''Bayreuther Blätter'' (''Bayreuth pages'') was a monthly journal founded in by Richard Wagner 1878 and edited by

Hans von Wolzogen Baron Hans Paul von Wolzogen (13 November 1848 in Potsdam – 2 June 1938 in Bayreuth), was a German man of letters, editor and publisher. He is best known for his connection with Richard Wagner. Childhood Wolzogen's father, Alfred von Wolzoge ...

until his death in 1938. It was written primarily for visitors to the Bayreuth Festival. The newsletter carried frequent articles by Wagner himself as well as contributions from many of his circle. Some of these were very substantial; for example, Wagner's essays ''Religion and Art'' (October 1880) and ''Heroism and Christianity'' (September 1881). From 1880 to 1896 the journal carried extracts from the detailed recollections by Heinrich Porges of Wagner's rehearsal and staging techniques. The journal also had a political focus. In its pages, writers expressed support for Otto von Bismarck and the German Empire. After Germany's defeat in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it showed opposition to the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

, eventually supporting

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Great men of German cultural history were celebrated in the ''Bayreuther Blätter''. From 1887, each issue began with an epigraph from such men. The majority were taken from

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

, Friedrich Schiller, Arthur Schopenhauer, Wagner, Franz Liszt,

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

, and

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

. Others, like

Carl von Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His mo ...

Houston Stewart Chamberlain Houston Stewart Chamberlain (; 9 September 1855 – 9 January 1927) was a British-German philosopher who wrote works about political philosophy and natural science. His writing promoted German ethnonationalism, antisemitism, and scientific ...

Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fr ...

Paul de Lagarde Paul Anton de Lagarde (2 November 1827 – 22 December 1891) was a German biblical scholar and orientalist, sometimes regarded as one of the greatest orientalists of the 19th century. Lagarde's strong support of anti-Semitism, vocal opposition ...

and Hitler, were also drawn upon. In its last years, it increasingly "nazified" Wagner, linking his work with the ideology of

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

. The ''Bayreuther Blätter'' remains an important source of information about the Bayreuth Festival in Wagner's last years and about the opinions of his devoted followers. The critic Eduard Hanslick wrote in 1882:

For a later age, which will be able to look back at the Wagner
epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious ...
of our days in a spirit of calm evaluation, if also one of incredulous astonishment, the ''Bayreuther Blätter'' may yet prove to be of no little cultural-historical significance ... The future cultural historian of Germany will be able to give authentic testimony, on the basis of the first five volumes of this journal, of how strongly the '' delirium tremens'' of the Wagnerian intoxication raged amongst us, and what sort of abnormalities of thought and feeling it occasioned in the 'cultured' people of its time Eduard Hanslick, ''Wagner-Kultus'' (1882), cited in translation in Grey (2009), 411

References

Further reading