Sunday 23 September 2007

Latest episode (no. 4) of the Bayreuth docu-soap: The gloves are off!


Katharina Wagner´s aunt and contestant to the leadership of the Bayreuth Festival, 62-year old Nike Wagner (daughter of Wieland) gave an interview to the Nordbayerische Kurier in response to Katharina´s declared partnership with Christian Thielemann. Predictably, she was not too pleased [my translation below]:

"It´s about power, not arts" she was quoted as saying. And continued "For conservative Wagnerians, Thielemann is the guarantor of tradition against the wild Katharina Wagner"... “Balance” - not artistic vision of the future - is popular with politicians and probably with the Board of Directors as well".

Seems like she accepts defeat (not that her chances were ever that good. Eva Wagner-Pasquier is definitely the strongest candidate of the two of them).

I have furthermore had the dubious pleasure of reading Nike Wagner´s book entitled "The Wagners - The dramas of a musical dynasty" which in short is a mix of third-rate analysis of Richard Wagner´s works and malicious gossip about the rest of the family. That she would ever think this book would further her ambitions to run the Bayreuth Festival speaks for itself...

To be continued here....

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