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The Bayreuth Festival runs from July 25 to August 28 every year and the opening night is traditionally attended by Germany's political and social elite.
So the appearance of a singer decorated with Nazi tattoos would have been a huge embarrassment for all concerned.
The scandal is also a huge headache for the festival's organisers who have just four days to find a new "Dutchman".
The production's director, Jan Philipp Gloger, warned of the "immense artistic damage" even if a replacement can be found and is able to familiarise himself with the production in time for the premiere on Wednesday.
The Bayreuth Festival, the world's oldest summer music festival, was founded by Wagner, a notorious anti-Semite, as a showcase for his operas and he had the famous Festspielhaus theatre built to his own designs.
Wagner was Adolf Hitler's favourite composer and after the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933, Hitler became a regular guest at the Festspielhaus built on Bayreuth's fabled "Green Hill".
The Nazi dictator also became a close friend of Winifred Wagner, the widow of the composer's son Siegfried.
Hitler was affectionately called "Uncle Wolf" by her sons, Wolfgang and Wieland, who went on to reinvent and relaunch the festival after the end of World War II.
Bayreuth's current heads, Katharina Wagner, 34, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 67, have pledged to open up the festival archives to independent historians to fully explore the festival's Nazi past. But the topic remains an extremely sensitive issue.
Katharina and Eva are already under fire for what some critics say has been a decline in artistic standards at the festival. The event has always been one of the hottest tickets in the world of opera and classical music, with the waiting list running up to 10 years.
This year too, the black market for tickets -- officially priced between 35-280 euros ($43-344) -- is flourishing more than ever.
Nevertheless, even the most dyed-in-the-wool Wagnerites have started to complain that Bayreuth may be losing some of its shine due to a string of critically panned and deeply unpopular productions.
There has also been, according to some observers, a decline in vocal standards.
With better productions of Wagner's works regularly on show all over the world, there were even empty seats in the Festspielhaus last year: an unprecedented development since the festival's relaunch following the end of World War II.
Last year's new production of "Tannhaeuser" by Sebastian Baumgarten, was vilified by critics and audiences alike for setting Wagner's tale of a minstrel-knight in a biogas plant. It is being revived again this year.
The director of the new production of the "Dutchman", 31-year-old Jan Philipp Gloger, said he was not trying to provoke for provocation's sake.
"If people don't think that this music alone and this wonderful and wondrous place are enough to create an event, then that's very sad," he said in a recent interview.
Gloger has largely worked in spoken theatre in the past and only directed two operas so far in his career.
"I've never been interested in provocation as an end in itself. It's more exciting to ask questions, to unsettle and to surprise and dodge expectations," he said.
Festival chiefs Katharina and Eva took over the running of Bayreuth in 2008 from their father Wolfgang, who had ruled the festival with an iron fist for 58 years.
The two could not be more different.
While Eva is notoriously media-shy, Katharina is seen as hip and tech-savvy and has brought Bayreuth into the 21st century with a new, trendy multimedia presence.
While Eva is responsible for hiring the singers, conductors and directors, Katharina is in charge of marketing and is seen as the festival's public face.
It was she who masterminded a series of innovations, such as the "Wagner for Kids" series; she also spruced up the festival's Internet presence with a series of podcasts and video insights into the workings of the Festspielhaus.
Another initiative was the staging of free public screenings of performances from previous years, which she is taking a step further this year with high-definition live broadcasts beamed into cinemas around the country.
Despite -- or perhaps because of -- such moves to bring Wagner to wider audiences, Katharina's critics are many.
One of her most vocal detractors is cousin Nike Wagner, the 67-year-old daughter of Wieland (1917-1966), who herself had set her sights on Bayreuth's throne in a succession feud that was frequently as entertaining as any opera plot.
Nike, who runs the high-brow Pelerinages festival dedicated to Franz Liszt in Weimar, has since suggested Bayreuth could be better run by a non-Wagner.
In addition to the "Dutchman" and "Tannhaeuser", there will also be revivals of a 2010 production of "Lohengrin", a production of "Parsifal" dating back to 2008; and a "Tristan and Isolde" from 2005.
For many Wagner fans, this year's festival will merely act as a prelude to celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Wagner's birth next year.
Controversial German theatre director Frank Castorf has been chosen to stage Bayreuth's new production of Wagner's magnum opus, the sprawling four-opera "Ring" cycle, in the bicentenary year.
