Traditional music and dance
Bavaria is a land rich in tradition. Its inhabitants are naturally proud of them, and never miss an opportunity to celebrate them. Dressed in traditional costumes, the Lederhosen for men and the Dirndl for women, Bavarians sing and dance a wide repertoire of folklore, starting with the schuhplatteln, widely regarded as Bavaria's most recognizable choreographic tradition. Originally performed by groups of men to win a lady's favor, this dance sees its participants beat the soles of their shoes in rhythm with their hands. Schuhplattler also exists as a couple's dance. Another extremely popular form in Bavaria, the Landler, usually accompanied by yodels, is a fast, hopping couple dance. You may have heard it before, as many composers have included it in their music, including Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner and Mahler.
When they're not dancing (or no longer), Bavarians like to listen to stubenmusik, ambient folk music played by small ensembles. Gstanzl is another popular form. This funny, mocking little song is generally used to express discontent, and is more or less akin to an epigram. Usually consisting of four or eight lines and sung in dialect, the gstanzl tackles all areas of life, and doesn't hesitate to mock the authorities, the state or the foibles of the average person. In the 20th century, the genre was gradually converted to political satire, notably in the hands of Roider Jackl, who became a leading figure in the discipline.
Naturally,Oktoberfest, the famous Oktoberfest beer festival, is the perfect time to get a front-row seat to Bavaria's musical and choreographic traditions. The world's biggest folk festival, the event is densely punctuated with dancing and singing. Otherwise, Fasching, Munich's carnival, with its effervescence, contains all the local tradition through a good hundred balls. The Munich carnival season comes to a close with München Narrisch - Munich en Folie: Mardi Gras day features some great attractions, such as the "Market Women's Dance" on Victuals Market Square.
Classical music
As music lovers well know - especially those who have had the opportunity to visit the Bayreuth Festival - Bavaria has shaped the history of music (and vice versa) with some of its greatest composers and performers.
In 1563, a certain Roland de Lassus was appointed Kapellmeister to the Bavarian Court. And that's how and why this Belgian by birth, one of the greatest composers of all time, remains associated with the region. A century later, it was Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) and his unforgettable Canon that made Bavaria shine in the Baroque era. In the 18th century, Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) transformed opera with his famous "reform", aimed at introducing more naturalness into interpretations and ensuring that musical composition was always at the service of action and text. The same period also saw the emergence of Leopold Mozart, father of Wolfgang Amadeus and a native of Augsburg.
But although illustrious, these names do not have the importance (especially in Bavaria) of Richard Wagner (1813-1883). A true revolutionary at heart, this composer was born in Leipzig into a family shattered by the Napoleonic wars. His first passion was the theater, which he discovered thanks to his adoptive father. It was only at the age of 15 that he began to take an interest in musical composition, virtually without any acquired technique, by listening to Mozart and Beethoven. He entered active musical life at the age of 20. His life was marked by a revolutionary sentiment that was reflected in his social life as well as in his work. From his earliest youth, in 1830, he was already known as an agitator in Leipzig, after the July Revolution in France, and in 1849 he took part in the revolution that broke out in Dresden. All his creations reflect this tendency of his mind: it is his ideas on life that are developed in the compositions of this great musical reformer, whose inspiration led him to the frontiers of atonality. A true poet of music, he conceived of opera as a total spectacle combining all the arts, and his masterpieces The Flying Dutchman (1839), The Valkyrie (1855), Siegfried (1856), the cycle of The Ring of the Nibelungen and Twilight of the Gods (1868) and Parsifal (1882) are part of the mythology of music history. Wagner also laid the foundations for conducting as it is still practiced today. An important composer for the world and the region, the latter celebrates him every year with the world-famous Bayreutherfestspiele, the Bayreuth Festival. The event has become one of the most prestigious in the world, inviting the world's finest orchestras to take on the Wagnerian repertoire every year.
Wagner's contemporary, Joséphine Lang (1815-1880), although much less well known, remains, alongside Clara Schumann, one of the most important Lied composers of the mid-19th century. Much inspired by Mendelssohn, he served as her mentor and gave her career a major boost. Another era, another Richard, but the same talent, Strauss (1864-1949) is a great composer and conductor from the region (born in Munich). He worked in many genres: instrumental music for orchestra, solo instrument (including the concerto) or works for chamber ensemble, symphonic poem, opera, lied, ballet. His best-known work is the symphonic poem Thus Spake Zarathustra (1896).
At the turn of the 20th century, we find Max Reger (1873-1916), a composer much appreciated in his own country, but little known beyond its borders. A romantic at heart, his music often flirted with the limits of tonality.
Orff's contemporary, Carl Orff (1895-1982), also from Bavaria, remains famous for having given the world the hilarious cantata Carmina Burana. In the 20th century, Bavaria was once again home to musicians who were often as interesting as they were little-known.
