Bayreuth

In this prize-winning and generously-illustrated book--the first to provide a frank and fully rounded history of Bayreuth-Frederic Spotts describes the festival's performances and productions, the Wagner family who have run it, its debasement in 'Hitler's court theater, ' and its postwar liberation from its chauvinistic, anti-Semitic past. Provocative and compelling, the book will fascinate all Wagner enthusiasts as well as those interested in European cultural and intellectual history since 1876.

Frederic Spotts is an Associate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, and a former member of the American Foreign Service.