Architecture: Constraints or Opportunities?

In Paris in January 1875, and in Bayreuth in August 1876, two opera houses opened that were different in every way. The Palais Garnier gave concrete form to an emperor’s dream of glory and magnificence, although he was deposed before he could witness the culmination of his restoration of Paris. It is the crowning achievement of the “Italianate” conception of opera theatres. The auditorium is designed for the audience to see, be seen and meet up. The facades and areas for socializing are sumptuous. The opera glorifies the prince and gathers the elites as much as it contributes to the promotion of operatic art. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus marks a total break from this conception. It was built inexpensively on the outskirts of a small town north east of Nuremberg.1 Wagner had refused the project he was proposed in Munich. Bayreuth was his final choice. He was refused financial assistance from several quarters, and began his own fund-raising campaign before going back to his former protector, Ludwig II of Bayern, who agreed to provide a modest budget for the project. Bayreuth opera house has no ostentatious luxury: with its brick exterior and wood interior, the building is rather “barnlike”. But this “barn” has been designed to present Wagner’s “total art” vision, with nothing to detract the audience’s attention from the music, the singing and the drama.