Music by composer Richard Wagner will be performed at next year's Glyndebourne Festival for the first time in the event's history.

But organisers say the 69-year wait has had nothing to do with the 19th Century composer's much-publicised Nazi links.

Wagner, a known anti-Semite, was Hitler's favourite composer and his music was used as an inspiration for Nazi cultural propaganda.

Hitler once said: "In order to understand the Nazi party, you must understand Wagner."

Wagner's political views have led to an unofficial ban on his music being performed in Israel and there are boycotts elsewhere.

But his absence from the playlist at Glyndebourne Opera House, near Lewes, was only because the festival's previous venue was not big enough. Its new theatre opened in 1994.

Spokeswoman Margaret Marsh said: "Wagner operas are huge and before we got our new theatre we couldn't perform any.

"It had nothing to do with Nazis or anything like that. This is our first chance to perform Wagner."

Wagner's Tristan And Isolde will open the festival on May 19 and run for ten performances until July 4.

The season also includes new productions of Mozart's Idomeneo, conducted by Simon Rattle, and Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus.

The festival, which features 76 performances in total, ends on August 31.

Tickets costing between £12.50 and £40 are available on 01273 813813.