Bayreuth Festival Opens with Disastrous Rendition of Richard Wagner's 'Tannhäuser'

Opera festivals rarely raise eyebrows outside of the cities in which they are staged but this year's version of the Bayreuth Opera Festival has gotten off to a rough start. The yearly event, which is held at the titular German city, is dedicated entirely to the works of composer Richard Wagner, a native of Leipzig. The festival allows for experimentation to be conducted with the classic compositions and narratives, which is where our story begins.

The festivities opened July 25 with a performance of Tannhäuser. It didn't take long for problems to arise however. About 20 minutes in the opera, there was a technical malfunction and the audience was asked to leave the theater. A number of bangs were heard, but the crowd was eventually allowed to reenter the auditorium and the stage play resumed 50 minutes later.

Opera-goers tend to pay healthy sums for seats, so significant delays such as the one mentioned no doubt left them in a bad mood. Opera-goers also tend to be rather conservative in their tastes and it seemed that director Sebastian Baumgarten's vision of Tannhäuser set in a present-day bio-gas plant as a positive thing. When he took his bows at the end of the performance, AFP reports that the boos and catcalls "were almost deafening."

"It's awful," was the telling quote from an attendee. "It's got absolutely nothing to do with Wagner's intentions."

Also a disappointment: Frequent attendee Angela Merkel wasn't present for the opening night's festivities.

Those who bought passes for the whole shebang still have a chance at leaving the festival satisfied however. Other shows that will be performing in coming days include Der Fliegende Holländer and Lohengrin.

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Richard Wagner