With under a week to go before the curtain rises on the 95th edition of the Richard Wagner Festspiele on July 25, a pair of tickets to a performance of the massive four-opera "Ring" cycle, had already attracted bids around 23 times their face value by Wednesday on eBay Deutschland.

And with another day of bidding still to go, the price was certain to rise a great deal higher.

The tickets in question were for seats for the first complete "Ring" cycle in the gallery right at the back of the legendary "Festspielhaus", designed and built by the composer (1813 to 1883), himself.

Their face value was 28.50-32.50 euros (36-41 dollars) apiece, according to the festival website. But the bidding price on eBay by Wednesday afternoon was 1,330 euros for the pair.

Also on offer on eBay Deutschland was a ticket for a performance of the third -- and final -- "Ring" cycle between August 22 and 27. The seller declined to reveal the face value of that ticket, but the starting price for bidding was set at 1,250 euros. So far, however, no bids had been made.

Two tickets for the third performance of "Parsifal" were also on offer, although at 782 euros for the pair, the bidding price here was somewhat lower.

Two separate sets of tickets for different performances of "Tristan und Isolde" were similarly on offer at more modest prices.

That was probably because the productions of "Tristan" and "Parsifal" have both been seen before, while the "Ring" is a brand new production being staged for the first time this year.

Internet forums for classical music and opera are also favourite places for people looking to get their hands on a ticket to the festival, which sells out every year.

One hopeful from the United States posted their "ticket wanted" notice for 2006 festival more than a year ago on Klassik.com.

"The most ardent wish of our friends in London is to accompany us next year (2006) to Bayreuth. We're looking for four tickets either for 2006, 2007 or 2008..." wrote another hopeful on vioworld.de.

Festival organisers frown upon such practices and seek to prevent secondary and black-market trading by insisting that ticket-holders also carry some form of picture identification with them when entering the auditorium.

And a stern "Beware of the black market" notice is pinned on the festival's website.

Tickets for the Bayreuth Festival, which runs from July 25 until August 28, are indeed the most elusive in the musical world, with a waiting list of 10 years and longer.

Nevertheless, prices are not extortionately high compared with other top opera houses around the world, ranging from as little as six euros with no view of the stage to 208 euros for the prime seats in the front stalls.

That is significantly cheaper than top-price tickets for London's Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York or the Bastille Opera in Paris.

Would-be visitors to Bayreuth must apply in writing each year for a ticket by filling out a form sent to them in the post in September. Applications must be submitted by mid-October. You must apply no matter how small your chances of getting in. Miss a year and you'll get sent to the back of the queue.

The lucky few who are allocated a ticket are notified in December. Rejections arrive in January.

This year, the festival received 492,000 applications from more than 80 different countries, but with only 53,900 tickets on sale for the 30 performances during the month-long run, applicants had only a nine-percent chance of getting in.

Tactics can help shorten your waiting time. You will wait the longest if you apply for performances during the so-called "premiere week", the first gala week of the festival.

But if you apply for an opera that is nearing the end of its run, you have more of a chance.

You can also join the society of friends of the festival, which has a large contingent of tickets. But you'll have to pay an annual membership fee and, with the number of members growing each year, the waiting list here is also growing longer.

The most die-hard hopefuls simply turn up on the day of the performance, wielding a "Suche Karte" (Ticket Wanted) sign.

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