Bayreuth Festival is run, while also providing fascinating information about the theatre itself and the Festival’s history. A video guide offers a virtual tour of the theatre with German - and English language videos on the individual working areas, including the theatre workshops, the architecture of the Festspielhaus and the grounds in which it stands. Throughout the Festival, daily podcasts give Wagner fans across the world a chance to become involved in the Festival and to see how the workshops operate, how rehearsals are run and how each year's productions gradually take shape. Books and other merchandising can also be ordered through the Festival's online shop.

Finally whilst there are no new productions this summer and no different conductors not all the singers are returning and there are some interesting changes for one reason or another. Stephen Gould explained in an interview for Seen and Heard  why he would not return as Siegfried in Tankred Dorst’s Ring and he is replaced this year by Christian Franz who returns to sing this role, having last been at Bayreuth from 2001 to 2004. Wolfgang Schmidt, a former Bayreuth Siegfried who sang in the Kirchner/Rosalie/James Levine Ring from 1994 to 1999, returns to sing both Mimes replacing Gerhard Siegel. Estonian bass Ain Anger will make his Bayreuth debut as Fafner instead of Hans-Peter König. New Yorker, Alan Titus, who was Wotan for Jürgen Flimm’s ‘Millennium Ring’ from 2000 to 2004 replaces Franz Hawlata as Sachs in Katharina Wagner’s controversial Die Meistersinger. Hawlata never seemed to have the vocal resources for Sachs though this is a production I have like both times I saw it (review ) though I doubt whether the Austrian baritone Adrian Eröd, as talented as he seems, can equal Michael Volle’s outstanding Beckmesser. Sadly Mr Volle has conflicting plans in Munich that clash with the Bayreuth schedule. I hope he will return to Bayreuth soon.

As for the future I expect genuine change to be slow; I am looking forward to reporting soon on Katharina Wagner’s recent new production of Rienzi for Bremen Opera early next month but when will Rienzi be put on at Bayreuth? As for forthcoming new productions; 2010 is a promising start with a new Lohengrin (directed by Hans Neuenfels and conducted by Andris Nelsons (the City of Birmingham's Symphony Orchestra's  new Music Director from September 2008. Ed)  with Jonas Kaufmann, Annette Dasch and Evelyn Herlitzius). In 2011 there will be a new Tannhäuser directed by Sebastian Baumgarten and conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock. In 2012 a new Der fliegende Holländer conducted by Christian Thielemann with Adrianne Pieczonka, followed in 2013 by a new Ring (all that is known about this is that Thielemann will not conduct it) and after nothing new for 2014, in 2015 there will be a new Tristan und Isolde, directed by Katharina Wagner and conducted by Christian Thielemann.

So no sign of Rienzi yet but interesting times are ahead at Bayreuth.

Jim Pritchard

Jim Pritchard will review the second Bayreuth 2009 Ring cycle between August 7th and 12th. Ed

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