Q5: Is the Ring Cycle going to be performed at Bayreuth, Germany, this summer and how do I order tickets?


  1. Ottawa, Canada
    (10:57) I used some background knowledge to issue the following query to
    AltaVista: 
    	wagner ring nibelungen +bayreuth gotterdammerung siegfried walkure
    domain:de
    Based on the results, I append the query with: +festspiele -gymnasium
    These results are too much about the music and notably about recordings
    from previous festival performances.
    Decide to issue a whole new query to Alta Vista (11:05): bayreuth
    festspiele karten
    Link 5 gives a page on domain www.festspiele.de
    (11:08) go to their homepage, link
    http://www.festspiele.de/tmt/tickets/index.html gives overview of the
    program.
    Das Rheingold: check. Die Walküre: check. Siegfried: check. Die
    Gotterdammerung: check. The whole ring's there.
    Order on the following address: BAYREUTHER FESTSPIELE, Kartenbüro,
    Postfach 100262, D-95402 Bayreuth, tel. 0921/78780.
    (11:15): case closed.
    

  2. Place: Dublin, Ireland
    Date: June 11th 1998
    Time: 3:00pm (local time)
    
    Started search using Fusion
    
    Query: Ring Cycle performance bayreuth germany summer 1998
    
    Clicked on #10 "World Music Calendar"
    http://www.digitaldiscounts.com/music.html
    
        Richard Wagner Festival July 25 - August 28, 1998. James Levine 
        conducts the four operas of "The Ring Cycle": "Das Rheingold," 
        "Die Walküre," "Siegfried" and "Die Götterdämmerung,". 
    
        Tickets: $11 to $175. Box office: Bayreuther Festspiele, Postfach 
        10 02 62, D-95402 Bayreuth, Germany. For tickets and other information
        call 2-02-21 in Bayreuth or write: Wagner Festspiele, Postfach 10 02 62, 
        D-95402 Bayreuth, Germany. 
    

  3. Place: Aberdeen, Scotland
    Date:  12. June 1998
    Time: 2:30PM (local time)
    
    searched through yahoo for ring cycle and bayreuth, germany
    clicked on bayreuth online for information however this is in 
    german.  gave up
    

  4. Iowa City, Iowa, USA
    8 hours for 10 queries over 2 afternoons
    
            o Submit  Altavista the query: +Ring +Cycle +Bayreuth +Germany
            o The first link
              (http://www.the-european.com/Cities/Germany/GermanyCities/Bayreuth/Bayreuth.html)
              explains that Wagner build here an opera house to stage his vast
              four opera Ring cycle.
            o Go back to the Altavista search results, add the term "+opera" and
              search again.
            o Link 4 points to the world music calendar
              (http://www.digitaldiscounts.com/music.html).
            o Find Bayreuth in the page. This page has all the information
              required. The festival would take place between July 25th and
              August 28th, 1998. The address and phone of the box office, as
              well as the price of the tickets, are there.
    

  5. Tokyo, Japan
    June 12nd, 1998 Local time
    By default, search on Altavista
    
       1:45 pm
       Query : bayreuth germany order ticket "ring cycle"
    
       clicked on 1:
                                   1. Information for visitors to Bayreuth
                                   in Germany,
                                   home of Wagner
                                   [URL:www.the-european.com/Cities/Germany/GermanyCities/Bayreuth/B]
                                   Music & Nightlife
    
       Result : Tickets for the annual Wagner Festival, held from late July
       to the end of August, are sold out years in advance, but ask the
       Festspielhaus box office for returns (Postfach 10
       02 62, D-95402
       Bayreuth; tel: +49 921 20221, Mon-Fri 11-12am).
    
