Bayreuth’s 150th anniversary festival, celebrating Richard Wagner’s epic Ring cycle, has once again brought to the fore the institution's deeply troubled past, a history that includes associations with Adolf Hitler and British fascist Diana Mosley. This unresolved legacy echoes across a Europe increasingly defined by the rise of the far-right and the tightening grip of its border regime.
Tickets for the full-throttle Wagner marathon, amounting to almost 23 hours of opera during a heatwave, sold out within 90 minutes. The festival has long attracted major cultural figures, from Liszt and Mahler to Virginia Woolf and WEB Du Bois. However, its historical guest list also includes figures like Hitler and Mosley, a fact that continues to define the festival's ongoing internal tussle over its identity and how to confront its problematic foundations.
A Troubled Legacy, An Unresolved Present
One hundred and fifty years after Wagner launched the festival, the event remains marked by its historical baggage. The critic who attended reviewed six operas across seven days, experiencing the theatre's famously uncomfortable seats and lack of air conditioning. The festival's struggle to come to terms with its past isn't an isolated cultural debate; it reflects a broader European reluctance to fully reckon with the historical roots of its current anti-migrant policies and the resurgence of nationalist, often explicitly racist, movements.
The theatre's design, modelled on ancient Greek amphitheatres with unbroken rows, was intended to promote a communal artistic experience. Yet, this “fantasy of democratic opera-going” demands significant endurance from its audience, both physically and intellectually. Audience discipline is strictly enforced; one attendee reported being “told off for uncrossing my legs.” This rigid adherence to tradition and exclusion of comfort mirrors the bureaucratic and often dehumanizing processes imposed on those seeking refuge within Fortress Europe.
Exclusion by Design
The absence of surtitles, unlike most major opera houses, further highlights an exclusionary approach. An American visitor, “totally, furiously lost” during the second opera, expressed despair, stating he was “off to Munich tomorrow” because “there’s no point staying to see the rest of this.” This linguistic barrier and lack of accessibility for non-German speakers parallels the complex and often impenetrable asylum systems designed to deter rather than assist, leaving many migrants disoriented and without recourse.
The original orchestra pit, exceptionally deep and almost entirely covered, creates a “mystic gulf” for the audience but is “oppressively hot” for the musicians, who wore T-shirts and shorts. A tiny air-con unit, described as looking like “spare parts for a vacuum cleaner,” reportedly helps only the conductor. This disregard for the conditions of those behind the scenes, while maintaining an aesthetic facade, is reminiscent of how the EU's border regime often sacrifices human well-being for the sake of maintaining an illusion of control and order.
Profiting from Kitsch, Ignoring History
Bayreuth's “tackier side” was also evident, with “Richard’s Spritz Bar,” a “Wagner Mania” balloon, and a lifesize cutout of the composer for photos. Gold figurines and a walking trail of mini-Wagners contributed to what the critic called “theme-parkification or kitsch.” These attempts to “cash in on or send up Wagner’s image” create a “surreal contrast to the earnest aesthetic debates” and the festival's unresolved historical issues. This commodification of culture, even one with a problematic past, reflects a broader capitalist tendency to profit from spectacle while sidestepping genuine historical accountability, much like the “migration industry” profits from the very borders it helps enforce.
The anniversary-year production of Rienzi, described as Hitler’s favourite, attempted to recast it as a contemporary political thriller, though the critic's review was “not wholly positive.” Another production, Jay Scheib’s Parsifal, was described as a “stomach-turning gore-fest.” These artistic choices, alongside the festival's commercial ventures, underscore the ongoing struggle to reconcile its legacy with modern sensibilities, a struggle that Europe as a whole must undertake to dismantle its own structures of racism and exclusion. The festival continues until August 26.