Bayreuth Festival talented conductor Hermann Levi, who was personally chosen by Richard Wagner to conduct the debut of "Parsifal" in 1882 with the assistance of the young Engelbert Humperdinck. Following Wagner's death, his widow Cosima continued running the festival at one or, more frequently, two-year intervals. She gradually introduced the remaining operas which complete the Bayreuth canon of Wagner's last ten completed operas. Levi, the son of a rabbi, remained the festival's principal conductor for the next two decades. Felix Mottl, who was involved with the festival from 1876 to 1901, conducted "Tristan und Isolde" there in 1886. Until the 1920s, performances
Bayreuth been totally ruined by Nazi ideology." In 1949 Bayreuth became the seat of the government of Upper Franconia again. In 1971 the Bavarian State Parliament decided to establish the University of Bayreuth and, on 3 November 1975, it opened for lectures and research. There are now about 10,000 students in the town. In May 1972, a serious accident occurred at the folk festival in the town, when an overcrowded carriage derailed and several people were thrown out. Four died and five were injured, some seriously. At that time, it was the worst disaster on a roller coaster since the Second