    

  6. Using a custom front-end tool AltaGCL
    Waterloo, 15 June 17:15
    
      altagcl "Ring Cycle" and "Bayreuth" and "ticket*"  ... learned a lot about
                                Ring Circle but no sure answer ... too many tours
      altagcl "Ring Cycle" and "Bayreuth" and "tickets" ... much reading ... Bingo!
    
    http://www.digitaldiscounts.com/music.html
    
    Total time: 10 minutes  
    

  7. Waterloo, Canada
    Using a custom front-end tool AltaGCL
    June 16, 00:35am
    
       query: "ring cycle" and "bayreuth" and "tickets"
    
       This query gives lots of general information about Wagner's work
       and the history of the Bayreuth version but wasn't specific enough
    
       query: "ring cycle" and "bayreuth" and "reservations"
     
         URL : http://www.digitaldiscounts.com/music.html
         Bayreuth, Germany 
         Richard Wagner Festival July 25 - August 28, 1998.
          [...]                              Tickets: $11 to $175. Box office:
         Bayreuther Festspiele, Postfach 10 02 62, D-95402 Bayreuth, Germany.
         For ticket and other information call 2-02-21 in Bayreuth or write:
         Wagner Festspiele, Postfach 10 02 62, D-95402 Bayreuth, Germany.
    
       time: 5 minutes
    

  8. Using Fusion2 - a metasearch engine with marking of relevant documents
    and query expansion.
    
    Place: Dublin - home internet connection
    Date: 14 June, evening
    
    initial search for "ring cycle" bayreuth
    40 URLs retrieved in first search
    Initial URL examined at rank=6 "Rotatact Club Bayreuth - 1880"
      - text in German - no useful info
    Next URL at rank = 8 "MET Opera News"
      - gives details of Metropolitan Opera casting for 1997 ... now I know
        ring cycle is an opera !
    Examine URL titles to rank 25 and then load "Bayreuth: A History of the Wagner Festival"
        to find it is an AMAZON.COM book !
      - mark this as relevant nonetheless
    Scroll to rank position 32
      - home page for University of Bayreuth but it is all-German
    Return to URL at rank = 29 "City Information, accommodation, bookings ..."
        which is www.driveeurope.com page on the city with but no specific info
        on the festival or useful-looking links
    
    Click "expand search" button to get list of candidate search terms and
    with 3 URLs marked as relevant and from the list of candidate search terms offered 
    I add "opera wagner music performance" and manually add the term "ticket"
    
    Re-submit search ... 24 URLs retrieved
    
    Click on URL at rank=3 www.operaworld.com/operas/ringcy.htm but
       this lists recordings of the opera, not performances
    
    Click on URL at rank=2 "World Music Calendar - Traveler's Guide to the World's ..."
       This is a huge text page so I do a "Find" for Bayreuth and BINGO.
    
    Festival is on July25-Aug 28, tickets are $11 tp $175 and there is
    an address and telephone number for the box office.
    
    Total time taken for search: 11 minutes.
    

  9. At a university in Glasgow, Scotland
    
    search ring cycle performance with yahoo, found:
    http://www.the-european.com/Cities/Germany/GermanyCities/Bayreuth/music.html
    with info on where to book for the Wagner Festival:
    Tickets for the annual Wagner Festival, held from late July to the end of
    August, are sold out years in advance, but ask the Festspielhaus box
    office for returns (Postfach 10 02 62, D-95402 Bayreuth; tel: +49 921
    20221, Mon-Fri 11-12am).
    We extracted two more queries: "Wagner Festival" and "Festspielhau"
    
    search Wagner Festival
    found program in German  (!) in http://www.festspiele.de/tmt/index.html,
    our German expert recognised the Ring Cycle:
    
          Montag, 27. Juli: Rheingold I
    
          Dienstag, 28. Juli: Walküre I
    
          Donnerstag, 30. Juli: Siegfried I
    
          Samstag, 1. August: Götterdämmerung I
    
          Donnerstag, 6. August: Rheingold II
    
          Freitag, 7. August: Walküre II
    
          Sonntag, 9. August: Siegfried II
    
          Dienstag, 11. August: Göttderdämmerung II
    
          Samstag, 22. August: Rheingold III
    
          Sonntag, 23. August: Walküre III
    
          Dienstag, 25. August: Sigefreid III
    
          Donnerstag, 27. August: Götterdämmerung III
    
          Freitag, 28. August: Meistersinger VI
    
    Now how are we going to book? One of us knew it was veru difficult to find
    tickets and people had to wait years ....
    
    search Festspielhaus with Yahoo
    found http://operabase.com/level1/wdba.html
    with link to performances and under Bayreuth link to:
    http://operabase.com/mkhouse.cgi?id=none&lang=en&house=wdba&list=f where we
    found the address and modalities for booking
    
