26. See Albrecht Bald, Jörg Skriebeleit, Das Aussenlager Bayreuth des KZ Flossenbürg, Wieland Wagner und Bodo Lafferentz im ‘Institut für physikalische Forschung’, Bayreuth, 2003, esp. pp. 66–73
27. Bauer ‘Vierzig Jahre Neubayreuth (Teil III)’, in Programmheft V, Bayreuther Festspiele 1991, p. 1
28. Ibid., p. 3
29. Sattler letter (see note 19)
15 The Road Not Taken
1. Letter to the Musical Courier, New York, 11 November 1949, THORN
2. Renate Schostack, Hinter Wahnfrieds Mauern, Hamburg, 1998, p. 251
3. Oswald Georg Bauer, Vierzig Jahre Neubayreuth (Teil III)’, in Programmheft V, Bayreuther Festpiele 1991, p. 8. Wieland letter of 26 April 1949
4. Winifred letter to Friedelind, 7 April 1946, THORN
5. Letter of 20 June 1947, in which Winifred describes her ‘unspeakable joy’ on learning of Friedelind’s aim to phone her, THORN.
6. Letter from Frida Leider to Friedelind, 2 December 1946, THORN
7. Letter from Friedelind of 5 December 1955 to Irving Kolodin, THORN
8. Friedelind Wagner, Heritage of Fire, New York, 1945, pp. 212–13
9. Winifred in the film Winifred Wagner und die Geschichte des Hauses Wahnfried 1914–1975, dir. Hans Jürgen Syberberg, 1975
10. Winifred letter to Friedelind 10 September 1939, quoting directly from a letter of Friedelind to her. This forms part of the correspondence uncovered by ‘source 32a’ in London in January 1941 (see chapter 12). The National Archives, Kew, NA KV2/1914
11. Friedelind Wagner, Heritage of Fire, pp. xiv–xv
12. New York Times, 5 April 1947
13. Friedelind’s citizenship papers bear the number 6708462. Issued by William V. Connell, clerk of the District Court on 9 June 1947, THORN
14. Friedelind’s talk carried by Süddeutscher Rundfunk in 1954 and rebroadcast by Südwestfunk on 21 May 2003
15. New York Times, 5 April 1947
16. ‘Open letter’ from Walter von Molo to Thomas Mann, printed in the Münchner Zeitung of 13 August 1945. This letter and subsequent correspondence on the same topic reprinted in full in J. F. G. Grosser (ed.), Die Grosse Kontroverse: Ein Briefwechsel um Deutschland, Hamburg, 1963. Von Molo letter, pp. 18–21
17. Thomas Mann, answer to von Molo printed in the Augsburger Anzeiger, 12 October 1945. Grosser (see note 16), pp. 27–36
18. Ibid., p. 31
19. Emil Preetorius letter to Thomas Mann of early 1946. Carried in Grosser, Die Grosse Kontroverse, pp. 57–61
20. Thomas Mann, radio broadcast of 8 May 1945 from California, later published in the Bayerischen Landeszeitung. Text printed in Grosser (see note 16), pp. 13–16
21. See ‘Kummer in Bayreuth’ in Der Spiegel, Hamburg, 24 March 1954
22. See London Metropolitan Police (special branch) report of 13 November 1954. In the National Archives, Kew, file ref. KV2/1914
23. See Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, reports of 17 September 1954, 6 January 1955 and 15 March 1957
24. Wolfgang Wagner, Lebens-Akte, Munich, 1994, pp. 385–7
25. Friedelind Wagner, letter to Sabine Rapp, 15 February 1956, THORN
16 Sins of the Fathers
1. Gottfried Wagner, Wer nicht mit dem Wolf heult, Cologne, 1997, pp. 50–1. Published in England as He who does not Howl with the Wolf, London, 1998, and in the USA as Twilight of the Wagners, New York, 1999
2. Ibid., pp. 61–4
3. Gottfried Wagner, Weill und Brecht, Das musikalische Zeittheater, mit ein Vorwort von Lotte Lenya, Munich, 1977
4. Wolfgang Wagner, Lebens-Akte, Munich, 1994, pp. 145–6
