Wilhelmine's Bayreuth: A pic spam
Jul. 19th, 2021 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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rheinsberg
Let's start with a Lehndorff diary entry. When Wilhelmine was alive, he was at times critical of her (too much Fritz praise, something of a snob, make-up, likes books better than most people), but did admire her intelligence and thought she should have been a Queen. Otoh, by the time he visited Bayreuth for the first time, in June 1782 - when not only Wilhelmine but also her husband and daughter were dead, and Bayreuth had been taken over by the Ansbach in-laws -, he was in a much more mellow mood about her, and full of admiration for what she had created, and wrote:
„From there, I visit the Eremitage, about an hour away from Bayreuth. This is a beautiful palace. I have never seen anything which has caused me as much pleasure to watch. It shows an exquisite, incomparable sense of art. The spirit of the late Margravine, the older sister of my King, can be found everywhere. Especially beautiful to me is the grave of Vergil which the Margravine has had copied exactly as she herself as seen it. There is a grotto theatre here which is unique for its kind. In order to get to the palace, one has to cross the Parnassuss, the mountain of the Muses. I spend four hours in this wonderful place. Sadness fills me as I have to leave it, and have to tell me that so much beauty no longer finds any attention since the serene lady who has created it has gone. Oh vanity of vanities!
The new palace with its grotto and shell decoration in blue and white looks like it has escaped a fairy tale. Further, I visit the new Bayreuth promenade, which has been built under the supervision of Baron Seckendorff, who is the current first minister. I visit the opera house as well. Everything shows its builder’s wonderful taste. But all is dead! It is this which fills me with sadness.
I hear you, Lehndorff. Let's start with the tombs of Wilhelmine, her husband and her daughter, in the former palace church, the Schlosskirche. Now, Bayreuth was Lutheran-Protestant. But due to all the Italians and some of the French the various Margraves, especially Wilhelmine, hired, there grew to be a sizable Catholic minority in Bayreuth. By 1813, they were given the Schlosskirche to use. Decades later, the requiem for Franz Liszt the composer and pianist (who died in Bayreuth) was celebrated there. This as explanation why three Calvinists are buried in a cheerfully glittery Catholic church. With a Voltaire quote, in Wilhelmine's case.
Just so the visitors know who is in which stone coffin, there are prints of the portraits. Wilhelmine's daughter Friederike has the biggest one, in the middle, since as a Duchess (of Württemberg) she outranked both her parents.
Wilhelmine's coffin close up, with dried roses (every time I'm there, there are dried flowers):
And the quote from Voltaire's (revised) poem which Fritz had urged him to write after her death:
Wilhelmine's greatest contribution to Bayreuth the city remains the opera house, which has been classified as a World Heritage object by UNESCO in 2012. It was inaugurated on the occasion of her daughter's wedding, built within two years (which given the end result is amazingly short), and it's completely preserved in its original form. (Except for the curtain whom Napoleon's troops confiscated en route to Moscow in 1812.) Now, Wilhelmine had started to collect an ensemble of musicians and singers through the 1730s already and produced operas then, too, but there hadn't been a separate opera building until the wedding in 1748. It was used often until Wilhelmine's death, less often but still in the immediate years after, but after her widower had died (five years after Willhelmine) and Bayreuth was inherited by ghastly Uncle Christian, there were no more operas for years. By the time there was again a ruler with musical linterests, opera fashion had changed, big time, and the opera house was rarely used anymore, which is undoubtedly why it's so well preserved. It was the original reason why Richard Wagner came to Bayreuth. (The stage has a depth of 27 metres, which sounded great to Ring of the Nibelungs composing Wagner), but on second thought, he realised the Rokoko surroundings would clash with the Ring in a major fashion and got King Ludwig II to finance a new building instead. (Though he did produce both Tannhäuser and Lohengrin in this building before his own was finished.) These days, after the Wagner festival is over the one in Wilhelmine's opera house starts. (Well, in normal times it does.) Parts of the movie Farinelli were filmed here. The architects were Giuseppe und Carlo Galli da Bibiena who were inspired partly by the Hofburg in Vienna (!), and partly by Dresden, but had the ingenious and money saving idea to do it all in wood and painting.
