Post #?? Wochenende in Bayreuth

Well, woke up at 11:30pm on Friday, to catch the 2am train from the Hauptbahnhof to Augsburg. From Augsburg to Nürnberg to Bayreuth, arriving at 7am. Immediately after getting off the train, looking North, I saw, for the first time, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus about a mile entfernt. It was half concealed behind the trees, but the over-stage equipment house, was clearly visible. I walked to the Festspielhaus, and found the Ticket office so I knew where I needed to go to try to get a ticket. I was the only person there. The crew had not even yet arrived to clear the stage from Siegfried, and prepare for Götterdämmerung. That all started around 8am. At the back of the building is a giant door that opens out to the street. Across the street is an equally large door opening to one of the rehearsal stages (the space between covered by an extension of the rooves) Around 8:30, they opened the doors and started moving scenery around. It was quite a production. (The sets are HUGE!) After wandering around for a bit, I sat down at the ticket office about 9am. The second person in line arrived at 10:00. If only it had been a different person. (as I found out later, this person was the most annoying person imaginable to sit next to during an opera.) Shortly thereafter, an elderly man arrived. He noticed my MMB t-shirt and asked about it. I told him that I was here for an internship for BMW from the University of Michigan. He asked if that was my first time in Bayreuth. (yes) He then wished me the best of luck in getting a ticket as a student on my first day in Bayreuth. After that, he asked where I had learned to speak German so well. I found that to be quite a compliment. At this point, person-in-line #2 returned, and proceeded to monopolize the conversation btween myself and this elderly man. (gr)

Anyway, about 11:00, a couple came by and told us that they couldn't make it to the performance tonight, so the first two people in line could have their tickets. After handing over more € than I care to admit and having the name on the ticket switched from their name to mine, I had my ticket to see the first performance of the season of Götterdämmerung at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

After finding out that the opera will go until about 22:35, I realized that I needed to look at the train schedule for that evening, so I knew how I was getting home. (there was a train that was leaving at 21:16, then the next that connected to München was leaving at 5:03am).

After finding that out, I went back to the festspielhaus in the hopes of possibly exchanging my ticket for a cheaper one (didn't work), so after talking with the folks at the counter, I wound up laying down on a bench across the street behind a row of hedges, and (inadvertently) fell asleep a few times over the course of the next 2 hours. After that, I went back over to the line. About at same time, the 2nd Norn came rushing up asking if somebody needed a ticket, I said that I already had one and was looking for a cheaper one (mistake). Another woman was standing there, and said that she needed a ticket. So she got it from the Norn. Completely free. If only I'd thought better on my feet!!!!!!

In any case, I then wandered around the Richard Wagner Park until 3:30 when the doors opened. At 3:45 the inner doors opened and I was allowed to find my seat. Also at 3:45, the brass section steped out onto the balcony of the Königsbau (the front part of the theater) and played the Curse theme to announce that it was almost time. I found my seat and we all sat down. I felt horribly underdressed. Most everybody there was either in a suit, tuxedo, or a fancy dress. I was the only person there in cargo pants, and a t-shirt. But I think I was much more comfortable than everybody else (there is no air conditioning of any sort inside the Haus, so the air moved only slightly and gradually got warmer over the course of the next 6 hours). The person on my left (person #2 in line) was the most annoying person to sit next to during an opera. Every minute or so, he would clear his throat. Every two minutes, cough. Every three minutes, he would click his teeth together by twitching his head to one side forcefully. About every 2 minutes he would say "Hmm" really short and at the absolute most inoppurtune moments. It was unbelievably annoying. I felt like turning and smacking him or something.

At the end of the first act, the person one row behind us and behind this other person, looked at me, met my glance, and gestured to the other person and rolled his eyes. So I wasn't the only person annoyed at him. After the internmission, the person behind me saw my t-shirt and asked if I was in a Jugendorchester (youth orchestra) which led to an explanation of why I was there. He said that the person sitting next to me should have brought Bon-Bons to that he didn't have to keep clearing his throat. He also said that, for that being my first day in Bayreuth, I was extremely lucky to get a ticket. (most people wait 7-10 years). Course, as the person sitting next to me pointed out (as he walked in on our conversation), he managed to secure 6 tickets for himself that morning from the ticket counter (for the 4th or 5th time that day, that I heard). The guy behind me asked how I was liking the opera thus far. I said it was amazing. The performers were amazing, the orchestra was amazing, the accoustics were amazing, the set design was extremely well done (not extremely modern/crazy, but actually fit with the opera), the atmosphere was truly the only one like it in the world. At the second intermission (yes, two intermissions, each lasting 1 hour) I got to talking with the person on my other side, a nice middle aged Frau who was there with her husband. She mentioned that she had the chance to see Götterdämmerung at the previous Inszenierung (I know what it means, but not sure of a proper translation) and was much more impressed with this one. (Every 7 years or so, they change cast/scenery/costumes etc. and apparently, the last one wasn't all that great).