    Answer: The Ring Cycle is going to be performed at Bayreuth, Germany, this
    summer and the details for bookings are as follow:
    Address: Bayreuth Festspielhaus,
                          D8580 Bayreuth,
                          GERMANY
    
          Administration: Bayreuther Festspiele
                          Postfach 100262
                          D95402 Bayreuth
                   Phone: +49 (921) 78 78 0
    
             Season runs: Jul-Aug
    
                Capacity: 1925 seats
    
                 BOOKING: PERSONAL CALLERS, POSTAL, PHONE
                 Address: As Above
                   Phone: +49 921 202 21
            Credit cards: None
    
         Disabled access: Wheelchair space (2)
    
    

  10. Australia
    Using a query re-formulation tool, the Hyperindex Browser (HiB)
    
            HiB + AltaVista
    
            o entered "bayreuth" as query and received numerous possible
              query refinements
            o selected "bayreuth festival" which produced the refinement
              "bayreuth opera festival" which seemed very relevant (I have
               the general knowledge that the Ring Cycle is a series of
               Wagnerian operas)
            o beamed down using the refinement "bayreuth opera festival" 
              The fifth document titled "Festivals" had "Wagner"
              in the associated abstract - so followed the link to the actual 
              document
    
              http://www4.worldmedia.fr/festivals/eng/data/0138.html
    
              The title of this document is "Bayreuth Festival : Richard
                      Wagner"
              and seems to have the answer: yes the Ring Cycle will be played
              but a document linked to it says (in German) that its sold out
              (as usual)
    

  11. Place : Nacsis.  Tokyo Japan
    Date : June 18, 1998
    Time : 4:30PM  (Japan Time)
    
    Started search on Netscape Navigator
    Query :"Bayreuth  Germany"
    Clicked on #10 "Bayreuth travel & Turist
    Clicked  "Bayreuth online"
                    But I can't read German.  Back
    Clicked  "Byerischer Hof"
    Clicked  "Festival"
    Clicked  "Program"
    Clicked  "How to get tickets"
        Finish Time : 5:00PM
    
    

  12. At a university in Toronto, Canada
    
      Metacrawler query: Ring Cycle Bayreuth Schedule
    
      Nothing appears to be appropriate.
    
      Altavista query: "Ring Cycle" and "Bayreuth"
    
      Clicking on #2: 2. Accomodations, hotels, bargain trips, Germany,..."
        (www.driveeurope.com/dejava/a6_60.htm)
    
        Bayreuth ...  The Richard Wagner Festspielhaus (Festival Theatre)
        was built between 1872 and 1876 on the hill northeast of the town,
        now called Festspielhgel (Festival Hill). King Ludwig II, the "Mad
        King" of Bavaria and an ardent admirer of Wagner, supported his
        work, and the Festspielhaus was opened with four operas of the
        performances of Ring Cycle.  The Festival Theatre and the ornate
        Opera House are open to visitors when no performance or rehearsals
        are in progress.
    
      Altavista query: "Richard Wagner Festspielhaus"
    
      Clicking on #1:  "Accomodations, hotels, bargain trips, bookings,..."
        (www.driveeurope.com/aa6_22.htm)
    
        Nothing new.
    
      Altavista query: "Wagner Festival Theatre"
    
        One result.  Broken URL.
    
      Guessing URL www.bayreuth.de
    
        German-language site.  Quickly explored site.  No obvious
        "Festspielhaus" links.
    
      Altavista query: +Bayreuth +Festspielhaus
    
      Clicking on #1: Bayreuth Festspielhaus
       (operabase.com/level1/wdba.html)
    
        Site contains schedules for 1996 and 1997, and information for ordering
        tickets, but no schedule for 1998.  "Gotterdammerung" wasn't performed
        in 1996.  Best to phone +49 (921) 78 78 0 for the latest information.
    

  13. At another university in Glasgow, Scotland
    
    Is the Ring Cycle going to be performed at Bayreuth, Germany, this summer
    and how do I order tickets?
    
