For the first time since its 1951 re-opening, the Bayreuth Festival will not take place in 2020. The reason? Once again, the Coronavirus. The cancellation of the 2020 festival in last March was a a real hard blow for wagnerians because for the first time in their lives, there will be no Bayreuth this year... something unthinkable. The last time it suspended its activity was in 1945, amidst the devastation of World War II. For the wagnerians, summer means Bayreuth. Every 25th July, the magic of the festival can be witnessed by the audiences both in the theatre as well millions of people worldwide on the radio, and in the recent years, followed via livestreams on the internet.
To give an alternative, the Bavarian Radio, Deutsche Grammophon and German Television will be offering broadcasts and telecasts of classic and recent productions, as well as the 2015 Petrenko Ring, the 1952 Karajan Tristan and the 1958 Cluytens Lohengrin on the radio, as well as the classic Chéreau and Kupfer rings on television and latest productions in streaming in DG.
On the other hand, the city of Bayreuth and the festival Organization are also doing their part: many concerts featuring known artists of the Festival will be held, as well as a Beethoven cycle celebrating his 250 anniversary. As a result, the opening date of the festival has continued the tradition despite all, but not with the scheduled performance of Die Meistersinger, but a concert to help the Festival artists, celebrated at Wahnfried, Wagner's former villa, with an audience of 400 people in the garden, following the concert in a big screen placed in front of the house.
It has featured the celebrated singers at Bayreuth Klaus Florian Vogt and Camilla Nylund, as well as Jobst Schneiderat at the piano and members of the orchestra conducted by Christian Thielemann.
Klaus Florian Vogt and Camilla Nylund performing Die Meistersinger during the last year Festival.
The concert began with excerpts of Meistersinger with piano accompaniment: the Fanget An aria from Act 1 and the Act 2 scene between Eva an Stolzing. Vogt has sung the role during many years at Bayreuth, so he knows well the aria and sings it with his lyrical beautiful voice. However, it is known that he lacks some of the heroic, aristocratic tone for this role. Nylund sang well but sounds a bit mature for Eva.
Afterwards, began the orchestral part, conducted by Thielemann. They started with the Siegfried-Idyll, in which a tender, moving version of this masterpiece. But the peak of the program came with the Wesendonck-Lieder, in which Thielemann gave a magnificent rendition, extracting from the ensemble the wagnerian, dramatic, elegiac, melancholic required for a great performance of this cycle of songs. Nylund was here more appropriate, with her beautiful voice and dark, elegiac, sensitive and liederistic performance.
Despite the accomplished performances, the emotion perceived for this concert in such special circumstances, the usual magic of the Festival was missed. Today, most of wagnerians are sending some support among themselves, to carry on with this absence, by posting old recordings of Wagner operas. Health is more important, even than Bayreuth itself, so we have to wait. We wish next year the conditions could let the Festival to be resumed, because if there is no Bayreuth, summer is less happy than it should be.
We hope the Festival regains its audience and performances soon.
My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.
Most of the photographs are from the internet and belong to its authors. My use of them is only cultural. If someone is uncomfortable with their use, just notify it to me.
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