What is Bayreuth Festival?
[[File:Festspielhaus.jpg|thumb|350px|right|[[Bayreuth Festspielhaus]], as seen today.]] The '''Bayreuth Festival''' ([[German language|German]]: '''''Bayreuther Festspiele''''', [[Austro-Bavarian language|Bavarian]]: ''Bareida Festspui'', [[East Franconian German|East Franconian]]: ''Baraida Fesdspil'') is a music festival held every year in [[Bayreuth]], Germany, at which performances of [[opera]]s by the 19th century German composer [[Richard Wagner]] are performed. It was Wagner's own idea to start a festival for his operas in Bayreuth in a theatre which he designed himself because he was not satisfied with the way that theatres were usually designed. The theatre that he designed is called the [[Bayreuth Festspielhaus|Festspielhaus]] (Festival House). Wagner watched the theatre being built, making sure that it was done the way he wanted it. He had some new ideas about theatre design. For example: he wanted the [[orchestra pit]] to be so low that the orchestra would not be seen by the [[audience]]. When the theatre was opened in 1876 his cycle of operas called the ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' was performed complete for the first time. The festival immediately became internationally famous. Almost every serious musician in [[Europe]] wanted to go to Bayreuth to hear Wagner's music performed there. Composers usually either loved it and were strongly [[influence]]d by it, or they hated it and reacted against it. The festival still continues now. Every August there is a festival of Wagner's operas. It is extremely difficult to get [[ticket]]s because so many people want to go. People often wait for ten years before they can get a ticket. ==The origins of the festival== Wagner wanted the festival to be in a small town where people could just concentrate on his music. Bayreuth already had a theatre, the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, but it was not suitable for modern opera. The town did not have a cultural life that would be in competition with Wagner's music. Another reason for choosing Bayreuth wa