Among these are Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963), a forgotten but great symphonist; Jörg Widmann, widely played all over the world and appreciated for his versatility; Hans-Jürgen von Bose, influenced by post-structuralism; and Peter Michael Hamel, emblematic of the "New Simplicity", a German movement of the 1970s and 1980s advocating a return to immediacy, melody and the tonal language of the 19th century.
In terms of performers, the region is home to the excellent pianist Alice Sara Ott, as gifted at Chopin and Liszt as she is in the (very) contemporary register; Arabella Steinbacher, one of the finest violinists of her generation, renowned for her interpretations of numerous violin concertos; and conducting giant Wolfgang Sawallisch (1923-2013), whom some have described as the sacred monster of the 20th century. He remains the youngest conductor ever invited (in 1957) to the Bayreuth Festival, where his interpretations have left an indelible mark.
Naturally, the region has also been an incomparable breeding ground for the great Wagnerian operatic voices: Sophie Diez (1820-1887), of course, but also Josephine Schefsky (1843-1912), Marianne Schech (1914-1999), tenor Heinrich Knote (1870-1953) and, more recently, the highly revered Jonas Kaufmann. And let's not forget to mention sopranos Diana Damrau and Christina Landshamer, who contribute greatly to the region's artistic prestige.
In summer, Bavaria becomes an international center of festivals and music weeks. In addition to Bayreuth, for example, the Münchner Opernfestspiele, Munich's opera festival, features some 30 world-class performances. The event takes place at the National Theater Bayerische Staatsoper, Bavaria's famous opera house. In addition to the Nationaltheater, the complex houses the Prinzregententheater, the Allerheiligen Hofkirche and the Théâtre Cuvilliés. From September onwards, each season offers an astonishing program, featuring its prestigious orchestra in residence, which has always been conducted by great masters (including Strauss, Mehta, Nagano, Petrenko and now Jurowski). The ensemble is not the only one of note in Munich and the country, since the Munich Philharmonic is also excellent (and particularly renowned), as is its list of conductors: Celibidache, Levine, Thielemann, Maazel and Valeri Guerguiev. To attend a performance, head for the Philharmonie Im Gasteig. The building, inaugurated in 1985, put an end to 40 years of exile for the Philharmonie. The original hall, the Tonhalle, was bombed during the Second World War and never rebuilt. In addition to the Philharmonie, the building houses temporary exhibition spaces featuring photography, literature and sociology. The Gasteig also plays host to numerous festivals. So there's always something going on. The last notable venue in Munich is the Staatstheater Am Gärtnerplatz, an attractive venue for opera, operetta and dance.
Otherwise, as mentioned above, the region is incredibly dynamic in summer, hosting the Bach Week in Ansbach, the International Organ Music Week in Nuremberg, the Bad Kissingen Summer Festival (Kissinger Sommer) and the Mozart Festival in Würzburg. There's also theAudi Sommerkonzerte in Ingolstadt, offering a month of classical concerts with big-name artists.
Contemporary music
A quick word on current music. Berlin doesn't have the hegemony of German electronic music, and some of its leading figures come from the region, particularly Munich, such as DJ Hell, a pillar of German electro. Or Zombie Nation, author of the unforgettable hit Kernkraft 400. More recently, it was the Zenker Brothers who put the Bavarian capital back on the techno map with their productions and those released on their Illian Tapes label. The latter is notably the home of Skee Mask, (yet another) talented Munich native and a pearl of today's techno scene.
In another genre, it's impossible not to mention Edition of Contemporary Music, or ECM, one of the most prestigious and respected Munich-based labels to have released some memorable jazz, contemporary classical and avant-garde titles.
For a quality concert in Munich, it's best to head for Muffatwerke, a former power station that has been transformed into a hugely successful concert hall, or, for something more alternative, Backstage, or Strom for underground acts.
The theater
Bavaria was the birthplace of many masters of German drama. Nuremberg, for example, was the birthplace of Hans Sachs (1494-1576), a prolific 16th-century poet and tragedian. Nuremberg is also the birthplace of August von Platen (1796-1835), the great German Romantic, and Frank Wedekind (1864-1918), the illustrious playwright whose work paved the way for the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s and had a lasting influence on German theater. Wedekind is best known for Lulu, a famous series of two plays steeped in lust and desire. And let's not forget Berthold Brecht (1898-1956), a native of Augsburg, the great thinker of epic theater and the timeless author of The Threepenny Opera and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
A few opportunities to see theater in Bavaria: the Spielart, Munich's theater festival held from late October to mid-November, or the Staatstheater Nürnberg, a magnificent building erected in 1905 offering a good program. Also worth a visit is the Deutsches Theatermuseum, a museum of German theater, where the entire history of German-language theater is on display, with nearly 2 million photographs, sets, masks and costumes used in stage performances.
