Wolfgang Wagner's productions at the Bayreuth Festival
Wolfgang Wagner has produced all his grandfather's great music dramas at Bayreuth.
Lohengrin 1953-54
Conductors
Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum
Principal singers
Wolfgang Windgassen, Astrid Varnay, Hermann Uhde, Eleanor Steber, Birgit Nilsson, Joseph Greindl
Der fliegende Holländer (1955-56)
Conductors
Joseph Keilberth, Hans Knappertsbusch
Principal singers
Astrid Varnay, Hermann Uhde, Ludwig Weber
Tristan und Isolde (1957-59)
Conductor
Principal singers
Wolfgang Windgassen (Tristan), Birgit Nilsson (Isolde)
Der Ring des Nibelungen (1960-64)
Conductors
Rudolf Kempe (1960-63), Berislav Klobucar (1964)
Principal singers
Hermann Uhde/Theo Adam / Jerôme Hines / Otto Wiener / Hans Hotter (Wotan), Gerhard Stolze (Loge), Otakar Kraus (Alberich), Jutta Meyfarth (Sieglinde), Gottlob Frick (Hunding and Hagen), Birgit Nilsson / Astrid Varnay (Brünnhilde), Hans Hopf (Siegfried), Herold Kraus / Erich Klaus (Mime)
Before his Bayreuth debut as Ring director, Wolfgang Wagner had already directed the Ring at La Fenice in Venice. The basic visual elements were a concave and a convex disc, symbolizing the world of the gods and the Nibelungs. During the final bars of Götterdämmerung the destroyed disc was restored. Wolfgang Wagner wanted to have two naked people, but this was too bold for its time, according to Wolfgang. (See Wolfgang Wagner: Lebens-Akte, p. 208-209)
For this Ring Wolfgang used a large concave disc – in German the Scheibe – which was soon nicknamed the saucer. But it did not remain a platform. It was also symbolic of the story, starting as the placid bed of a pool in the Rhine, it was later split and segments of it set at different angles. Each scene used the Scheibe in a different form, often roofed by a companion disc in various broken sections. Strife and suffering mark the development of the saga, and this design depicted the tumult of passions and events in bold, jagged shapes, until at the very end when the Rhinemaidens have regained their golden talisman, when all passion is spent and peace heals the passing of gods and men, the great disc sank back into its first simplicity. Bare and smooth it lay, under a silvery blue light. Of all the Rings I have seen in many different operahouses this was by far the finest ending of Götterdämmerung.
Penelope Turing: New Bayreuth (p. 63)
Lohengrin (1967, 1968, 1971, 1972)
Conductor
Silvio Varviso
Principal singers
René Kollo (Lohengrin), Heather Harper / Hannelore Bode (Elsa), Donald McIntyre (Telramund), Karl Ridderbusch (König Heinrich)
The premiere year there were 5 singers who sang the Lohengrin part:
- Sándor Konya
- James King
- Jess Thomas
- Jean Cox
- Hermin Esser
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975)
Conductors
Karl Böhm, Berislav Klobucar, Silvio Varviso
Principal singers
Theo Adam / Norman Bailey / Karl Ridderbusch (Hans Sachs), Jean Cox / René Kollo (Walther von Stolzing), Hannelore Bode (Eva) , Hermin Esser / Heinz Zednik / Frieder Stricker (David), Thomas Hemsley / Klaus Hirte (Sixtus Beckmesser), Bernd Weikl (Ein Nachtwächter), Gerd Nienstedt (Fritz Kothner)
A recording of this production was made by Philips in 1974 with Silvio Varviso conducting, and the following cast: Karl Ridderbusch (Hans Sachs), Hannelore Bode (Eva), Hans Sotin (Veit Pogner) and Jean Cox (Walther von Stolzing).
Der Ring des Nibelungen (1970-75)
Conductor
Principal singers
Heinz Zednik (Mime), Thomas Stewart / Theo Adam / Donald McIntyre (Wotan), Hermin Esser (Loge), Gustav Neidlinger / Franz Mazura (Alberich), Marga Höfgen (Erda), Karl Ridderbusch (Fasolt), Kurt Moll (Fafner), Catarina Ligendza / Gwyneth Jones (Brünnhilde), Gwyneth Jones / Marita Napier (Sieglinde), Karl Ridderbusch (Hunding), Jean Cox (Siegfried) Franz Mazura (Gunther), Janis Martin / Eva Randová (Gutrune)
Parsifal (1975-81)
Conductor
Horst Stein
Principal singers
Bernd Weikl (Amfortas), René Kollo / Peter Hofmann / Siegfried Jerusalem / Manfred Jung (Parsifal), Franz Mazura (Klingsor), Dunja Vejzovic / Eva Randová (Kundry), Hans Sotin / Theo Adam (Gurnemanz), Karl Ridderbusch / Matti Salminen (Titurel)
This production was filmed in 1981 and released on DVD with the following cast: Siegfried Jerusalem, Eva Randova, Bernd Weikl, Hans Sotin, Leif Roar, Matti Salminen.
See all Parsifal conductors in Bayreuth here
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1981-84, 1986-88)
Conductors
Horst Stein / Michael Schønwandt
Principal singers
Bernd Weikl (Hans Sachs), Siegfried Jerusalem (Walther von Stolzing), Manfred Schenk (Veit Pogner), Herman Prey / Alan Opie (Sixtus Beckmesser), Mari Anne Häggander / Lucy Peacock (Eva), Helmut Pampuch (Augustin Moser), Marga Schiml (Magdalene), Jef Vermeersch (Fritz Kothner), Graham Clark (David)
Tannhäuser (1985-87, 1989, 1992-93, 1995)
Conductors
Giuseppe Sinopoli / Donald C. Runnicles
Principal singers
Richard Versalle / Wolfgang Schmidt (Tannhäuser), Cheryl Studer / Tina Kiberg (Elisabeth), Gabriele Schnaut / Uta Priew (Venus), Hans Sotin / Manfred Schenk (Landgraf Hermann)
Parsifal (1989-96)
Conductors
James Levine / Giuseppe Sinopoli
Principal singers
Bernd Weikl (Amfortas), Matthias Hölle (Titurel), Hans Sotin (Gurnemanz), William Pell / Poul Elming / Plácido Domingo (Parsifal), Franz Mazura (Klingsor), Waltraud Meier / Janis Martin (Kundry)
See all Parsifal conductors in Bayreuth here
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1996)
Conductors
Principal singers
Robert Holl (Hans Sachs), Peter Seiffert (Walther von Stolzing), Renée Fleming / Emily Magee (Eva), Birgitta Svendén (Magdalene), Kwangchul Youn (Ein Nachtwächter), Endrik Wottrich (David), Torsten Kerl (Balthasar Zorn), Helmut Pampuch (Augustin Moser)
This production was filmed in 1999 and released on DVD with the following cast: Peter Seiffert, Robert Holl, Matthias Hölle, Andreas Schmidt, Endrik Wottrich, Emily Magee, Birgitta Svendén, Kwangchul Youn
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Daniel Barenboim • Wilhelm Furtwängler • Karl Böhm • Pierre Boulez • Simon Estes • Anne Evans • Stefan Herheim • Hans Hotter • Siegfried Jerusalem • René Kollo • Harry Kupfer • Johanna Meier • Waltraud Meier • Lauritz Melchior • Matti Salminen • Georg Solti • Iréne Theorin • Christian Thielemann • John Tomlinson • Jon Vickers • Katharina Wagner • Wolfgang Wagner • Wolfgang Windgassen • Heinz Zednik • more...