Tannhäuser, Bayreuth Festival | reviews, news & interviews
Tannhäuser, Bayreuth Festival
Tannhäuser, Bayreuth Festival
Song contest meets recycling plant, Jesus meets Cupid, in early Wagner
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/mast_image_landscape/public/mastimages/f85c69e258fa1e3fd07e321cb5f74e94.jpg?itok=6icPSFJy)
In 1981, when I last came to Bayreuth, the festival still seemed to be a battleground between the German Left and Right, between the blame faction and the guilt faction, between the commie East and the fat-cat West. Plus ça change. Without quite openly taking sides, Sebastian Baumgarten’s new staging of Tannhäuser rings some cracked old political bells while, apparently with Bayreuth’s connivance, candidly parodying most of the thinking that underpins this admittedly somewhat raw, yet for Wagner absolutely crucial early work.
In 1981, when I last came to Bayreuth, the festival still seemed to be a battleground between the German Left and Right, between the blame faction and the guilt faction, between the commie East and the fat-cat West. Plus ça change. Without quite openly taking sides, Sebastian Baumgarten’s new staging of Tannhäuser rings some cracked old political bells while, apparently with Bayreuth’s connivance, candidly parodying most of the thinking that underpins this admittedly somewhat raw, yet for Wagner absolutely crucial early work.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Opera
!['Gianni Schicchi' WNO cast](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Trittico%201_0.jpg?itok=TC84p4VF)
![It's the music, stupid - or perhaps more a comedy with musical attachments](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Merry%20Widow%201_0.jpg?itok=XnkTx-3g)
![Ingeborg Bröcheler greets the crowds at the start of 'Giulio Cesare'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Cesare%201.jpg?itok=cTfPnuq3)
![Street fighting man: Morgan Pearse as Scarpia](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/tosca%20sc%20demo.jpg?itok=pW9Z-9iZ)
!['It’s ultimately the design that makes the greatest impression of the evening'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/MFA%20087.jpg?itok=ZmBgQp31)
![Rihab Chaieb's Carmen overcomes the resistance of Don Jose (Dmytro Popov) at Lillas Pastia's](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/CARMEN_100524__photoRichardHubertSmith-5266.jpg?itok=BLB3C6wD)
![The King (Chuma Sijeqa) prepares to punish Megacle (Gemma Ní Bhriain) and Licida (Meili Li)](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/L%27Olimpiade%201.jpg?itok=4mwv7y9i)
![In rehearsal for 'Rusalka' at Glyndebourne, 2011](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Andrew%20Davis%201.jpg?itok=YZtZvTe5)
![Svetlana Sozdateleva's Brünnhilde prepares for immolation with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Gttrdmmrng%206_0.jpg?itok=kZ4nIB3w)
![Eri Nakamura as Amelia with Mark Elder conducting the Hallé](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Boccanegra%205.jpg?itok=fkPlTQts)
![A woman framed: Durassie Kiangangu and Claudia Huckle](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/aci%20g%20d.jpg?itok=8XkBLXSf)
![Aighul Akhmetshina with Blaise Malaba as Zuniga (left)](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Carmen%201_1.jpg?itok=NGdLytsf)
Add comment