Bayreuth Festival And talks about reopening of the Wagnerian Festival started. Finally it reopened on 29 July 1951 with, as always, a performance by the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra under conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, followed by the first post-war premiere of Wagner's opera, "Parsifal". Under the direction of Wieland Wagner, the "New Bayreuth" ushered in an era that was no less than revolutionary. Gone were the elaborate naturalistic sets, replaced with minimalist modern productions. In comparison, the pre-war changes seemed tame. For the first time in its history, the Bayreuth audience booed at the end of productions. Wieland was particularly
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