Salzburg Festival: history and repertoire, 1935–1937
This is a list of the operas performed by Salzburg Festival during the music directorship of Arturo Toscanini and Bruno Walter (1935–1937). This period was ended by the invasion and annexation of the Republic of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938. Arturo Toscanini, an avid opponent of the Nazi regime, thereafter declined to come back to Salzburg. Bruno Walter was forced to flew to the United States.
New opera productions
The period 1935 to 1937 was extremely successful for the Salzburg Festival. The percentage of tickets sold rose from 53% in 1934 to 89% in 1937. Each year during this period of the Salzburg Festival, Arturo Toscanini presented one new production of an opera suitable to the Salzburg atmosphere. He insisted on major fundings and on the best available singers. In 1935 he presented Giuseppe Verdis last opera, Falstaff, performed for the first time at the Salzburg Festival. His choice of Wagners Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1936 was seen as an act of opposition to the Bayreuth Festival, insisting that this opera belongs to the cultural heritage of the world and not to Nazi Germany. His last Salzburg premiere was dedicated to the genius loci, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and his masterpiece Die Zauberflöte. Another political statement of Toscanini was that each year he conducted Beethoven's freedom opera Fidelio, a masterpiece against tyranny.[1]
Meanwhile, Bruno Walter, who was the only conductor fully accepted by Toscanini, concentrated himself on majors works of Mozart, presented a highly acclaimed production of Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice and expanded the Salzburg repertory by adding rarely performed operas like Wolfs Der Corregidor and Webers Euryanthe. He too insisted on conducting Wagner in Salzburg – Tristan und Isolde with a splendid cast led by Anny Konetzni and Josef Kalenberg.[2]
1935
Orchestra and Choir Conductor |
Director Settings and Costumes |
Female Roles | Male Roles | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, August 12, 21 and 29 | ||||||||
Vienna Philharmonic Choir of Vienna State Opera Bruno Walter |
Herbert Graf Oscar Strnad Settings |
Margherita Perras Konstanze Margit Bokor/Lotte Schöne Blondchen |
Alfred Muzzarelli Bassa Selim Charles Kullmann Belmonte William Wernigk Pedrillo Berthold Sterneck/Ludwig Hofmann Osmin | |||||
Falstaff by Arrigo Boito and Giuseppe Verdi, July 29 and August 3, 17 and 26 | ||||||||
Vienna Philharmonic Choir of Vienna State Opera Arturo Toscanini |
Guido Salvini Robert Kautsky, Ladislaus Czettel Margarete Wallmann Choreography |
Maria Caniglia/Dusolina Giannini Mrs. Alice Ford Edith Mason Nannetta Angelica Cravcenco Mrs. Quickly Mita Vasari Mrs. Meg Page |
Mariano Stabile Sir John Falstaff Piero Biasini Ford Dino Borgioli Fenton Angelo Badà Dr. Cajus Giuseppe Nessi Bardòlfo Fernando Autori Pistòla |
1936
1937
Repertory
In addition to the new productions the following works from the repertory were performed at the Salzburg Festival.
1935
- Così fan tutte, cond. Felix von Weingartner, August 5 and 19
- Don Giovanni, cond. Bruno Walter, August 1, 8, 15, 23 and 28
- Fidelio, cond. Arturo Toscanini, August 7, 14, 24 and 31
- Le nozze di Figaro, cond. Felix von Weingartner, August 13 and 30
- Der Rosenkavalier, cond. Josef Krips, July 30, August 9 und 27
- Tristan und Isolde, cond. Bruno Walter, July 27
1936
- Così fan tutte, cond. Felix von Weingartner, July 29 and August 25
- Don Giovanni, cond. Bruno Walter, July 28, August 4, 13 and 24
- Falstaff, cond. Arturo Toscanini, July 31, August 10, 20 and 26
- Fidelio, cond. Arturo Toscanini, July 25, August 5, 16 and 31
- Le nozze di Figaro, cond. Felix von Weingartner, July 27 and August 29
- Tristan und Isolde, cond. Bruno Walter, August 27
1937
- Don Giovanni, cond. Bruno Walter, August 2, 13 and 28
- Elektra, cond. Hans Knappertsbusch, August 8 and 22
- Falstaff, cond. Arturo Toscanini, July 26, August 9 and 23
- Fidelio, cond. Arturo Toscanini, August 24 and 26
- Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, cond. Arturo Toscanini, August 5, 12 and 20
- Orfeo ed Euridice, cond. Bruno Walter, July 31 and August 14
- Der Rosenkavalier, cond. Hans Knappertsbusch, July 27, August 6 and 24
Salzburg Festival: history and repertoire, 1922–1926
Sources
- Kaut, Josef (1982). Die Salzburger Festspiele 1920–1981, Mit einem Verzeichnis der aufgeführten Werke und der Künstler des Theaters und der Musik von Hans Jaklitsch. Salzburg: Residenz Verlag. ISBN 3-7017-0308-6.
References
- ^ Stephen Gallup: Die Geschichte der Salzburger Festspiele, Vienna: Orac 1989, ISBN 3-7015-0164-5, p. 124–154 (Chapter: Der glorreiche Toscanini).
- ^ Robert Kriechbaumer: Zwischen Österreich und Großdeutschland. Eine politische Geschichte der Salzburger Festspiele 1933–1944. Vienna: Böhlau 2013, ISBN 978-3-205-78941-3, Herein esp. p. 77–79, 125–136, 142–144, 257–262.