Salzburg Festival

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The Salzburg Festival (Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama. It is held each summer (for 5 weeks starting in late July) within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In modern time there is also an annual Salzburg Easter Festival held by the same organization.

The summer festival was first founded in 1877 but was discontinued in 1910.

At the close of World War I in 1918, its revival was championed by 5 men now regarded as the Founders: the poet and dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the composer Richard Strauss, the director of the Salzburg City Theater Max Reinhardt, the scenic designer Alfred Roller and the conductor Franz Schalk. The Festival was officially reborn on 22 August 1920 with the performance of Hofmannsthal's play Jedermann on the steps of Cathedral Square. The practice has become a tradition, and Jedermann is now always performed at the Cathedral Square.

In 1926 the old Archbishop's stable Felsenreitschule was converted into a theater and the Festival Hall (Salzburger Festspielhaus) opera house opened its doors. As this summer festival gained fame and statue as the premiere venue for opera, drama play, and classical concert presentation, its musical repertory concentrates on Mozart and Strauss, but other works, such as Verdi's Falstaff and Beethoven's Fidelio were also performed.

1934 to 1937 represents a golden period when the Festival featured the famed conductors Toscanini and Bruno Walter conducted many performances. In 1936, it featured a performance by the Trapp Family Singers, whose story was later dramatized as the musical and film The Sound of Music. The shot of the Von Trapps singing in the competition features Felsenreitschule theater. In 1937, Boyd Neel and his orchestra premiered Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge at the Festival. ^[1]

The Festival's popularity suffered a major blow once the Nazi took over Austria in 1938, though it remained in operation until closing temporarily in 1943. With the end of World War II, the Salzburg Festival reopened in 1945 immediately following the Allied victory in Europe. The post WW II Festival slowly regained its prominence as the premiere summer opera festival especially in works by Mozart.

In 2006 the Festival celebrated the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth by staging all 22 of his operatic works (2 unfinished) to great acclaims. All 22 were filmed and will be released to the general public in November 2006.