    Entered AltaVista search: +Bayreuth ring circle
    
    After page 2 revised query: +Bayreuth, +Ring, Circle
    
    Tried 5: Information about the 1998 Bayreuth Wagner festival, from your
    Mining Company Opera Guide --
    http://opera.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa042898.htm
    
    While waiting for Opera site... Tried 11:
    http://kastor.tmt.de/bayreuth-info/imnotfall/apotheken97.html but page not
    found, so tried http://kastor.tmt.de/bayreuth-info/ then
    http://kastor.tmt.de/ which worked but the English version didn't
    
    Opera site finally loaded and gave an applet error but it did load enough
    to follow a link to "some good sites on the Ring" -
    http://opera.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa042898.htm
    
    Not very helpful but at least confirms its Wagner's Ring.
    So back to Opera home page...
    
    Booking information from
    http://opera.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa042898.htm gives the phone
    number +49 921 20221.
    
    Browsed around and found info at
    http://opera.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa042898.htm (info on Hotel
    Bayerischer) which makes getting tickets look rather iffy - maybe the above
    number is only for returned tickets.
    
    The route to getting tickets appears to be
    	" Write to the "Kartenbero der Bayreuther Festspiele, Postfach 100262,
    	D-95402 Bayreuth" and ask for the performance schedule as well as the
    	order form. These will be send to you in September. Order the tickets
    	you desire and do not forget to indicate alternate dates. Watch for
    this
    	date: "Beginn des Kartenvorverkaufs" (=beginning of the ticket sale).
    	Your order must be received by the ticket office on this day at the
    	latest. Around January/February of the following year you will usually
    	receive a positive or a negative answer to your request. The ticket
    	confirmations are mailed first. The following September you will
    	automatically receive the order form. You should continue to order in
    	any case! If you miss one you will be deleted from the computer and
    the
    	whole process starts again without credit for former waiting period. "
    	!!!
    
    SO Yes it does take place and tickets look as easy to get as Scotland
    tickets for the opening game of the World Cup in Paris.
    
    NB: On proof checking I noticed that the first query uses circle and not
    cycle - wrong but I still got there....
    

  14. Elsewhere in Ottawa, Canada, using AltaVista ...
    
    ANSWER:		Yes the ring cycle will be performed several times
    		The first is July 27, 28, 30, and Aug 1
    		(Postfach 10 02 62, D-95402
    		Bayreuth; tel: +49 921 20221, Mon-Fri 11-12am)
    Queries:	2
    Links:		8
    Time:		15 minutes
    ----------------------------------------------------
    Query: "ring cycle" Bayreuth Germany summer 1998 tickets
    	strategy: rare words and phrases
    		translate "this summer"
    
    Followed: First link modified in 1998, skipping one that was from 1997
    	http://www.wagnersocietyny.com/wagnrlnks.html
    	-> http://www.festspiele.de/tmt/index.html  (In German)
    
    Unfamiliar with the names of the parts of the ring cycle 
    	so will use other web pages to figure it out.  Here are
    	the possibilities
    Schedule for the Bayreuth 1998 festspiele
    	Samstag, 25. Juli: Holländer I
                    Sonntag, 26. Juli: Meistersinger I
                    Montag, 27. Juli: Rheingold I
                    Dienstag, 28. Juli: Walküre I
                    Mittwoch, 29. Juli: spielfrei
                    Donnerstag, 30. Juli: Siegfried I
                    Freitag, 31. Juli: spielfrei
                    Samstag, 1. August: Götterdämmerung I
                    Sonntag, 2. August: Parsifal I
                    Montag, 3. August: Holländer II
                    Dienstg, 4. August: Meistersinger II
                    Mittwoch, 5. August: Parsifal II
                    Donnerstag, 6. August: Rheingold II
                    Freitag, 7. August: Walküre II
                    Samstag, 8. August: geschlossene Vorstellung/Holländer
                    Sonntag, 9. August: Siegfried II
                    Montag, 10. August: spielfrei
                    Dienstag, 11. August: Göttderdämmerung II
                    Mittwoch, 12. August: Meistersinger III
                    Donnerstag, 13. August: Holländer IV
                    Freitag, 14. August: Parsifal III
                    Samstag, 15. August: geschlossene Vorstellung
                    Sonntag, 16. August:: Meistersinger IV
                    Montag, 17. August: Parsifal IV
                    Dienstag, 18. August: Holländer V
                    Mittwoch, 19. August: Meistersinger V
                    Donnerstag, 20. August: Parsifal V
                    Freitag, 21. August: Holländer VI
                    Samstag, 22. August: Rheingold III
                    Sonntag, 23. August: Walküre III
                    Montag, 24. August: spielfrei
                    Dienstag, 25. August: Sigefreid III
                    Mittwoch, 26. August: spielfrei
                    Donnerstag, 27. August: Götterdämmerung III
                    Freitag, 28. August: Meistersinger VI
    
