Bayreuth Festival and foreign singers, long after they had been banned from all other venues across Germany (including heldentenor Max Lorenz, married to a well-known Jewish woman). Winifred's influence with Hitler was so strong that Hitler even wrote a letter (at her behest) to anti-fascist Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, begging him to lead the festival. Toscanini refused. From 1933 to 1942, the festival was conducted principally by Karl Elmendorff. It was under the Third Reich that the festival made its first break from tradition, abandoning the deteriorating 19th century sets created by Richard Wagner. Many protested at the changes, including prominent conductors
Margrave Fountain (Bayreuth) Margrave Fountain (Bayreuth) The Margrave Fountain (German: "Markgrafenbrunnen") is a fountain in Bayreuth, Germany. It was built as a monument for Margrave Christian Ernest of Brandenburg-Bayreuth after he had participated in the liberation of Vienna, which had been besieged by the Turks in 1683. The Margrave's equestrian statue is placed in the centre of the fountain, surrounded by other sculpture groups representing the four known continents as well as four rivers rising in the Fichtel Mountains. The fountain was designed by German sculptor Elias Räntz in 1699-1705 by order of Margrave Christian Ernest. It was placed in the outer courtyard