5. See esp. Albrecht Bald, Jörg Skriebeleit, Das Aussenlager Bayreuth des KZ Flossenbürg, Wieland Wagner und Bodo Lafferentz im ‘Institut für physikalische Forschung’, Bayreuth, 2003. Also Karin Osiander, Dass Aussenlager des KZ Flossenbürg in Bayreuth, Facharbeit am Gymnasium Christian-Ernstinum, Bayreuth, 1989; Peter Engelbrecht, ‘V-2 Rakete in Bayreuth mitgebaut’, in Nordbayerische Kurier, 7 October 1992, and Bernd Mayer, ‘Das Geheimnis der “sehenden Bomb”’, in Fränkischer Heimatbote I, 1995
6. Wolfgang Wagner, Lebens-Akte, pp. 178–9
7. Winifred letter to Wieland 14 March 1953. Cited in Renate Schostack, Hinter Wahnfrieds Mauern, Hamburg, 1998, p. 307
8. See Wieland Wagner, Richard Wagner und das neue Bayreuth, Munich, 1962, a useful compendium that includes Wieland’s ‘Denkmalschutz für Wagner?’, pp. 231–5
9. Willy Haas, ‘Wieland Wagner’, in the programme book to Götterdämmerung, Bayreuther Festspiele, 1967, pp. 2–7
10. Wieland interview with the Hessische Nachrichten, 27 July 1956
11. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Echoes of a Lifetime, London, 1989, pp. 209–10
12. Ibid., pp. 167–8
13. Wolfgang Wagner, Lebens-Akte, p. 181
14. Facsimile of Wieland’s dedication in Schostack, Hinter Wahnfrieds Mauern, p. 367
15. Ibid., p. 196
16. Astrid Varnay, ‘Wieland Wagner’, programme book to Das Rheingold, Bayreuther Festspiele, 1967, pp. 20–4
17. Schostack, Hinter Wahnfrieds Mauern, p. 317
18. For the claim that Gertrud persuaded Wieland to employ Anja, see Schostack, Hinter Wahnfrieds Mauern, pp. 337–8. Anja Silja rejects this in her autobiography Die Sehnsucht nach dem Unerreichbaren, Berlin, 1999, p. 57
19. Silja, Die Sehnsucht nach dem Unerreichbaren, p. 60
20. Georg Solti, Solti on Solti, London, 1997, pp. 101–2
21. Klemperer letter to Peter Andry 2 August 1967. Cited in Peter Hey-worth, Otto Klemperer, vol. II, London, 1996, p. 332
22. Silja, Die Sehnsucht nach dem Unerreichbaren, p. 50
23. Ibid. Wieland’s Der Eokalyptusbär reproduced on pp. 132–3
24. Ibid., pp. 106–8
25. Ibid., pp. 83–4
26. Ibid. Wieland’s reply of 29 July 1966 to his children cited on pp. 172–3
27. Ibid., p. 86. Undated letter from Wieland to Anja
28. Ibid., pp. 174–5
29. Ibid., pp. 197–201
17 End of Empire
1. Wolfgang Wagner, Lebens-Akte, Munich, 1994, pp. 287–90
2. For an eyewitness acount of one who took part in Friedelind’s master-classes, see John Mansfield Thomson, ‘The Path to Bayreuth’, in Liber Amicorum John Steele, A Musicological Tribute, New York, 1987, THORN
3. Winifred Wagner letter to Gerdy Troost 16 January 1969. Cited in Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich/Zurich, 2002, pp. 605–6
4. See inter alia Nike Wagner, Wagner Theater, Frankfurt am Main/Leipzig, 1998, pp. 388–9
5. Gottfried von Einem, Ich hab’ unendlich viel erlebt, Vienna, 1995, pp. 69–71
6. Isabella Wallich, Recording My Life, London, 2001, pp. 211–13
7. For text of charter see inter alia Wolfgang Wagner, Lebens-Akte, pp. 446–63
18 Time Present and Time Past
1. Winifred in the film Winifred Wagner und die Geschichte des Hauses Wahnfried 1914–1975, dir. Hans Jürgen Syberberg, 1975
2. See Hans Jürgen Syberberg website, www.syberberg.de
3. Die Zeit, Hamburg, 18 July 1975
4. See inter alia article ‘Politik ist im Festspielhaus weggewischt, Pressekonferenz mit Wolfgang Wagner’, in Nordbayerische Kurier, 28 July 1975