The outside facade is deceptively modest:
But step inside, and you see this:
And the stage:
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Again, the audience room:
Have some details. This is the insignia of the Margraves of Bayreuth, with a crown on top to indicate Wilhelmine's royal ancestry. (Hohenzollerns: still touchy about that.)
Like I said, all wood and painting.
The so called royal box. Wilhelmine and her husband didn't use it, they preferred the seats closer to the stage, and Fritz never visited Bayreuth after the opera house was finished, alas. Ludwig II. did, though, presumably watching Tannhäuser from there.
One more look at the stage:
Off to the "Hermitage" - the Eremitage, the countryside residence of the Margraves near Bayreuth. Though Wilhelmine didn't start it, she added the most famous contributions. The original builder was Margrave Georg Wilhelm. We haven't met him before, since he died in 1726, thereby making Wilhelmine's future father-in-law Margrave. Georg Wilhelm had good musical taste (he was Telemann's patron and produced no less than fifty operas in German (!), and loved to build, and these are the only good things you can say about him. He married 15 years old teenager and was ravingly jealous, so he locked her up at the Plassenburg (this was clearly the era for this). His only surviving daughter (no sons survived, which is why Bayreuth was inherited by Wilhelmine's father-in-law) produced illegitimate twins, whereupon she was locked up as well. And he ordered fifteen Sinti women hanged when they didn't leave the country after he ordered them. So: you wouldn't want to meet him. However, left some nice landscapes. To quote the official Eremitage website:
n 1715 Margrave Georg Wilhelm (reigned 1712-26) began extending the deer park laid out in 1664 to create a Hermitage, with a summer palace as the focal point. The four-winged complex by Johann David Räntz was originally surrounded on three sides by rows of linden trees which met overhead to form an enclosed corridor. In front of the Festival Hall was a parterre, followed by a cascade which ran down to the Red Main river.
Paths led across the wooded north slope to scattered huts built as retreats for the "hermits". The palace drive terminates at an artificial hill, the Parnassus and a pergola turning off at right angles to the drive leads on to the palace. The Hermitage was conceived by Margrave Georg Wilhelm as a setting where the margravial court could imitate the "simple life" of a hermit order.
This is Georg Wilhelm's "Old Palace" from various sides:
There's also a water fountain terrace:
Now, after Wilhelmine's husband became Margrave 1735, he presented her with this bit of real estate. Wilhelmine believed in thinking big and wasn't deterred by a Franconian budget. The website again: The Old Palace was enlarged and a number of new garden areas were created with water and architectural features, such as the Lower Grotto and the Orangery (today the New Palace) with the Large Pond.
Wilhelmine used traditional elements of garden design such as boskets, pergolas and fountains for the enlarged park. With the free arrangement of the individual garden areas, the absence of a dominant, central axis and the independence of the various sections from one another she departed noticeably from baroque garden traditions. This, together with the artificial ruins, such as the Ruin Theatre and the Margrave's Hermitage, makes the Hermitage one of the most unusual gardens of the 18th century.
Sadly, due to Covid, one can't visit the inside of the Old Palace these days, and the New Palace's inner rooms were a victim of a WW II bomb and subsequent fire. They're currently used for exhibitions of modern art. However, the outside was restored completely.
Wilhelmine went for a theme there - Apollo, not just in his capacity of God of Poetry but also as the sun god, which he was in the later centuries of the ancient world. Hence a temple to the sun and Apollo in the quadriga on top of it in the centre of the New Palace.
Incidentally, Apolllo and his Quadriga were rudely replaced by a Prussian/German eagle - it can be seen in photographs during the Third Reich - but the post war restoration put him back. The reason for the colorful crystal fragments on the facade you're about to see is that the half circle the building forms is supposed to show the various shades of sunlight during the day, reflected in the pool. Now, on to the beauty when the water fountains ares switched off:
And when they're switched on:
Wandering through the park, you encounter fake ruins (same in Rheinsberg and Sanssouci).
Like this one, doubling as Folichon's tombstone:
The Eremitage's Chinese Teahouse was already built in Georg Wilhelm's time, but Wilhelmine liked it, too.
What she insisted on was a Roman theatre, which was by no means just decorative. When brother Fritz and Voltaire visited in 1743, she staged Racine's tragedy Bajazet there; Voltaire played the Vizir Acomat, Wilhelmine played Roxane. Fritz stuck to applause.
