Salzburg Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Salzburg FestivalSalzburger Festspiele
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| Genre |
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| Begins | late July |
| Ends | end of August |
| Frequency | annual |
| Location(s) | Salzburg, Austria |
| Inaugurated | 1920 |
| People |
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The Salzburg Festival (German: Salzburger Festspiele) is a famous music and drama festival. It started in 1920. Every summer, for about five weeks from late July, it takes place in Salzburg, Austria. This city is special because it's where the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.
The festival often features Mozart's operas. A very popular part of the festival is the yearly performance of a play called Jedermann, which means Everyman. Since 1967, there's also been a separate Salzburg Easter Festival.
Contents
History of the Salzburg Festival
How the Festival Began
Music festivals happened in Salzburg before, starting in 1877. These were organized by the International Mozarteum Foundation. But they stopped in 1910. A new festival was planned for 1914, but World War I started, so it was cancelled.
In 1917, two people, Friedrich Gehmacher and Heinrich Damisch, created a group. Their goal was to start an annual festival for drama and music. They especially wanted to focus on the works of Mozart.
The Founders of the Festival
After the war ended in 1918, five important people helped bring the festival back. They are now known as its founders:
- Hugo von Hofmannsthal, a poet and writer.
- Richard Strauss, a famous composer.
- Alfred Roller, a designer for theater sets.
- Franz Schalk, a conductor.
- Max Reinhardt, a director from Berlin. He had already put on Hofmannsthal's play Jedermann in 1911.
Hofmannsthal believed the Salzburg Festival should show Austria's welcoming spirit. This was different from some other parts of Europe at the time. He wanted the festival to celebrate different cultures and languages.
First Performances and Traditions
The Salzburg Festival officially opened on August 22, 1920. Max Reinhardt directed Jedermann on the steps of Salzburg Cathedral. This performance, starring Alexander Moissi, became a tradition. The play is still performed there today.
Since 1921, the festival has also included many performances of chamber music and orchestral works. The first opera was performed in 1922. It was Mozart's Don Giovanni, conducted by Richard Strauss. Many singers from the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) performed.
New Festival Venues
In 1925, the first festival hall was built. It was located in the old horse stables of the Archbishops. This hall opened with a play called Turandot. By then, the festival already had a big program. It even had live broadcasts on Austrian radio.
The next year, a nearby riding academy was turned into a theater. This place, called Felsenreitschule, was carved right into the Mönchsberg mountain. It opened with a play by Carlo Goldoni. In 2006, the original festival hall was rebuilt. It became a third venue for operas and concerts. It is now called the Haus für Mozart (House for Mozart).
Famous Conductors and World War II
From 1934 to 1937, famous conductors like Arturo Toscanini and Bruno Walter led many performances. In 1936, the festival featured the Trapp Family Singers. Their story later became the musical The Sound of Music. The musical shows them singing at the Felsenreitschule. In 1937, Boyd Neel and his orchestra performed a new piece by Benjamin Britten.
The festival faced big problems when Austria was taken over by Nazi Germany in 1938. This event was called the Anschluss. Toscanini quit in protest. Jewish artists like Reinhardt and Georg Solti had to leave the country. The play Jedermann was also stopped. The festival continued until 1944. Then, it was cancelled by order of Joseph Goebbels after a plot to kill Hitler.
After World War II ended in Europe, the Salzburg Festival reopened in the summer of 1945.
The Festival After World War II
After the war, the festival slowly became famous again. It was known as a great place for summer operas, especially Mozart's works. Herbert von Karajan became the artistic director in 1956. In 1960, the Great Festival Hall opera house opened.
As the festival grew, it became a major place for opera, drama, and classical concerts. Its music mainly focused on Mozart and Strauss. But other works, like Verdi's Falstaff and Beethoven's Fidelio, were also performed.
After Karajan died in 1989, the festival was updated and expanded. This was done by director Gerard Mortier. He was followed by Peter Ruzicka in 2001.
The Salzburg Festival in the 21st Century
In 2006, the festival celebrated Mozart's 250th birthday. They put on all 22 of his operas, even two that were not finished. All of them were filmed and released on DVD. The Haus für Mozart also opened that year.
In 2010, a new opera called Dionysos premiered. Alexander Pereira became the festival director in 2011. He wanted to show only new productions. When he left in 2014, Sven-Eric Bechtolf took over temporarily.
The 2015 festival had three new opera productions. These included Le nozze di Figaro and Fidelio. Other operas were older productions brought back. In 2018, Lydia Steier was the first woman to direct Die Zauberflöte at the festival.
Markus Hinterhäuser became the festival director in 2016. In April 2024, his contract was extended until 2031.
Festival's Impact on the Economy
The Salzburg Festival brings a lot of money to the city. In 2017, ticket sales alone brought in about €27 million. The festival helps create about €183 million for Salzburg each year. This supports about 2800 full-time jobs in Salzburg. It also provides about €77 million in taxes and duties for the government.
Salzburg Whitsun Festival
The Salzburg Whitsun Festival (Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele) started in 1973. It was first a short series of concerts. Today, it's still short, lasting four days. But it has many events each day. It is managed by the same organization as the main summer Salzburg Festival.
The first Whitsun Concerts focused on three symphonies by Anton Bruckner. These were conducted by Karajan and played by the Berlin Philharmonic. Later, opera became part of the festival. In the 1990s, the festival started to focus on Baroque music. For example, in 2005, they presented Handel's Acis and Galatea.
In 2007, Riccardo Muti became the artistic director for five years. He presented rare operas from the 18th and 19th centuries. After him, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli took over for five years.
Bartoli planned for a full-staged opera each year. These operas would then be repeated at the Summer Festival. In 2012, she sang Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare. In 2013, she performed in Norma. In 2014, she was in Rossini's La Cenerentola. In 2015, she performed in Iphigénie en Tauride. In 2016, she sang Maria in Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story.
See also
- List of opera festivals
