Salzburg Festival
A kingdom without a ruler
Zelig Michaels
`Herbert von Karajan is no more,' intoned Kurt Waldheim when he opened this summer's Salzburg Festival soon after the death of the conductor who molded it into a fiefdom of music and money all his own. 'Now that he is no longer among us, the gap that he leaves behind becomes ever more clear.' Karajan's sudden but not altogether surprising death 11 days before the festival's start indeed overshadowed the latest round of performances in Mozart's birthplace, where he ruled tyran- nically for over 25 years.
On opening night, the industrial and social elite, for whom Karajan made the festival a magnet, filed into the mammoth Festspielhaus built to his exacting require- ments, Thyssens and Agnellis alike queuing to sign a memorial tome set up in front of Karaj an's spotlit bust in the black-draped foyer. Sir Georg Solti step- ped in with admirable sang froid to take over Karajan's new production of Un Ballo in Maschera with little more than five days left to rehearse. Solti of course stamped the score with his own verve, but the performance, starring Placido Domingo and Josephine Barstow, could not but remain the consummate Salzburg experi- ence as it flourished under Karajan's over- long reign. As if before a Broadway extravaganza, the audience, including be- jewelled Grafinnen and other women in the evening dress version of the Austrian dirndl, gasped and burst into applause at each revelation of sumptuous settings by William Dudley, upon which cinema direc- tor John Schlesinger exerted effective stage direction.
An eight-page programme insert listed the 247 opera performances and 90 orches- tra concerts held at Salzburg since 1948 under Karajan's baton. Solti, Seiji Ozawa and James Levine conducted a solemn concert in his memory by the Vienna Philharmonic four days into the five-week long festival. Perhaps recalling the two post-war years when Karajan was banned from the festival because of his Nazi Party membership, President Waldheim sought to comfort Karajan's widow, Eliette, who wept next to him when Ozawa started off the wordless memorial performance with the 'Air' from Bach's Orchestral Suite in D-Major. In a moving tribute, the Philhar- monic concluded with the orchestral equivalent of the riderless horse at a statesman's funeral — the musicians play- ed Mozart's `Maurerische Trauermusik' without direction, the conductor's podium standing vacant before them.
The void symbolised the lack of direc- tion at the top of the festival itself, a situation which has drawn mounting critic- ism in Austria since Karajan last year began to cut back his activities while retaining his veto over festival productions. Already, months before Karajan's death, the federal, provincial and city government bodies which provide nearly a third of the $25 million annual budget began re- viewing its fusty artistic orientation and management. Learning of reform propos- als submitted by Hans Landesmann, a member of the festival board, Karajan angrily rang a Vienna tabloid to denounce him as a dilettante and threatened to withdraw from the festival entirely if changes were made. What must surely have helped set Karajan off was the reform proposals' insistence that any new festival management be independent of the record- ing industry which so enriched the Maes- tro. Among this year's Deutsche Gram- mophon advertisements, which, with Mozartkugeln and Mercedes, blemish the historic beauty of Salzburg, were abundant posters for the pre-mortem recordings of the Verdi opera which Karajan made during the past winter according to a proven practice of preparing releases in conjunction with sell-out festival perform- ances.
But, knowing that the ailing conductor's days were numbered, the Minister of Cul- ture, Hilde Hawlicek, called his bluff by approving the reform proposals only weeks before he died on July 16. She agrees with Landesmann and many critics that the lavish festival productions are growing repetitive and need rejuvenation through more imaginative artists whom Karajan banished or alienated from his kingdom. To heal the sclerosis, the board has appointed a commission under Land- esmann to search for a new festival presi- dent and artistic and financial managers. Leading the pack among contenders to take over from Festival President Albert Moser, an old friend and colleague of Karajan's due to retire in 1991, appears to be August Everding, the Munich State Opera Director General. Hawlicek backs his candidacy and Everding spoke out during the festival's opening week against the exorbitant ticket prices (the cheapest opera seats go for £35 and range on up to £165) as well as the way in which the high fees Karajan offered to middle as well as top singers had 'spoiled' international mar- ket rates. Above all, he bemoaned the current lack of the intellectual inspiration that distinguished the festival in the years after its creation in 1920. Quality remains top flight at the festival but the productions have become little different from what can be heard or seen in major houses, particu- larly in the area of theatre, at an event that was, after all, founded by the innovative director, Max Reinhardt, and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. 'One goes to Salzburg only for the joyous and the pleasing', said Everding. 'But in Salzburg there must again be rebellion. Salzburg should not only pacify and gratify, it must also vex. And if people become angry, then at least next year there will be tickets available for others'.
`Woke up this morning — It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'
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