Book Tickets
1. The first time Wagner’s music was heard in the city was in 1862
It was in the now disappeared park ‘Jardí dels Camps Elisis’ in Barcelona, a large open space of about 8 hectares, inaugurated in 1853 that became a place of leisure for the Barcelona high society of the time. In these gardens you could enjoy numerous attractions including: roller coasters, a maze, a carousel, and a shooting gallery. In addition, they had a lagoon with boats, a restaurant and a dance hall. Within the enclosure there was a large theatre that survived the closure of the amusement park and was converted into what became known as the Sala Beethoven Lyric Theater.
And where was this paradise of enjoyment located? Where the current streets Paseo de Gracia, c/Roger de Llúria, c/Aragó and c/Rosselló all meet At present, only a memory of that garden remains, a plaque bearing its name in the Camps Elisis Passage, between the streets c/València and c/Mallorca .
In the aforementioned theatre, a work by the composer Richard Wagner was heard for the first time in Barcelona. The event was one of the many concerts organised by Josep Anselm Clavé with the Euterpe choir. The fragment that the audience could hear was one of the choruses from the Tannhäuser opera. Although this event did not take place at the Liceu, there was direct participation by the ladies’ choir from that teatre.
2. The first full Wagner opera to be staged in Barcelona was not at the Liceu
Just 20 years passed between when Wagner was heard for the first time in Barcelona to the first performance of a complete opera by Wagner. Over those intervening years, fragments of operas or other works by the German musician could be heard. But it was not until 1882, when the opera Lohengrin was performed for the first time in Barcelona. You might well think that this performance took place at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, but no. At that time, a very strong Teatre Principal was the theatre that staged the premiere.
From the critics of the time we can get an idea of the reception of the work among the public. One of the most criticised aspects was the set design, especially from devoted fans who knew of Wagner performances outside of Barcelona. The subsequent rivalry with the Teatre del Liceu led to intense competition to see which theatre staged the best performances of Wagner’s operas.
3. The Gran Teatre del Liceu was the first theatre in the world to stage Wagner’s opera Parsifal outside of Bayreuth
In 1914 one of the events that really put the city of Barcelona on the map of Wagnerian cities par excellence took place, the premiere of the opera Parsifal.
Wagner’s latest operas were premiered in a theatre that he himself built so that his work would have the greatest prominence. This is the Theater of Bayreuth. A construction which is very different from the Italian theatres. All the seats have a view of the stage, the seats are not very comfortable, the location of the orchestra is somewhat different.
Exactly the same year that Wagner’s first opera was heard in Barcelona, 1882, was the year that Parsifal premiered at the Bayreuth Theater.
One of the peculiarities of the composer’s operas was that his own theatre had exclusive rights to them, albeit for a limited time. In the case of Parsifal, the rights expired on January 1, 1914.
An undoubted milestone, The Teatre del Liceu was the first in the world to present Parsifal. How did they manage it? Literally in the first minutes of 1914 the music was playing in the Theater. In addition, they took advantage of the time difference that existed at that time between Barcelona and Germany, to win a few minutes in the race.
Thus, on New Year’s Eve in 1913, the public entered the Liceu to listen to Parsifal for the first time. The function began before the new-year chimes, since in addition to the hour difference with Bayreuth, the prelude of the opera was free to be interpreted throughout the world. When in Bayreuth it was officially 1914, in Barcelona the performance continued with the entire opera. After more than 5 hours, breaks included, lovers of Wagnerian opera of Barcelona were able to say that they were the first in the world to pay such a tribute to the composer.
4. The only remaining music store on the Ramblas was a meeting place for the first Wagnerians
During the years when Wagner was discovered, groups of connoisseurs of his work dedicated themselves to disseminating his music in Barcelona. To this end, they organised meetings and small-format concerts in places where music fans met in the city. One of these was the Can Guardia Music Warehouse. Currently, Can Guardia is the famous Casa Beethoven music store. A place with so much history and that fortunately still resists as a reference in the musical world in the heart of the Ramblas in Barcelona.
At that time, as now, in the store there was a piano where you could play music and read sheet music that was for sale. It was precisely in this environment that the informal meetings of the first Wagnerians began. Interpreting fragments of the operas on the piano and making more and more public become fond of the composer’s music. Later they changed location to larger spaces. Thanks to Catalan translations by Joaquim Pena, the operas could be sung as if they were karaoke, being translations that fit perfectly with the rhythm of the music.
5. At least 3 Wagnerian associations have been created in Barcelona
From the first time a Wagner work was heard to the present, lovers of the composer have felt the need to organise to share their passion. The first society to be created was the so-called “Wagner Society”. Started in 1874 and its main purpose was to publicise the composer’s work. The founders of the organisation were great experts on the composer and connoisseurs of German culture who wanted to offer all their knowledge about the composer to the public in the city. Among them, names like Joaquim Marsillach, Felip Pedrell or Josep Letamendi stand out. They were so connected with the Maestro himself that they wrote to him asking that he be the honorary president of the society, which Wagner accepted.
Years later, in 1901, the “Associació Wagneriana” was officially founded. After numerous informal meetings between some young medical students provoked by their interest in the composer’s new music, they decide to launch an association with the aim of studying Wagner’s work more seriously. In addition they intended to take a critical look at how his operas were interpreted in the theatres of Barcelona. At present the association is inactive, but on its website you can access numerous articles and documents related to the composer and the active years of the Association.
But the public’s interest in Wagner is not only a thing of the last century, in 2018 a new club dedicated to disseminating the composer’s work was inaugurated. This is the Wagner Club, which currently continues to offer a program of activities related to the composer and other contemporary and subsequent authors.
In short, the facts indicate that despite the fact that Wagner visited Barcelona, the city can be considered one of the Wagnerian cities par excellence.
