Opera Director. As head of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus for close to 60 years, he was responsible for presenting the music of his grandfather Richard Wagner. Raised within the operatic milieu of Bayreuth which was managed by his father Siegfried (until his death in 1930), and then by his mother Winifred, he and his older brother Wieland were prepared early on to assume their grandfather's legacy. The Wagner family was of necessity associated with the ardent music fan Hitler and his high command, though in later years Wolfgang would give contradictory accounts of just how close the association was. (The Wagners were the only people allowed to use the familiar form of "you" when addressing the Fuhrer). Joining the German Army, Wolfgang was injured and boarded out in 1940; he spent the remaining war years studying theatre and preparing to run Bayreuth. The Festspielhaus was heavily damaged by bombing, and remained dark until 1951 when Wolfgang and Wieland were placed in charge, their mother having been removed due her continuing (indeed, lifelong) Nazi loyalty. Relations between the brothers were rocky; each had his own ideas of just how opera should be performed, and reviews of their offerings were mixed. Wolfgang's first production was a 1955 "The Flying Dutchman", followed in 1957 by "Tannhauser". Over the years, he was to produce all of the Wagner operas, several of them twice, and "The Ring" cycle four times. Wolfgang assumed full command following Wieland's death from cancer in 1966; modernistic productions (in contrast to the Nazi-inspired Nordic ones) continued, as did the intra-family problems. Patrice Chereau's 1976 "Ring" received a varied response, as did that given by Sir Georg Solti and Sir Peter Hall in 1983, though Harry Kupfer and Daniel Barenboim's effort was much praised. As the music went on, however, so did the Wagnerian family drama; Wolfgang was accused of slighting Wieland's offspring and, following his 1976 divorce and remarriage, his own. Wolfgang wanted his second wife Gudrun, to follow him, but her death in 2007 forced him to give authority to his daughters Eva (by his first wife) and Katharina, child of his second, in 2008. At Wolfgang's death, Bayreuth Festival Opera was ongoing, as was effort by Wieland's children to gain a measure of control.