Bayreuth premiere cast of Parsifal

[1] Parsifal was composed especially for the Bayreuth Festival Theatre and, as Wagner stated in a letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria in 1880, was to be performed there exclusively.

[3] Already before the end of the protection period, unauthorized performances took place, for example at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 24 December 1903,[4] on Cosima's 66th birthday, and in Amsterdam.

As if by a miracle, the Bayreuth Festival Theatre was not destroyed in the Allied bombing war, but two thirds of the city lay in ruins.

Half of the Villa Wahnfried was also destroyed on 5 April 1945, and the hall, including the rotunda and the floor above it, as well as the southeastern part of the house were blown up.

The premiere was cast with the world's best Wagner singers, including Wolfgang Windgassen in the title role, Martha Mödl as Kundry and George London as Amfortas.