# Bayreuth 2013



## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

Anyone going to Bayreuth this year? Which music dramas are you seeing/hearing?


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## Hoffmann (Jun 10, 2013)

I've never been to Bayreuth, but, maybe if I sold my house...


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## Adeodatus100 (May 27, 2013)

Oh darn. I forgot to apply for my tickets back in about 1996.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

I am going to Bayreuth this year (already got my train ticket) but I am going in October and not seeing any music dramas. I want to see the place where the Master lived and wander the streets he wandered, but I would not be able to bring myself to pay that kind of money for a performance which I would have to suffer through with my eyes closed, even if I had it. I am sure what they _hear_ in Bayreuth this year will be divine, but what they _see_ - somewhere near the opposite.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

do they broadcast shows?


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## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

SiegendesLicht said:


> I am going to Bayreuth this year (already got my train ticket) but I am going in October and not seeing any music dramas. I want to see the place where the Master lived and wander the streets he wandered, but I would not be able to bring myself to pay that kind of money for a performance which I would have to suffer through with my eyes closed, even if I had it. I am sure what they _hear_ in Bayreuth this year will be divine, but what they _see_ - somewhere near the opposite.


I tend to agree. But the euphoria of being in the premier Wagner venue might help one get over the regie (at least, I hope...)

Tell us how the trip goes!


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## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

deggial said:


> do they broadcast shows?


No, maybe for the best....

(Why, Kupfer? Chereau? WHY?!?!?!)


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I think the waiting time is only around 5 years now that the societies and tour groups have been cut off. 

I may start applying. Perhaps Katharina and her terrible productions will be gone by ticket time, although I'm not holding my breath.

I am going to the Seattle Ring next month. The last remaining traditional Ring on earth!


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Notung said:


> No, maybe for the best....
> 
> (Why, Kupfer? Chereau? WHY?!?!?!)


if they did, you could at least listen.


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## Adeodatus100 (May 27, 2013)

I'm not sure I'd go to Bayreuth for the Festival, but like SiegendesLicht I'd love to see the place. Hallowed turf and all that. I quite like some non-traditional productions - Chéreau's and Kupfer's Ring Cycles are among my favourites - but in the last few years they've either been totally bonkers or rather dull. (I do find "Rat Lohengrin" funny and entertaining, but I'm not sure that was the intention.)

I thought they were experimenting with broadcasts a couple of years ago. Am I mistaken, or did it not really take off?


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

_Der fliegende Holländer _will be transmitted live to cinemas this year, but only to a selected number of them located in Germany.


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## expat (Mar 17, 2013)

Or watch the Hollaender online here

http://programm.daserste.de/pages/programm/detail.aspx?id=94635599259AD020936B9683599B00C3 live transmission on July 25th at 22:15 CET.


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## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

Do you just hit the live stream button? I did and it took me to a popular music singing contest.


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## expat (Mar 17, 2013)

@Notung - I think that the stream will be live on the 25th at 10:15 pm CET from what I read.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Hoffmann said:


> I've never been to Bayreuth, but, maybe if I sold my house...


I'm a 16 year old boy, I live with my parents and make money only from busking on my guitar. It will be probably over half a lifetime before I ever step foot inside the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. I envy you for having something that would get you there simply by selling it!!!


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## Hoffmann (Jun 10, 2013)

It would almost be worth it, but then I would probably have to go back to work...

When I was 16, I had no clue what a Bayreuth was, much less where it is - you are years ahead of me!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Note the set for the new Ring at Bayreuth has Marx , Stalin, Lenin and Mao one Mount Rushmore.

http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de...gen.173cd33c-21cd-4ba9-9daa-5f9f58d65b77.html

Two of the greatest mass murderers of all time. Why didn't he have Hitler and Pol Pot up there as well?

And that man who ruthlessly killed his opponents in a bloodsoaked revolution that enslaved millions and brought in a totalitarian police state to the region.

And the man who invented and economic system that doesn't work anywhere it's been tried.

Sounds promising?


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

DavidA, I think your anger will fall on deaf ears. In fact I am sure, if some of our own forum members directed the Bayreuth Ring, we would see the same thing. However, Wagner and his own work has nothing to do with it.

This modern "art" is sick and twisted, and I am glad we still have masters like Wagner who have not been touched by this sickness.


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## poptart (Jul 15, 2013)

I can't afford it either. But this year Mr Poptart and I treated ourselves to the 8 DVD set of the Boulez/Chereau centenary production (which isn't cheap but a lot cheaper than flights, hotels and tickets) which I heartily recommend. You can turn off the lights, turn up the volume and before you know it you're in the best seat in the Festspielhaus. In spirit, at least.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

poptart said:


> I can't afford it either. But this year Mr Poptart and I treated ourselves to the 8 DVD set of the Boulez/Cherneau centenary production (which isn't cheap but a lot cheaper than flights, hotels and tickets) which I heartily recommend. You can turn off the lights, turn up the volume and before you know it you're in the best seat in the Festspielhaus. In spirit, at least.