5. Walter Scheel, ‘Zum Mythos in der deutschen Geschichte, Rede zum 100jähriges Bestehen der Bayreuther Festspiele in Bayreuth 23. Juli, 1976’, reprinted in Walter Scheel, Reden und Interviews, vol. III, S. 30–43, Herausgeber und Verlag: Presse und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung, Bonn, 1977
6. See Theodor Adorno, Versuch über Wagner, Berlin, 1952
7. Wolfgang Wagner, Lebens-Akte, Munich 1994, p. 102
8. Ibid., p. 103
9. See KARBAUM, p. 7, ‘Vorwort’ for expression of K’s ‘astonishment’ at the use to which his material was put without his ‘explicit permission’
10. Gottfried Wagner, Wer nicht mit dem Wolf heult,
Cologne, 1997, pp. 195–6
11. Harper’s Bazaar, German edition, April/May 1985. Wolf Siegfried Wagner interview with Karsten Peters
12. Walter Schertz-Parey, Winifred Wagner: Ein Leben für Bayreuth, Graz/Stuttgart, 1999, p. 304
13. Isabella Wallich, Recording My Life, London 2001, pp. 266–7
19 Time Future?
1. See Wolfgang Wagner statement of 8 February 2001, issued by the Bayreuth Festival press office. Also, from the same source, the statement of 16 February 2001 in which Wolfgang calls for a ‘Rückkehr zur Ver nunft’ (return to reason) in the debate on the festival’s future leadership, and notes that his employment contract was concluded ‘for an indefinite period, that is for life’
2. See Nike Wagner and Elmar Weingarten, ‘Kinder, schafft Neues! Tradition brechen – aus Treue zum Alten’, article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 May 2000
3. Ibid.
4. Hanjo Kesting (ed.), Franz Liszt – Richard Wagner Briefwechsel, Frankfurt am Main, 1988, Wagner letter to Liszt 8 September 1852
5. Details of the Holender speech and the reaction to it issued by the Vienna State Opera on its website, www.wiener-staatsoper.at
Acknowledgements
The many instances of help I received in researching and writing this book far outnumbered the rare bids by this or that interested party to discourage or hinder. In the first place my heartfelt thanks goes to Daphne, Gottfried and Nike Wagner, as well as to Wieland Lafferentz, for talking to me about the Bayreuth festival and their family memories. Verena Lafferentz, Wieland’s mother, replied at length to detailed questions submitted by letter. Neill Thornborrow, Friedelind Wagner’s heir, gave unsparingly of his time on numerous occasions and kindly made available vital material from his archive.
Given its place in the family’s history and its special atmosphere, the Siegfried Wagner House in Bayreuth – home of the National Archive of the Richard Wagner Foundation - made for an ideal spot in which to study and muse. Both Sven Friedrich and Günter Fischer at the Archive patiently dug out all they could in response to my sometimes tiresome requests, and talked with me at length about the family and festival, past and present.
Special thanks, too, to three Munich-based Wagner experts whose time I exploited insufferably over the years:; Jens Malte Fischer, who read the draft manuscript and made valuable suggestions; Klaus Schultz, who uniquely combines an insider’s knowledge of the Bayreuth festival with an outsider’s independence of view; and Michael Karbaum, whose carefully documented and boldly critical history of the festival in 1976 (sadly never translated into English) remains a model thirty years on.
