Wagner, composer extraordinaire and previously (May, 1849) amongst the German most wanted list for his role in the Dresdner uprising, began in August of 1877 work on one of his most beloved operas, entitled "Parsifal." It was completed in 1882, and its premiere set for the second Bayreuth Festival in July of the same year. Wagner died a year later.
Since then, the leadership of the Bayreuth Festival has always rested in the hands of one of Wagner's descendants. This year, as it has been every year since 1967, it is Wolfgang Wagner who takes the reigns of the festival.
This year, Parsifal will again grace the stage at Bayreuth, yet it appears that its music is overshadowed by the sour notes hit between its leading man, tenor Endrik Wottrich, and its director, Christoph Schlingensief.
Wottrich alleges that the "staging was an abomination and the director and his dramaturge simply did not know the opera" (1). Among other things, the tenor holds it against the director that he has never actually directed an opera before. As the tenor continues to vent, he calls Schlingensief "a man who only cared about his own whims and who pushed through his artistic freedom with legal means rather than any artistic authority." (1)
The tenor is correct, Christoph Schlingensief is not exactly an obvious choice with respect to directing an opera. Being quite well-known amongst the more controversial art scene, he is on record stating that he expects visitors to go away upset from the staging of Parsifal.
His current art credits include "Attabambi", and "Bamibland" which caused one prominent paper to critique as "Kick this guy out on the street, and don't pay him!" It is quite obvious that the new Parsifal director is a proponent and star of the kind of art that seeks to shock, both visually and audibly. Pushing the envelope to the limits of good taste (even though some would say he went far beyond that already), and the content of his shows to the edge of being shut down for obscenity, it is a curious choice that Wolfgang Wagner made, when he hired this director for his Parsifal; and it is not surprising that a classically trained artist, such as Wottrich, will butt heads with this artistic renegade.
The question remains: will this year's Bayreuth Festival fulfill its calling, i.e. the showcasing of Wagner's greatest compositions, or will it become the swan-song for this German institution?
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