Swastika banners hung from Frau Winifred Wagner's Villa Wahnfried, drooped over the street as Chancellor Hitler drove through cheering Fascist crowds. Scowling Brown Shirts, rifle at shoulder, guarded the entrance of the refurbished Festspielhaus. It was Nazi Day at Bayreuth. Despite Hitler's prohibition of demonstrations "not pertaining to Wagner's immortal music," Karl Elmendorff's flat, insipid conducting of Die Meistersinger could not conceal the fact that Nazi Germany was again parading its national resurgence. Most foreign Wagnerites, regarding the Festival as an act of homage, remained away.
The international character of the Festival...
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