    
    Back out to the page: 
    http://www.festspiele.de/tmt/index.html
    	follow two frame links 1997 festspiele, Gotterdammerung
    	Gotterdammerung is also known as: Der Ring des Nibelungen
    
    --------------------------------------------------------------------
    Query: "ring cycle" Wagner Gotterdammerung
    	To verify what ring cycle means
    
    Followed: http://www.operaworld.com/operas/ringcy.htm
    
    Found:
    	"Wagner's epic four-opera drama based on German myth is opera at its grandest. 
    	See individual operas for plot summaries: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre,
      	Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung"
    
    No information on tickets.
    	Backed out of all links back to the results of the first query.
    	Scanned the top 10 hits and one said "contact numbers"
    
    Followed: http://www.the-european.com/Cities/Germany/GermanyCities/Bayreuth/music.html
    
    	"Tickets for the annual Wagner Festival, held from late July to
    the end of August, are sold out years in advance, but ask the
    Festspielhaus box office for returns (Postfach 10 02 62, D-95402
    Bayreuth; tel: +49 921 20221, Mon-Fri 11-12am)."
    

  15. France
    
    Metacrawler: Ring Cycle Bayreuth
    --> 25 results
    --> 5th: Reservation Info
    http://www.bayerischer-hof.com/Festival/reservE.htm
    Information concerning hotel reservations for the festival.  This page
    also indicates that the Ring Cycle IS PERFORMED during the festival.
    At the top of the page is a link "Tickets",
    http://www.bayerischer-hof.com/Festival/ticketsE.htm 
    This page gives detailed instructions how to order tickets by
    snail-mail. 
    
    (5 minutes)
    

  16. Saarbrucken, Germany 
    22 June 1998, 19:20-21:20 p.m.
    
      Metacrawler (find all words): Ring Bayreuth Karten
    
      - return a lot of pages on www.festspiele.de
      - I open www.festspiele.de
      - follow the link http://www.festspiele.de/tmt/index.htm (Festspiele 98)
      - follow the link http://www.festspiele.de/tmt/index.html 
        (Karten, Preise, Tips)
        it contains the address for ordering tickets:
            BAYREUTHER FESTSPIELE
            Kartenbüro 
            Postfach 100262
            D-95402 Bayreuth
      - back up and follow the link http://www.festspiele.de/tmt/index.html 
        (Spielplan)
        I'm not sure whether the performances listed constitute the "Ring Cycle"
    
      Altavista: "Ring der Nibelungen"
      - 7th result: http://www-eleves.int-evry.fr/~zirphile/musique/wagner.htm 
        (Wagner)
      - follow the link to 
        http://www-eleves.int-evry.fr/~zirphile/musique/nibelung.htm (Le Ring)
        does not contain the required info
      - back up to AltaVista; the first 40 results don't look promising
    
      Altavista: host:festspiele.de Ring
      - first 10 results don't mention 1998
    
      Altavista: host:festspiele.de Ring 1998
      - first result http://www.festspiele.de/1996/ring.html (404 file not found)
      - first 30 results not too promising
    
      - backup to www.festspiele.de
      - follow the link "1996"
      - follow the link "Der Ring der Nibelungen"
      - follow the link 'Rezension: Günter Neuholds Karlsruher "Ring"'
        it does not contain a listing of the elements of the Ring Cycle
      - I conclude that the Ring Clycle is not being performed in 1998 in 
        its entirety since it is not explicitly mentioned on the festspiel.de 
        pages.
    

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Date created: Monday, 31-Jul-00