July 31 Friday – The date Sam gave Frederick J. Hall (July 10) when he’d be at Bayreuth for the Wagner festival. Sam actually arrived the next day, Aug. 1 [“At the Shrine of St. Wagner”]. The Clemens party was in transit this day.

Powers writes that Livy had reserved seats for nineteen performances of Wagner’s works! [MT A Life 539]. Powers gives no citations, nor could exact dates be found for Sam and Livy’s appearances there. However, the festival began on July 19, a full twelve days before they arrived. Kaplan offers that the tickets had been “bought months in advance” [312]. A. Hoffman writes,

“Under the direction of Richard Wagner’s widow, the festival had become a magnet for the world’s greatest musicians and opera aficionados, so much so that the Clemenses needed to buy their tickets for the event a year in advance. The festival thrilled the family, particularly Susy and Clara, but Sam loved spirituals and could only generate a periodic and mild interest in opera. The mechanics of dining in Bayreuth interested Sam much more, and he happily left the opera before the end in order to secure a good table for his party” [372]. Hoffman adds that Susy and Clara had rejoined the family from Geneva, probably when Aix-les-Bains was left behind.

Note: whether the Clemenses secured tickets months or years in advance, reviews of newspaper articles about the festival reveal the scope of demand, which caused a dispute over ticket distribution between Wagner’s widow, represented by the festival board of administration and the Wagner society. From the Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 15, 1891 p.4:

The demand for tickets for the Bayreuth festivals is simply enormous and those who wish to witness the works of Wagner performed in the composer’s own home find it difficult and costly to obtain the coveted cards of admission.

Even the Hartford Courant, on June 29, p.1, reported the famous festival, though they erred in the day of the week it began:

At Bayreuth the rehearsals for the Wagner festivals are now being pushed forward very actively. The actual performances will begin on Monday, July 19 [Sunday], and will be on the usual monster scale which is so pleasing to the devotees of the music of the future. Thus no fewer than 141 singers will be employed, and there will be in addition sixty-four ballet girls and dancers. The orchestra, which is naturally the exceedingly important factor in the presentation of these music dramas, contains thirty-two violins, twelve violas, twelve violincellos, eight bassos, five flutes, five obos, five clarinets, five flageolettes, two trumpets and cornets, four harps and two drums.