For hints, tips and in some cases valuable counsel to ‘think again’, I am indebted more than I can say to: Albrecht Bald (Selb), Moritz Frhr. von Bethmann (Frankfurt am Main), John Deathridge (London), Christoph von Dohnanyi (Zurich), Annelotte Elbrecht (Neu-Isenburg), the late Joachim Fest (Kronberg im Taunus), Geoffrey Field (New York), Sylvia Goldhammer (Institut für Stadtgeschichte, Frankfurt am Main), Ulrike Hessler (Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich), Gilbert Kaplan (New York), Hermann Kusterer (Bonn), Norman Lebrecht (London), Frans Lemaire (Zomergen, Belgium), Dietmar Müller-Elmau (Schloss Elmau, Upper Bavaria), Julian Nida-Rümelin (Göttingen), Peter Pachl (Berlin), Birgit Remmert (Oberlunkhofen, Switzerland), Dorothea Renckhoff (Cologne), Jörg Skriebeleit (KZGedenkstätte Flossenbürg), Christian and Susanne Strauss (Garmisch), John Tomlinson (Lewes/Bayreuth), Marc A. Weiner (Bloomington, Indiana) and Heinrich Weltzien (Remagen). Naturally any errors remain my own responsibility.
Prizes for encouragement and extraordinary patience are richly deserved by Caroline Dawnay, my agent, and by the fine team at Faber & Faber, headed by Belinda Matthews and Julian Loose. The eagle-eyed Michael Downes in Cambridge was the very model of a collaborative copy-editor. As ever, Dorothea, my wife, makes it all worthwhile.
Jonathan Carr
7 May 2007
Index
Figures in italics indicate captions. ‘RW’ indicates Richard Wagner.
Aachen opera house 343
Action française, L’ (proto-fascist movement) 89
Adelphi Theatre, Strand, London 98
Adenauer, Konrad 244, 261, 282, 283, 284, 309, 311, 312, 336
Adorno, Theodor 81, 279, 288, 329
Aeschylus 19, 314
Oresteia 16
Afrika Korps 233
Agoult, Marie de Flavigny, Comtesse d’ 1, 28, 29–30, 34, 38, 88, 155
Aix-en-Provence festival 343, 344
Alberich the Nibelung (character) 81, 220, 221, 267
Alhambra, Granada, Spain 120
Alldeutscher Verband (Pan-German Association) 107
Allgemeine Bayreuther Patronatsverein (Bayreuth Patrons’ Society) 94, 97, 99
Altenburg 226, 227, 231, 235, 296
Amann, Max 143
Amfortas (character) 49, 331
Andalucia Star, SS 219
Andrésen, Ivar 157
Anschluss (1938) 185, 201, 211
Antisemiten Liga (League of Antisemites) 68
antisemitism 21, 327, 328
at the Bayreuth festival 148
in the Blätter 98
of Chamberlain 103, 108, 147
of Cosima 39, 62, 348
deplored by Harris family 121
in Die Grundlagen 107
fed by conservative reaction 88
French 69, 88–9
of Friedelind 207
German intellectual antisemitism 69
of Henry Ford 144
of Hitler 132, 141, 186, 187, 326
of Klindworth 135
of Lieselotte Schmidt 201–2
and nationalist pressure groups 107
Nazi antisemitic posters 175
RW and xiii, 6, 12, 39, 65, 66, 70–87, 147, 186, 188, 286, 326, 331, 348
shunned by the Social Democrats 107
Siegfried defends Jews against Püringer 147
see also Jews
Antwerp 198
Appia, Adolphe 109, 116, 291
Arabs 69
Arent, Benno von 171
Argentina, Friedelind sent to 216, 219–20
Arundel, Sussex 207
Aryans (Arier, Arisch) 69–70, 80, 81, 104, 105, 108, 126, 164, 182, 202, 209, 210, 217, 234
Athenian drama 19
