He was maybe mad but he was not stupid and they should have given him a chance I am sure they meant to kill him.". From their shimmering Valhalla high above the clouds, the ancient gods of the Teutonic race are casting nervous glances towards the small Bavarian town of Bayreuth where a revolution threatens to engulf the shrine of Germany's greatest cultural icon, Richard Wagner. From their shimmering Valhalla high above the clouds, the ancient gods of the Teutonic race are casting nervous glances towards the small Bavarian town of Bayreuth where a revolution threatens to engulf the shrine of Germany's greatest cultural icon, Richard Wagner. One of the Wagner dynasty battling for control of the Bayreuth festival has shocked the nation by announcing that she wants to see less Wagner and more Beethoven.On Monday, the foundation overseeing the festival will meet to decide who should take over from the current Lord of the Ring, Wolfgang Wagner, who is in his 81st year. The front-runner, Nike Wagner, wants to turn Germany's prime musical event upside down, bring Wagner out of his theatre into the open air and introduce other composers.Ms Wagner, 54, the great-granddaughter of Richard, is committing sacrilege to the cult fostered by the composer's widow, Cosima. "The repertoire must be extended," Nike wrote unapologetically in a provocative manifesto that was published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this week. "Nothing Wagner's widow decreed is sacrosanct."It was Cosima, Franz Liszt's daughter, who had founded the Wagner industry and sought influential patrons, such as Adolf Hitler. The Führer was just one of a string of politicians who have recognised the power of Wagner's music.

To this day, decisions about the order of succession in the dynasty involve the highest echelons of the German government.For Wagner and the annual celebration of his output at Bayreuth is about much more than music. His operas are seen by many Germans as the zenith of a thousands years of Teutonic culture and anyone who dares to mess with the Wagner legacy is picking a fight with the nation's soul.But Nike Wagner, Wolfgang's niece, has detected worrying signs of "senescence" in her uncle and his work."The festival risks becoming repetitive, always resorting to old-fashioned roots," she complains. Now she wants to open all the windows and let the wind blow away the cobwebs.Nike's blueprint for renewal breaks a legion of taboos. She wants the festival to seek more sponsors - from hi-fi manufacturers for instance - and make money from merchandising.

The festival's up-market clientele would presumably be able to round off their musical experience with a visit to a gift shop selling plastic figures of Wotan, the king of the Gods in the Ring of the Nibelung.To the horror of Wagner traditionalists, she advocates performances of greatest hits; highlights of the composer's often meandering score. The company would take the music into Bayreuth's main square, and even to the theatres of the region. The festival could also be held twice a year.In the past, Nike Wagner had made clear that she wanted to extend the range of music on offer. At the moment, Bayreuth makes its living out of the four Ring operas and Wagner's later works.

Nike thinks some of his earlier operas, such as Die Feen - The Fairies - and Das Liebesverbot - Forbidden Love - also deserve to be staged in Bayreuth's hallowed theatre, the Festspielhaus.By Bayreuth's musty standards, these ideas are controversial enough. But they have been barely noticed in the fury that greeted her suggestion that Wagner should roll over and make way for Beethoven. Nike says: "When the Festspielhaus opened, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was performed as a way of paying homage to Wagner's musical heritage. There are existing works that are like a homage to Wagner - [by] Anton Bruckner, Alban Berg .. and others yet to be written. The Bayreuth festival could commission new works to open the season."This is strong stuff for Wagnerians, who might argue that they fight for the scarce Bayreuth tickets precisely to get away from the atonal strains of the likes of Berg and contemporary composers. But there is a growing national mood for renewal, and nothing would better demonstrate Germany's coolness than a relaunch of Bayreuth.Until recently, Nike was crying in the wilderness and seemed eminently disqualified for the job she covets.