- Wolfgang Wagner
Wolfgang Wagner (born
30 August 1919 ) was the director (Festspielleiter) of theBayreuth Festival from 1951 to 2008, a position he initially assumed alongside his brother Wieland in 1951.Biography
Wolfgang is the son of
Siegfried Wagner , the grandson ofRichard Wagner , and the great-grandson ofFranz Liszt . He married twice, toEllen Drexel andGudrun Mack . Gudrun died in November 2007. [ [http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/0,1518,520138,00.html Der Spiegel obituary 28 November 2007] ] He has three children: Eva, born 1945, Gottfried, born 1947 and Katharina, born 1978 [ [http://home.c2i.net/monsalvat/wagtree.gifJoseph M. Erbacher's Wagner Family Tree] ] . He was reportedly estranged from the children of his first marriage; with Gottfried over the family's connection withAdolf Hitler , a friend of Wolfgang's mother Winifred; with Eva over control of the Bayreuth Festival. Eva was eventually named as his successor as the director of the Bayreuth Festival in conjunction with his preferred candidate Katharina after the two women reached an agreement following the death of Katharina's mother. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/arts/music/02bayr.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin "Two Great-Grandaughters of R. Wagner named to manage Bayreuth", NYT Sep. 2, 2008] ] .Career
Wolfgang worked with his older brother Wieland Wagner on the resurrection, in 1951, of the Bayreuth Festival following
Germany 's collapse after theSecond World War . The festival has run on an annual basis since then. On Wieland's death in 1966, Wolfgang became the sole director of the festival. Under his directorship, the famousBayreuth Festspielhaus underwent extensive renovations. It was announced on29 April 2008 that he would step down on31 August 2008 when the year's festival had finished. [Catherine Hickley "Bayreuth Festival Chief Wolfgang Wagner Steps Down" (Update1), Bloomberg.com [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aKAvgcnk9sYg&refer=muse] ]Both brothers contributed productions to the Bayreuth Festival, but Wolfgang did not enjoyed the same critical reception as Wieland did. Like his brother, Wolfgang favoured modern, minimalist stagings of his grandfather's works in his productions. As director of the festival, Wolfgang commissioned work from many guest producers, including innovative and controversial stagings such as the 1976 production of the
Ring Cycle byPatrice Chéreau . He, however, confined the stagings at the festival to the last ten operas by his grandfather that make up theBayreuth canon established under the direction of his grandmotherCosima Wagner .Wagner attracted some criticism for what is seen as his autocratic sway over the Festival.Tom Service, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6909220.stm "Wagner's guardian"] , BBC News, July 20, 2007] Nonetheless, he helped make the Bayreuth one of the most popular destinations in the world of
opera . There was a ten-year waiting list for tickets. [cite web| title=Bayreuth Festival Goes for Youth in 2007| publication=www.auswaertiges-amt.de| url=http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/WillkommeninD/D-Informationen/Nachrichten/070221-3,navCtx=73442,__page=3.html| date=2007-02-21| accessdate=2007-03-12]In 1994, he invited
Werner Herzog (who had staged "Lohengrin" at Bayreuth in 1987) to make a documentary about the festival, which was released under the title "Die Verwandlung der Welt in Musik" ("The Transformation of the World into Music").References
ee also
*
Wagner family tree External links
*" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111475/ Die Verwandlung der Welt in Musik] " on IMDB
* [http://www.br-online.de/global/bildergalerie/bildergalerie.jsp?galerie=/repositories/bildergalerie/kultur-szene/040830-wagner-85/index.xml&themeURI=/global/kultur-szene Wolfgang Wagner Photo Gallery]
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