The Boulez/Cherneau DVD set has been my only way to watch the Ring for at least 8 years and will probably continue to be for the rest of my days.

I like to pick a Sunday and pop Das Rheingold into the DVD player around 8am. Break for lunch after Die Walkure. Break for Dinner after Siegfried. Watch Gotterdammerung and go to bed. Makes for a good day, especially if I'm not feeling well and am just going to lay in bed all day anyway.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Interestingly, at a news conference today ahead of the opening of the festival, Castorf was asked why Hitler wasn’t one of the four heads in the “Mount Rushmore” line-up.
He replied that he had made a conscious decision not to make any explicit references to Hitler and the Nazis in his Ring, even if he had toyed with the idea of dressing Alberich’s slaves in Nibelheim in concentration camp garb, but ultimately rejected it.
“Ausfluege in andere Zusammenhaenge finde ich interessanter,” Castorf replied.
(“I find forays into other spheres of association Imore interesting.)


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## Adeodatus100 (May 27, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Note the set for the new Ring at Bayreuth has Marx , Stalin, Lenin and Mao one Mount Rushmore.
> 
> http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de...gen.173cd33c-21cd-4ba9-9daa-5f9f58d65b77.html
> 
> ...


It depends what he's going to do with it. I dare say if we'd seen Chéreau's hydroelectric dam, or his "Isle of the Dead" before their first appearance, we'd have been squirming with righteous nostalgia for the good old days of the empty stage and clever lighting. Now, they're classic, they're iconic, they're all that.

I like to curl up with a good Chéreau, too, but I also like the Kupfer/Barenboim. However, I suspect you're right - even Kupfer/Barenboim is more than 20 years ago now, and I've not seen any Ring that interests me since.


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## JJQ (Jul 27, 2013)

I'm going. I've been applying for tickets since either 2003 or 2004, so the wait for me is at least 10 years. I'll be there from 22nd August (Das Rheingold) through to the end on the 28th when I see Tannhauser, so I'll see all 7 operas. As I write this, it's Saturday morning, meaning that the first performance of The Ring Cycle began last night. Doesn't look promising as the setting is a gas station on Route 66, with the 21st century's version of Rhinegold, i.e. oil. Oh well, after waiting 10 or 11 years, at least it will be an experience!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

JJQ said:


> I'm going. I've been applying for tickets since either 2003 or 2004, so the wait for me is at least 10 years. I'll be there from 22nd August (Das Rheingold) through to the end on the 28th when I see Tannhauser, so I'll see all 7 operas. As I write this, it's Saturday morning, meaning that the first performance of The Ring Cycle began last night. Doesn't look promising as the setting is a gas station on Route 66, with the 21st century's version of Rhinegold, i.e. oil. Oh well, after waiting 10 or 11 years, at least it will be an experience!


Have a good time!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

And post a lengthy review!


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

JJQ said:


> I'm going. I've been applying for tickets since either 2003 or 2004, so the wait for me is at least 10 years


but how does it actually work? random tickets are snapped based on your position in the queue? or when they get to you they make you an offer of different possible tickets?


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## Roland (Mar 13, 2013)

Yes, yes, JJQ, tell us some of your impressions of Bayreuth. Let us know what it was like, what you liked, what you didn't. You are, quite possibly, the only one on this site who made the trip there this year. I'm glad that your ten-year effort finally paid off.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

deggial said:


> but how does it actually work? random tickets are snapped based on your position in the queue? or when they get to you they make you an offer of different possible tickets?


I'd like to hear this too. I've heard you should apply for anything, and whether you get to see Dutchman or Parsifal is luck of the draw, which is not very appealing. If you apply for specific opera(s), the wait is much longer. Is this true?


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

DavidA said:


> Interestingly, at a news conference today ahead of the opening of the festival, Castorf was asked why Hitler wasn't one of the four heads in the "Mount Rushmore" line-up.
> He replied that he had made a conscious decision not to make any explicit references to Hitler and the Nazis in his Ring, even if he had toyed with the idea of dressing Alberich's slaves in Nibelheim in concentration camp garb, but ultimately rejected it.
> "Ausfluege in andere Zusammenhaenge finde ich interessanter," Castorf replied.
> ("I find forays into other spheres of association Imore interesting.)


Wonder if that little episode with the _Tannhäuser_ production in Düsseldorf this past May had something to do with his decision.


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## JJQ (Jul 27, 2013)

There are numerous takes or suggestions on what works best, but they say it's faster (which is relative) if you say you'll take anything to any opera.

You first have to request an application form. When you get it (although you can now do most / all on line), the form lists all of the available operas and choices of dates. You have one column for your first choice and another for your second. You choose the date and the seating location. In my case I always figured that if I was going, I'd want to see all the operas. Then at the bottom there is a space for comments. I was told you write in that, although the above was my preference I would take any seats for any dates to any set of operas.

You then have to send in the form (or now request online if you wish) so that the form gets there by the time they open all the requests. This is very, very critical. If you don't send in the form, you lose your place in the queue and have to start over again.

