(Germany). Summer festival (annual from 1951) of Wagner's operas, established in 1876 by the composer with the first complete performance of the Ring. Wagner, with the architect Otto Brückwald, designed the Festival Theatre specially for his works. In 1973 the Richard Wagner Foundation Bayreuth was created, taking over from the Wagner family the assets, including the Wagner Archives at Wahnfried, and the festival's administration.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.