“Freudig begrüßen wir”
our award-winning Festival Chorus again this year. When Richard Wagner opened the Bayreuth Festival in 1876 with the first complete performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen, such a chorus did not yet exist. Members from Bayreuth singing clubs were recruited for the male choruses of Götterdämmerung.
Today, the chorus consists of members who meet exclusively for the weeks of rehearsals and performances in Bayreuth and choristers to increase numbers. They must not only shine in those choral parts that now adorn every best-of opera choir recording. The mass scenes have a piece-supporting character in Richard Wagner and also require intensive rehearsal work in terms of stagecraft.
In “Ring”-free years, the chorus has a particularly busy schedule, as Rheingold, Walküre, and Siegfried are the only works in which Wagner completely dispensed with choruses. The vocal and scenic demands of the other main works are very different – apart from Tristan und Isolde, the chorus shapes essential scenes in each of his operas and must master enormous vocal challenges. The ladies and gentlemen are required to have great vocal flexibility – for example, in Götterdämmerung, they must appear martially aggressive as Hagen’s comrades-in-arms, but then in Tannhäuser, they must walk across the stage lyrically transfigured as pilgrims, only to then shape the Parsifal in multifaceted nuances as Knights of the Grail.
A large proportion of the singers come from professional choirs of European opera houses and broadcasting corporations, others are not contractually bound to an institution, but work as freelance singers, soloists or in choirs, at various houses or in radio choirs. Some students who are aiming for a singing career also gain experience with the Wagner repertoire in the Festival Chorus. All participants have previously gone through a selection process comparable to other professional choirs, led by the choir director, in order to qualify for the Bayreuth Festival Chorus.
The line-up of the choir is different every year. The numerous prizes with which the choir has been awarded, such as the ‘Orphée d’Or’ and the ‘Wilhem-Pitz-Preis’, testify to the success of their work. In 2014, the Bayreuth Festival Chorus also received the International Opera Award 2014 in the category of best opera chorus.
