The summer of 1955 is rather special in the history of the Bayreuth Festival because André Cluytens became the first French conductor to take the rostrum at this most German of all opera houses. This 10-CD set draws together live performances of three of the Wagner operas that he conducted there, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Just two days before its première Clutyens had received an urgent call from Wieland Wagner to step in and conduct the 1955 production of ‘Tannhäuser’. The occasion turned out to be such an overwhelming, even sensational event that Cluytens regularly returned to Bayreuth in the succeeding years. In 1956, and in three further seasons, he conducted Wieland Wagner’s new production of Meistersinger, in 1958 ‘Lohengrin’, and in 1957, ‘Parsifal’ for the first time, when he replaced Hans Knappertsbusch. Anja Silja, whose star in those Bayreuth days had already begun to shine worldwide, wrote in her memoirs: “In André Cluytens Wieland Wagner found a conductor who came very close his own idea of a new Wagner sound”.

The distinguished casts for these operas include Sandor Konya, Leonie Rysanek, Ernest Blanc and Astrid Varnay (Lohengrin); Wolfgang Windgassen, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gré Brouwenstijn (Tannhäuser); and Gustav Neidlinger, Karl Schmitt-Walter, Elisabeth Grümmer and Walter Geisler (Meistersinger).

Cluytens, born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1905, began his career as chorus master at the Theatre Royal there, later becoming a French citizen. From 1942 he held directorships at Toulouse and Lyon, and a year later became conductor of Paris Radio’s Orchestre National. From 1947 to 1953 he was musical director of the Opéra-Comique. The Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in Paris elected him chief conductor. In 1949 he became their vice-president and retained this position until his untimely death in 1967.

Artists

Sándor Kónya (Lohengrin), Leonie Rysanek (Elsa), Astrid Varnay (Ortrud), Ernest Blanc (Friedrich von Telramund), Kieth Engen (König Heinrich), Eberhard Wächter (Der Heerrufer des Königs), Wolfgang Windgassen (Tannhäuser), Gré Brouwenstijn (Elisabeth), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Wolfram von Eschenbach), Hertha Wilfert (Venus), Josef Greindl (Landgraf), Josef Traxel (Walther von der Vogelweide), Toni Blankenheim (Biterolf), Gerhard Stolze (Heinrich der Schreiber), Alfons Herwig (Reinmar von Zweter), Volker Horn (Hirt), Gustav Neidlinger (Hans Sachs), Karl Schmitt-Walter (Beckmesser), Elisabeth Grümmer (Eva), Walter Geisler (Walther), Gerhard Stolze (David), Georgine von Milinkovic (Magdalena), Josef Greindl (Pogner), Arnold Van Mill (Nachtwächter), Toni Blankenheim (Fritz Kothner)

Bayreuth Festival, Andre Cluytens