Radio Bayreuth and Me

The Prologue:
There snuggling at the bottom right of the MW band  below Beromünster  and boxed in the corner by Stuttgart with only a faux art deco knob for worldly company  lay Bayreuth - yes - my Grandfather's Grundig 1010 radio provided childhood geographical fascination all wrapped up in gold inlayed faux wood bakelite case whenever I visited his villa in Πρίγκηπος. I remember Bayreuth to this day and when Mrs N announced her 2016 programme with three solid weeks in Upper Franconia I jumped readily at the opportunity to fly to Nurenberg in Ryanair discomfort and catch a type DB610 tilting pendolino DMU to Bayreuth HbF.

Grundig 1010 receiver with 5 valves and some other stuff  - 1952 vintage - my Grandfather's pride and joy along with a cuckoo clock

And then there was Wagner.  And naturally enough for UK media the works of  manic depressive Stephen Fry e.g. VERY INTERESTING DOCUMENTARY ABOUT WAGNER AND mostly STEPHEN FRY


Hello again

Long time no  queue and fly:  Stansted  airport shopping mall "no where near London" (or anywhere else for that matter) to Nuremberg  Airport (A €3 U Bahn ride to the HbF touch.)

Arrived at Bayreuth to a Third Man film set but no cat spotted.

Sightseeing Day 1

Everywhere we went we saw plastic Richard Wagners

The sauna equipped Hotel Rhinegold conveniently near a brewery as it turns out

We are to be heading up the map towards the Hofgarten park - an extensive list of sites to visit has been drawn up.

'Bayreuth Rococo' style shopping centre

The Bayreuther Festspielhaus appears in sight but as will be revealed is a site.

We visit the Neues Schloss, Margrave Friedrich seat and unphotographable is a well-known example of the 'Bayreuth Rococo' style and is considered to be one of the most important masterpieces of 18th century architecture in Germany

Actually I do take another sneaky photograph before a guard appears from a secret door

The schloss from the Hofgarten park

As it says and  we stroll past Richard and Cosima's grave.

Blooming lovely front garden sweeps in to Haus Wahnfried

Haus Wahnfried now part of the Richard Wagner Museum, lived in by the Wagner family until 1966

This carbuncle of a building sits to the side of the house and is connected by a tunnel and forms the entry point to the museum and house.

Please don't try this at home

Das Schallarchiv - I'm patriotic so choose a Roger Norrington 1994 rendition.

The cosmos of Wagner composition available on command through marvelous Sennheiser headphones.

Having a Steven Fry Wagner moment listening to Siegried Idyll  D-flat motif.

Richard Wagner should have gone to SpecSavers

Shopping list

Opening bars of Tristan and Isolde 

If you had watched Stephen Fry's film you would have noticed reference to the stain on the works of Wagner associated with anti-semitism. To the credit of the Wagner benefactors (if that is an appropriate turn of phrase) the friendship of Wagner's immediate descendants to Hitler is not swept under the carpet. Here are some images from the villa next to Haus Wahnfried.  

Nearby is The Franz Liszt Museum in the house where Franz Liszt died, with about 300 photographs, scripts and printed papers from the collection of the Munich pianist, Ernst Burger, which were bought by the town of Bayreuth. Unfortunately there was no music to hear, a particular favourite of mine being the Beethoven 6 piano transcription.

Chopin and Liszt - not quite cockney rhyming slang for anything.

CULTURE OVER FOR THE DAY!

A stroll past the Margravial Opera House (under restoration - no entry possible) leads us to a  sedate tea room

A further stroll and we visit a brewery museum??

Beer being bottled museum style 

Beer being drunk

Lots of beer being drunk with friends

The next day....

To follow - did I find Radio Bayreuth?