Wagner adapted the unfinished Munich Opera House project in Gottfried Semper into the design of Bayreuther Opera House without the permission of the architect, and supervised its construction. Ludwig II of Bavaria provided the main funds for the construction.
1On May 22nd, 872, Wagner laid the foundation stone for his 59th birthday. The building was first opened from August 1876 to August 13 to June 17 for the premiere of the Ring of Nibelungen, with four complete opera cycles. ?
Only the facade of the entrance shows typical decoration in the late19th century, and the rest of the exterior is very simple, mainly showing unadorned bricks. The interior is mainly made of wood, and the reverberation time is 1.55 seconds. ?
Bayreuther Opera House? It is one of the largest independent wooden buildings in history. Unlike the horseshoe-shaped auditorium with several floors designed by traditional opera houses, Bayreuther Opera House? The seats are arranged in a steep wedge shape, and only the back wall has a gallery or box.
This is also called the continental seat. Many contemporary cinemas have adopted this seating style, so that each seat can watch the stage equally and continuously. Bayreuther Opera House? Its capacity is 1 0,925 and 1 10,000 cubic meters.
Bayreuther Opera House? There are two stages, giving the audience the illusion that the stage is farther than the actual distance. In Wagner's words, the dual stage and the embedded orchestra pit created a "mysterious gap" between the audience and the stage. This endows the performance with fantastic characteristics and provides material reinforcement for the mythical content of most Wagner operas.
The architecture of Bayreuther Opera House has achieved many goals and ideals of Wagner's opera performances, including the improvement of sound, feeling and the overall appearance of his works.
Bayreuther Opera House was originally planned to open in 1873, but at that time, Wagner hardly raised enough money to build the walls of his theater. He began to raise money by traveling in various cities and countries in Europe and holding concerts. However, there are some documents about the donation and assistance (900 stories) of Sultan Abdul Aziz of the Ottoman Empire to Wagner for this purpose.
Even after Ludwig began to fund the project, Wagner had to continue to hold concerts to maintain the financial situation of the construction project. These trips have caused a great burden on Wagner's health and will eventually become the key factor for his later death in 1883.
orchestra pit
A notable feature of Bayreuther Opera House is its unusual orchestra performance area. It is hidden under the stage and covered by a hood, so the audience can't see the orchestra at all. This feature is Wagner's core concern, because it allows the audience to focus on the drama on the stage, rather than directing and musicians' distractions.
The design also corrected the volume balance between the singer and the orchestra, and created an ideal sound effect for Wagner's opera, which is the only opera performed by Bayreuther Opera House.
However, this arrangement also makes it the most challenging conductor, even for the best conductor in the world. Not only the crowded pit is shrouded in darkness, but also the acoustic reverberation makes it difficult for the orchestra to synchronize with the singers. Therefore, the conductor must retrain himself to ignore the singer's hints.
Features:
1, the first violin is on the right side of the conductor, not the usual left side. This is probably because the sound is directed at the stage rather than directly at the audience. In this way, the sound from the first violin to the back of the stage is more direct, and then it can be reflected to the audience.
2. Divide the double bass, cello and harp (if multiple, such as rings) into several groups and put them on both sides of the pit.
The other members of the orchestra are just below the stage. This makes communication with the conductor very important, because most players can't see or hear the singer's voice, but they create the huge and rich voice that Wagner tried to create.