Curtain Rises on 97th Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth

Rick Fuller [Deutsche Welle, 26 July 2008]
Bayreuth has often been described as the nerve center of the German nation and its culture. The images most familiar to the public are the yearly summer ritual of the motorcade to the Festspielhaus and the celebrities who disembark and wave to the crowd. Having come to see the music dramas, they themselves are first the object of attention.