Bayreuth

Bayreuth , city (1994 pop. 73,390), capital of Upper Franconia, Bavaria, S Germany, on the Red Main River. It is an industrial center; its manufactures include machinery, textiles, chemicals, and pianos. Founded in the mid-12th cent., Bayreuth belonged to a branch of the Hohenzollern family from 1248 to 1791, when it was annexed by Prussia. It was taken by France in 1807 and passed to Bavaria in 1810. Richard Wagner lived in Bayreuth from 1872 to 1883, and the annual Bayreuth Festival is held in the Festspielhaus, an opera house designed by Wagner and built in 1872-76. Wagner and Franz Liszt are buried in Bayreuth.

Bayreuth. Town in Bavaria, Ger., where Wagner built his home, Wahnfried, and also his long-planned fest. th. to house perfs. of Der Ring des Nibelungen. First fest. 1876, cond. Hans Richter. Th. holds c.1,800 and has wonderful acoustics. Innovation was covered orch. pit. Parsifal f.p. there, 1882. Fests. of Wagner's operas held regularly (with wartime interruptions) since 1892, the successive dirs. having been members of the Wagner family—his wife Cosima (1883–1908), son Siegfried (1908–30), Siegfried's widow Winifred (1931–44), their sons Wieland and Wolfgang jointly (1951–66), and Wolfgang (from 1966). In 1945, under Amer. occupation, operas by composers other than Wagner were perf. in the Festspielhaus. Concerts were also given there.