- Gudrun Wagner
Gudrun Wagner ("née" Armann;
15 June 1944 –28 November 2007 ) was the wife ofWolfgang Wagner , sole director of theBayreuth Festival since 1967. Her behind-the-scenes influence led her to be considered virtual co-director.Biography
Wagner was born as Gudrun Armann in Allenstein, East Prussia. She grew up in
Lower Bavaria nearRegensburg , where she was moved at the age of four weeks because ofWorld War II . She worked as a secretary in the press department of the Bayreuth Festival from 1965. In 1970 she married Dietrich Mack, editor ofCosima Wagner 's diary. She later became the assistant of Wolfgang Wagner, the grandson ofRichard Wagner and director of the Bayreuth Festival which the composer founded.She and Wolfgang Wagner each divorced their spouses in order to marry each other in 1976. Their daughter Katharina, who succeeded her father as co-director of the festival, was born in 1978. [ [http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/0,1518,520138,00.html Der Speigel "Schock in Bayreuth - Gudrun Wagner tot"] ]
Although officially keeping a low profile, she exercised influence on the festival from behind the scenes. Wolfgang Wagner's attempt in 2001 to install his wife as successor did not pass a vote of the board of the festival foundation.
She had been recovering from an operation in hospital in
Bayreuth when she died. [ [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8HNPVURN23PUO05W9_N2cInqLAg AFP obituary] ]External links
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3012815.ece Obituary in "The Times", 7 December 2007]
* [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8HNPVURN23PUO05W9_N2cInqLAg AFP obituary, 28 November 2007]ee also
*
Wagner family tree References
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