Wahnfried was the name given by Richard Wagner to his villa in Bayreuth.
Wagner did not spend the closing days of his life at Wahnfried, leaving Bayreuth on 6 September 1882 for the sixth and final time for Venice, where he resided until his death 13 February 1883 at the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi. Wagner's body was repatriated to Wahnfried in a public procession through Bayreuth on 18 February,
Leading up to and during World War II, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus and Wahnfried were frequently visited by Adolf Hitler,Gibbons, Andrew. (6 May 2017). "Wahnfried, and I cannot rid myself of Hitler" . (Bayreuth, Germany).(29 July 2016). "Rediscovered films show a 'friendly' Hitler in Bayreuth". Music. Deutsche Welle. (Germany). himself an avid admirer of Wagner, but in 1945 the living room with its rotunda and the guest room located on the side and rear of the house were destroyed by allied bombing, along with two-thirds of the rest of Bayreuth. Books, paintings and archives had been secured beforehand in the basement of the Winifred Wagner Hospital, however a Gestapo official stopped Winifred from removing historic furnishings such as Wagner's writing desk, accusing her of "defeatism". As a result, these were later destroyed in the bombing. Wahnfried reconstruction.
From 1949, after expropriation was lifted on the Festspielhaus, Richard Wagner's grandson Wieland Wagner, with his wife and their four children, returned to live in the habitable part of the hastily repaired Wahnfried, while Winifred Wagner lived at her late husband, Siegfried Wagner's house next door. Upon Wieland's death in 1966, Wahnfried ceased to be a dwelling, after Wieland's brother, Wolfgang Wagner, had the house measured and asked his widow, Gertrud (née Reissinger), to pay rent,Kurbjuweit, Dirk. (12 April 2013). "Wagner's Dark Shadow: Can We Separate the Man from His Works?" Spiegel Online. (Germany). thereby forcing her to move out with her children. From 1953, Wolfgang had been settled in a house built on the edge of the Festpielhaus, with Winifred remaining in Siegfried's house until her death in 1980.
In 1973, Wolfgang and Winifred gifted Wahnfried to the city of Bayreuth. Over the next three years, the war- and weather-damaged parts of the house were restored to their original state with the recreation of the rotunda, salon and guest room, so that the official inauguration of the Richard Wagner Museum in Bayreuth was able to go ahead as planned on July 24, 1976.
A stylized version of Villa Wahnfried was used for the sets of Stefan Herheim's new production of Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival in 2008.
The house was closed again in 2010 for extensive restoration and renovation at a cost of 20 million Euros. On 26 July 2015, there was a grand re-opening of the villa, with archive rooms and a new pavilion.Fulker, Rick. (24 July 2015). "Richard Wagner's house reopens to the public". Music. Deutsche Welle. (Germany).Roddy, Michael. (24 July 2015). "New Bayreuth Wagner museum confronts family Nazi ties head on". Reuters. (Bayreuth, Germany).Heilmeyer, Florian. (21 March 2016). "Taking a Staab at Wagner – Extending the Richard Wagner Museum in Bayreuth" . Uncube Magazine.
Along with the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, Wahnfried has become a shrine for admirers of Wagner. Visitors can take a walk in the remote Hofgarten, the baroque park of Bayreuth's New Castle, to where a path directly leads.
== Gallery ==
|
|