| The controversy started immediately after the official announcement by Festspielchef Wolfgang Wagner that the 2004 Bayreuth Festival would open with a new production of Parsifal directed by Germany's enfant-terrible, Christoph Schlingensief (1960-2010). The cultural and political right braced themselves for the inevitability that Wagner's most sacred and protected work was going to be trashed in the course of the director's first foray into opera. In the months prior to the opening, the German tabloids were filled with reports of clashes between Mr. Schlingensief and Wolfgang Wagner, and days before the première, tenor Endrik Wottrich, scheduled to sing the title role, denounced the production as an "abomination" and accused the director of being a Nazi. Schlingensief was quick to point out that Wottrich was a racist who objected to the numerous black actors in the new production. |
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