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So the appearance of a singer decorated with Nazi tattoos would have been a huge embarrassment for all concerned.
The scandal is also a huge headache for the festival's organisers who have just four days to find a new "Dutchman".
The production's director, Jan Philipp Gloger, warned of the "immense artistic damage" even if a replacement can be found and is able to familiarise himself with the production in time for the premiere on Wednesday.
The Bayreuth Festival, the world's oldest summer music festival, was founded by Wagner, a notorious anti-Semite, as a showcase for his operas and he had the famous Festspielhaus theatre built to his own designs.
Wagner was Adolf Hitler's favourite composer and after the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933, Hitler became a regular guest at the Festspielhaus built on Bayreuth's fabled "Green Hill".
The Nazi dictator also became a close friend of Winifred Wagner, the widow of the composer's son Siegfried.
Hitler was affectionately called "Uncle Wolf" by her sons, Wolfgang and Wieland, who went on to reinvent and relaunch the festival after the end of World War II.
Bayreuth's current heads, Katharina Wagner, 34, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 67, have pledged to open up the festival archives to independent historians to fully explore the festival's Nazi past. But the topic remains an extremely sensitive issue.
Katharina and Eva are already under fire for what some critics say has been a decline in artistic standards at the festival. The event has always been one of the hottest tickets in the world of opera and classical music, with the waiting list running up to 10 years.
This year too, the black market for tickets -- officially priced between 35-280 euros ($43-344) -- is flourishing more than ever.
Nevertheless, even the most dyed-in-the-wool Wagnerites have started to complain that Bayreuth may be losing some of its shine due to a string of critically panned and deeply unpopular productions.
There has also been, according to some observers, a decline in vocal standards.
With better productions of Wagner's works regularly on show all over the world, there were even empty seats in the Festspielhaus last year: an unprecedented development since the festival's relaunch following the end of World War II.
Last year's new production of "Tannhaeuser" by Sebastian Baumgarten, was vilified by critics and audiences alike for setting Wagner's tale of a minstrel-knight in a biogas plant. It is being revived again this year.
The director of the new production of the "Dutchman", 31-year-old Jan Philipp Gloger, said he was not trying to provoke for provocation's sake.
"If people don't think that this music alone and this wonderful and wondrous place are enough to create an event, then that's very sad," he said in a recent interview.
Gloger has largely worked in spoken theatre in the past and only directed two operas so far in his career.
"I've never been interested in provocation as an end in itself. It's more exciting to ask questions, to unsettle and to surprise and dodge expectations," he said.
Festival chiefs Katharina and Eva took over the running of Bayreuth in 2008 from their father Wolfgang, who had ruled the festival with an iron fist for 58 years.
The two could not be more different.
While Eva is notoriously media-shy, Katharina is seen as hip and tech-savvy and has brought Bayreuth into the 21st century with a new, trendy multimedia presence.
While Eva is responsible for hiring the singers, conductors and directors, Katharina is in charge of marketing and is seen as the festival's public face.
It was she who masterminded a series of innovations, such as the "Wagner for Kids" series; she also spruced up the festival's Internet presence with a series of podcasts and video insights into the workings of the Festspielhaus.
Another initiative was the staging of free public screenings of performances from previous years, which she is taking a step further this year with high-definition live broadcasts beamed into cinemas around the country.
Despite -- or perhaps because of -- such moves to bring Wagner to wider audiences, Katharina's critics are many.
One of her most vocal detractors is cousin Nike Wagner, the 67-year-old daughter of Wieland (1917-1966), who herself had set her sights on Bayreuth's throne in a succession feud that was frequently as entertaining as any opera plot.
Nike, who runs the high-brow Pelerinages festival dedicated to Franz Liszt in Weimar, has since suggested Bayreuth could be better run by a non-Wagner.
In addition to the "Dutchman" and "Tannhaeuser", there will also be revivals of a 2010 production of "Lohengrin", a production of "Parsifal" dating back to 2008; and a "Tristan and Isolde" from 2005.
For many Wagner fans, this year's festival will merely act as a prelude to celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Wagner's birth next year.
Controversial German theatre director Frank Castorf has been chosen to stage Bayreuth's new production of Wagner's magnum opus, the sprawling four-opera "Ring" cycle, in the bicentenary year.
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