August Wilhelm, Prince 154
‘Auschwitz trials’ 311–12
Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, Poland 200, 237, 238
Aussenstelle (concentration camp off-shoots) 238, 239, 240
Austria: Anschluss (1938) 185, 201, 211
Austrian empire 23
Austro-Prussian War (1866) 37, 39
Baader-Meinhof gang (later Red Army Faction) 312
Bach, Johann Sebastian xiii, 303
Baden 65
Bakunin, Mikhail 15, 16
Balkans, Chamberlain visits 90, 103
Balzac, Honoré de 90
Barcelona 316
Battle of Britain 216
Baudelaire, Charles 48
Baur au Lac hotel, Zurich 213
Bavaria 43, 140, 256, 319
absorbed into the Reich (1871) 65
Aussenstelle in 238
backs Austria in the Austro-Prussian War 37
Bismarck and 39
government 267
Hitler tries to drum up support 133
independence 38
Ludwig’s castles and tourism 40
Baxter, Beverley 209, 214, 218, 219
Bayreuth 90, 350
American troops in (1945) 233, 241, 287
badly damaged by bombs 241, 244, 250
Haus der Deutschen Erziehung (House of German Upbringing) 224–5
Hitler visits 44, 131, 133, 224–5
Hotel Fantaisie 56
Institut für physikalische Forschung (Institute for Physical Research) 235, 237–40, 288, 351
location of 43
opera house 43, 202–3
restaurants 45
Sieg
fried-Wagner-Haus 231, 241, 288, 319, 321, 322, 324
Bayreuth festival 10, 51
audiences in Second World War 227–8
becomes firmly identified with Hitler 152
Bonn federal government supports 280–81
bust of RW 351
casts and orchestral playing 345–6
centenary (1976) 320, 325, 347
closed in First World War 227
disparity between producer’s and conductor’s approaches 346
festival assets 256–7, 264
festival chorus 345
Festspielhaus xii, 41, 55, 59, 79, 112, 114, 129, 148, 152, 155, 157, 226, 228, 232, 241, 249, 250, 256, 265, 285, 287, 289, 292, 300, 303, 307, 316, 318, 319, 320, 323, 326, 335, 336, 343, 344, 347, 349, 351
first festival (1876) xii, 43–6, 48, 76, 94, 328
first festival in the Nazi era 169–70
flagship of German culture 350
Friedelind’s master classes 281, 307–8, 337, 346
Furtwängler appointed music director 161
Furtwängler-Karajan-Kna lineup 247–8
Hitler attends 44, 145, 177, 183, 187, 210, 233
Hitler objects to engagement of Jewish artists 149
Hitler’s financial backing 189, 190, 228, 249, 258, 286, 326
Hitler’s grandiose design 285
Klindworth attends dress rehearsals 135–6
Kriegfestspiele (1941) 294
Nazis attend 44, 148, 170
Nike’s proposals 346, 347
old-guard Wagnerians insist on no change 180–81
and ‘regeneration’ of mankind 64, 100
repertoire 58–60, 152, 346–7
restarted (1951) xii, 244–8, 266, 267
RW’s proposals 59–60
Scheel’s keynote address (1976) 326–7, 347, 350
second festival (1882) 46, 47, 59
shelved for six years 233
Siegfried’s ‘everyone is welcome’ declaration 147, 148
Siegfried’s new production of Tannhäuser 156–8
a socialist Ring 20
struggle between Gudrun, Eva and Nike 341–2
temple of pure art 89
third festival (1883) 56, 59, 79
Tietjen appointed artistic director 161
Toscanini calls off festival plans (1933) 164
truncated season (1914) 129–30, 138
unpleasant incidents at 1924 festival 147–8, 149
The Wagner Clan Page 49