Music: Hitler Over Bayreuth

Like the sybaritic Ludwig who ruled Bavaria 50 years ago, Adolf Hitler has a fanatic admiration for the operas of Richard Wagner. King Ludwig liked to think of himself as Lohengrin or Parsifal, fixed up his castles with Wagnerian stage settings, helped finance Bayreuth when Wagner wanted a theatre of his own. Last week Dictator Hitler also took Bayreuth under his wing, had the German Government grant it an annual subsidy of 100,000 marks ($37,000).

The new Wagner Protective Law also prohibits the performance of Parsifal in all German theatres outside Bayreuth. For 21...

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