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 return to Salzburg. Bruno Walter was forced to flee 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, Arturo Toscanini presented one new production of an opera suitable to the Salzburg atmosphere. He insisted on major funding and the best available singers. In 1935 he presented Giuseppe Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, performed for the first time at the Salzburg Festival. His choice of Wagner's 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.

Meanwhile, Bruno Walter, who was the only conductor fully accepted by Toscanini, concentrated on majors works by Mozart, presented a highly acclaimed production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and expanded the Salzburg repertory by adding rarely performed operas like Wolf's Der Corregidor and Weber's Euryanthe. He, too, insisted on conducting Wagner in Salzburg – Tristan und Isolde with a splendid cast led by Anny Konetzni and Josef Kalenberg.

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

 * Salzburg Festival: history and repertoire, 1922–1926