The Festspielhaus Zuschauerraum (auditorium) is completely built from wood. The floor underneath the seats is wood, the walls, the columns, the roof, everything. There is very minimal fabric. I believe that the only fabric in the room was the small amount on the seat part of the seats, and the curtain. Nowhere else could fabric be found: not the backs of the seats, not even the painted-on fabric that "draped" over the edge of the boxes in the back. The orchestra pit cover seemed to be made out of one large piece of Kunststoff. The columns and architecture of the building, drew your eyes to the stage and was simple enough that you couldn't get distracted from the action on stage. When the orchestra played, you could hear it really well; every single instrument not matter how loud they played. I think that the Orchestra pit cover was connected very well to the floor under the seats, because when the orchestra played (basses, brass, strings, percussion, everybody) you could feel it through your feet in the floorboard. Even from the 26th row (almost in the back). The performers did very, very well. The balance between the orchestra at full power and the Bass that played Hagen was amazing. Even with full power orchestra, you could still hear him over the orchestra. The only person that seemed to have issues with the singer/orchestra balance was, unfortunately,......Brünhilde. Yes, Brünhilde, the person that two operas ago had the Hajatoho's of the Ride of the Valkyries against the orchestra. She did an amazing job, but there were two points in the opera, where she was singing, but you couldn't hear her. Multiple times that all you could here were the notes (not really the vowels and no consonants whatsoever). But when the orchestra was a bit more subdued, you could hear her very well.

After the Opera was over I was suprised at how short the applause was at the end. They only made 4 curtain calls. For Die Piraten von Penzance, they made 7 or 8. Granted by this time it was 10:45 and the opera had started at 4:00. From there, I was suprised to see how quickly the place cleared out. After stopping for a night time picture of the Festspielhaus before I left, I went directly to the Hauptbahnhof (from which in the morning, I had a very clear view of the festspielhaus) and when I got there, I looked back, but all the lights around the Haus had been turned off already. Meaning that in that 10-15 minutes, all 1974 people in the Zuschauerraum had cleared off of the premises. Quite impressive. Also impressive was the line of taxis that had lined up outside the Haus (using their own specially made drive that during the rest of the day had been blocked off).

So, now I was at the Hauptbahnhof and it was just after 11:00. The next train that I needed wasn't going to be leaving until 5:03. So, given that I hadn't eaten anything that entire day except for a ham and cheese pretzle at 7am, I had a small meal at McDonald's. (the only place that was still open and didn't cost an arm and a leg). The food at the Festspielhaus was unbelievably expensive (2 € for one scoop of ice cream, 2 € for a breze, 3,50€ for 0,3L of bier as opposed to elsewhere: 1€ for scoop, 0,59 for Bretze, 3,50 for 0,5L bier). By this point, I was quite hungry. I'd walked between the festspielhaus and the Hauptbahnhof a grand total of 6 times. I managed to stay in the lounge at a hotel in the area of the Hauptbahnhof for a few hours. At that point, I started listening to the Harry Potter German audiobook for the next hour and a half until the train was there and ready for people to get on. I listened through 3 chapters, I think.

Anyway, I wound up sleeping quite a bit on the train to Nürnberg, and again to München.

All in all, depite the fact that it was a very expensive day, I am glad that I did it. Now I have experienced a little bit of Wagner as Wagner intended it. (except for the annoying person next to me....that was not all that great).

Today (Sunday) I took a 4,5 hour nap and otherwise haven't done a whole lot (arrived back at the apartment around 10:00, checked e-mail, then went to sleep until 3. I'd been up the majority of two nights in a row, as well as siting through a 6 hour opera.

Like I said though. It was an amazing experience.

Oh, I just remembered one of the conversation topics that I had with the elderly man in line. He asked how it was that a student like me from the United States was interested in Wagner enough to make the trek to Bayreuth, sit in line for 5 hours (until the office opened. this was before I had gotten the ticket, so I was expecting to still be waiting until the office opened to get one.) and the sit through Wagner's second longest Opera. I answered that I had always loved Wagner's music, being introduced to it through waking up to Ride of the Valkyries on many a Saturday morning. From there, once I got to University, I had the opportunity to go through the entire Ring Cycle thanks to the Music Library. So Dad, if you are reading this, even though at the time I wasn't too pleased about it, thank you so very much for those Saturday morning wake-up songs.