Wilhelmine paid homage to all her favourite philosophers, and not all the statues survive, but Socrates does:
One more look at Wilhemine, from the introduction movie they show you at the opera house:
no subject
Date: 2021-07-20 05:03 am (UTC)likes books better than most people)
Uh, this is a problem? *hides*
Sadness fills me as I have to leave it, and have to tell me that so much beauty no longer finds any attention since the serene lady who has created it has gone. Oh vanity of vanities!
Lehndorff! <3
It makes me happy there are always dried flowers on Wilhelmine's tomb <3
but on second thought, he realised the Rokoko surroundings would clash with the Ring in a major fashion
heeee. So at first I was like "why does that matter?" (having only seen the (fabulous!!) picture of the golden hall so far) and then I saw your pic of the stage and was like "ohhhhh." Yeah, I can see how the Ring would not... quite work on that stage!
who were inspired partly by the Hofburg in Vienna (!)
Why is this weird? Because it's Austria? because it's a fancy palace?
Just lovely pictures of the opera house and the Hermitage and Apollo and fountains! <3 (I think my favorite is still the opera house. It's just so Rokoko!)
no subject
Date: 2021-07-20 06:11 am (UTC)Wilhelmine might not have been popular in Bayreuth within her life time, due to all the spending on architecture, music and art, but Bayreuth certainly loves her now! As the leaflets for tourists put it, Bayreuth is dominated by the two Ws - Wagner and Wilhelmine - and of those, Wilhelmine definitely is the less problematic fave. :)
Yeah, I can see how the Ring would not... quite work on that stage!
It certainly puts interesting images in one's head, doesn't it?
Why is this weird? Because it's Austria?
Yes. Also, it mademe wonder whether one of the things Wilhelmine and MT talked about during their fateful lunch was Wilhelmine asking for recs re: a good opera house architect. It would fit, date wise. (Lunch: September 1745. The building process starts in the summer 1746 (when Fritz is in Pyrmont with Heinrich). MT, who had the palace of Schönbrunn remodelled from a widow's seat for former Empresses to her favourite summer palace, where she moved to with the entire family as often as she could, and who did love music and opera, would have known a few.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-20 10:54 am (UTC)outside facade is deceptively modest
Hello, yes, that contrast is something else. And it's really lucky it survived, what with the inside being all wood.
Fritz never visited Bayreuth after the opera house was finished, alas
Aw, too bad.
Apolllo and his Quadriga were rudely replaced by a Prussian/German eagle
Well, that's rude indeed, glad it got fixed.
No tips for little brother re: working water fountains? Heh.
What she insisted on was a Roman theatre, which was by no means just decorative. When brother Fritz and Voltaire visited in 1743, she staged Racine's tragedy Bajazet there; Voltaire played the Vizir Acomat, Wilhelmine played Roxane. Fritz stuck to applause.
:DDD
Thinking about it, the entire Eremitage part feels rather stage-like - the view of the fountains from the New Palace as well for example.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-20 01:32 pm (UTC)And it's really lucky it survived, what with the inside being all wood
Especially since Bayreuth was bombed. One reason why the Neues Schloss burned out was because they kept a film archive there (mostly for Wehrmacht propaganda movies) and the films immediately caught fire. But the Opera House lucked out.
No tips for little brother re: working water fountains? Heh.
Franconian rock beats Brandenburg sand, and it helps to have the water tower nearby?
I'm really glad that Wilhelmine, despite everything, got to create beauty for herself and live in it
Same here. Having by now read a Caroline of Ansbach biography: let's face it, if Wilhelmine had married Fritz of Wales, who due to really bad relations with his parents had only a tiny budget and didn't live long enough to be King, so would not have been at liberty to give his wife something like the Eremitage, let alone an opera house, she would not have had the chance. Leavsing aside the question of Bayreuth Friedrich vs Fritz of Wales as husbands.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-21 12:07 am (UTC)I was going to say much the same as what Selena ended up saying: there isn't one answer for working fountains. It's an engineering problem that depends on the local topography. And my impression is that Fritz put Sanssouci in a place where getting vertical water was a hard problem, not solvable until some technological innovations came along in the mid-19th century.
Even big-budget Versailles had working fountains only *some* of the time.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-21 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-24 08:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-24 02:15 pm (UTC)