Festspiel

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Festspiel (Ger., ‘Festival-play’). A term applied to certain mus. stage works, or works in which mus. has some part. Wagner extended the term in the title to his Ring tetralogy, which he called a Bühnenfestspiel (Stage-festival-play) and still further in the title of Parsifal, described as a Bühnenweihfestspiel (stage-consecration festival-play).