The Bayreuth Festival German: Bayreuther Festspiele is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth , Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented.
Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special festival to showcase his own works, in particular his monumental cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal. Performances take place in a specially designed theatre, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Wagner personally supervised the design and construction of the theatre, which contained many architectural innovations to accommodate the huge orchestras for which Wagner wrote as well as the composer's particular vision about the staging of his works.
The Festival has become a pilgrimage destination for Wagnerians and classical-music enthusiasts. The origins of the Festival itself lie rooted in Richard Wagner's interest in establishing his financial independence. A souring of the relationship with his patron, Ludwig II of Bavaria , led to his expulsion from Munich, where he had originally intended to launch the festival.
On the advice of Hans Richter , however, the focus fell upon Bayreuth which enjoyed three distinct advantages. With its ample capacity and strong acoustics, the opera house seemed a good match for Wagner's vision. Second, the town of Bayreuth was located outside those regions where Wagner no longer owned the rights to the performance of his own works, which he had sold off in in order to alleviate pressing financial concerns.
Finally, the town had no cultural life that could offer competition to Wagner's own artistic dominance. The Festival, once launched, would be the dominant feature of Bayreuth's cultural landscape.