Previously, they would send you a letter if your request have been turned down, but in recent years they say that if you haven't heard from them by, I think 31st March, your request has not been successful. When next year rolls around they'll send you the form for the upcoming year and you try again.

This year I received the letter telling me I'm being offered the 7 tickets from the 22nd to the 28th and the price was "x". I then ran off to my bank and did the transfer, after a meeting with the manager at the HSBC branch, telling him what I was doing and threatening him with bodily harm if the transfer didn't go through! he then walked it through the process and a few weeks later, I had my tickets.

As soon as I received the notification I booked a hotel, but as expected, there was nothing available in Bayreuth. So, I'm staying about 10kms north of Bayreuth - in a small guesthouse, which is also a brewery / distillery (maker of schnapps). (Makes one sort of believe in that invisible hand!)

I'm not hearing great things about the productions, but that's ok. I still can't believe I'm going. I've been listening over and over again to the operas that I'll be seeing and especially to the prelude to Das Rheingold, which will be the first notes I'll hear on the 22nd. Getting goose bumps just thinking about hearing that prelude and being in Bayreuth.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

so you tried ten times until it finally worked? that's dedication


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## JJQ (Jul 27, 2013)

It wasn't too bad because at least in the beginning, I knew I wasn't going to get tickets. So, I send off for them in October and forget about them until I receive the "you have not been successful" letter in March. Then a couple of months later they send me the form for the upcoming year and the process starts again. As the 7th, 8th year, etc approached, then you start to get impatient. Like a gambler you keep saying to yourself that this will be my lucky year, but at least with Bayreuth tickets, you know you'll eventually "win". You just hope you don't win in a bad year, for example last year there was no production of The Ring as they were between productions. I don't know what I would have done if I'd been offered tickets that year as I don't know what happens if you turn down tickets.

For people who don't want to wait that long there are a couple of other options. One is to join a local Wagner Society. Although they only get a few tickets each and it's a lottery. A more certain way to to go there as part of a high-end tour, i.e. the ones that cost thousands of dollars / pounds. They get an allotment, as do the Wagner societies, although I hear that may change and they may divert the tickets to the general public, i.e. those of us who have waited years.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I suggest bringing an eye mask. Castorf's Ring is being booed of the stage. A Bayreuth tradition!


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## expat (Mar 17, 2013)

@Couchie - listening to the critics after Rheingold last week on Bavarian Radio and they all loved the fact that yes " the gold can be represented by the oil at the petrol station". Very little discussion about the singers and music.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

they should have a production set on an oil rig.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

deggial said:


> they should have a production set on an oil rig.


The 2013 Walkure IS set on an oil rig...


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

ah, one day late and a dollar short


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## JJQ (Jul 27, 2013)

Couchie said:


> I suggest bringing an eye mask. Castorf's Ring is being booed of the stage. A Bayreuth tradition!


You might be right, but at least I've been prepared for it for quite some time. Reading the reviews over the years I knew the chance of me seeing a traditional staging at Bayreuth was virtually nil. I just kept hoping it wasn't too radical, which I think this one is. In fact, I don't think I'll be seeing a traditional production of any of the operas at Bayreuth. Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Couchie said:


> I suggest bringing an eye mask. Castorf's Ring is being booed of the stage. A Bayreuth tradition!


That's the audience?


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

So, I have been to Bayreuth. Unfortunately Villa Wahnfried is closed down for renovation, so I was not able to get inside the Wagners' home. At the moment it looks like this:









But I have been at the Festspielhaus and stood inside the "mystic gulf", as Wagner himself callled it, of the orchestra pit (no photos from inside the Festspielhaus for copyright reasons, only an outside one):









The two parts of the fassade right and left of the center are fake, by the way, they are made of fabric and fluttter in the wind slightly. The fassade is under reconstruction too, but since that particular view is world famous, they decided to preserve it during the work by means of installing these fake walls.

And I have sat on a bench side by side with the Meister









and climbed trees in the Hofgarten, and eaten two Bratwürste at the same time... And you know what amazed me the most? This whole town seems to be about Wagner, especially this year. There are his portraits everywhere, streets named after his family (there is Listztstraße, and Ludwigstraße, Cosima-Wagner-Straße and Wieland-Wagner-Straße) and after his operatic characters (there is Walkürenstraße and Nibelungenstraße, Siegfriedstraße and Wotansstraße), the Festspielhaus dominates the view right away on arrival at the railway station. There is Wagner everywhere. And then you come to a very simple grave, just a block of marble without any inscriptions.









But everyone who comes to this place already knows just who is buried there and what this place is about. There are no chance people there.

It was only a one-day journey - or should I say pilgrimage? - but it was an unforgettable one.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

... Previous post continued. And some day this whole _Regietheater_ thing will die of its own sheer absurdity, and Wagner's heritage will again be managed by people who are devoted to it, not to their own scandalous reputation, people who will return to the noble and beautiful ideal of Wagner's original intent, to something like this:









And then I will be there again...


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