Why Germany cannot survive without Wagner

Last night’s late-breaking news that Katharina Wagner had been renewed for five more years as artistic director of  the Bayreuth allowed millions of Germans to sleep soundly in their beds.

Katharina, 45, is the great-grandchild of the composer. She has no other qualifications for the job, having failed in her few attempts to direct opera elsewhere in the country. However, she is a Wagner by DNA and destiny. In the family tradition, she elbowed half-siblings and cousins aside to obtain the job and she clings to it as of right.

Like the monarchy in Britain, croissants in France and yellow cabs in the US, she is perceived in political circles as a symbol of national continuity. Bayreuth without a Wagner in command? Unthinkable. Germany might fall.

Angela Merkel might have more to say in her forthcoming memoirs.

pictured: Barbie at Bayreuth

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