The do's and don'ts of Bayreuth: rituals on Wagner's Green Hill

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

BAYREUTH, Germany (AFP) — The annual Richard Wagner Festival, which turns this otherwise sleepy provincial town into a centre of pilgrimage each year for tens of thousands of opera aficionados, has strict rules of etiquette that set it apart from other summer music fests.

Here are some of the do's and don'ts to avoid embarrassment during a first visit to Bayreuth.

-- Never ask your neighbour for a summary of the plot. People who go to Bayreuth are supposed to know their Wagner inside out and not need to be told what is happening on stage.

The whopping 240-page programme includes dense learned articles of Wagner scholarship -- both mainstream and off-the-beaten-track -- but NEVER plot summaries.

If you don't know the storyline, sneak off for a summary...