A "Meistersinger" experience in Bayreuth
As a member of Friedelind Wagner’s Master Class at Bayreuth for two years and another season as a visitor, I have had many unique experiences at Bayreuth. Of course, most must be kept confidential until the parties have died, but there are still memories that can be shared.
One of the most engaging was during a Meistersinger performance conducted by Hans Knappertsbush.
I was most fortunate to be able to sit in an unoccupied seat for both a Meistersinger and a Parsifal performance in the orchestra pit, and was able to watch the maestro close up, and in a wonderful environment. What an experience!
The Meistersinger performance remains most vivid to me (even though it's not a favorite opera of mine). Of course I was very young at the time, and had no idea of the gravity of any experiences that I was privy too, either in performance, rehearsal or personal (Wagner family activities especially!. Believe me there were many).
However – Meistersinger: During the final moments of Act II, it seems that the Night Watchman mixed up his words, and from what I gather, repeated his lines from his first entrance, rather than the hour later, which was required. All this was unclear from the sound that reached the pit.
Herr Kna. shouted something very loud, that I did not understand, at the singer on stage, with appropriate threatening gestures. I of course, could not hear the singer, being at the lowest level of the orchestra pit. The orchestra members seemed amused by this, but I doubt if they heard the mistake either. BUT!
The outraged Maestro threw down his baton and leapt off the podium. My impression, from what I knew of the Festspielhaus configuration, was that he disappeared totally from the singer's view on the stage. He proceeded to sit on the stage-right side of the conductor’s raised platform and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit up, and puffed until the end of the act! The orchestra continued, stifling giggles: the fire dept probably had fits, since the whole theatre is a tinderbox, (live flames, at least at that time totally verboten) and yet the audience had no idea what was going on. The act ended without a conductor! I really felt sorry for the singer who made the minor mistake. Certainly a moment I treasure! AND, a moment that the singer probably still has nightmares about!
But there is more...