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Gerhard Walterskirchen remembers Bernhard Paumgartner

In 1971 the Salzburg Festival had only just begun when the news of the death of its president Bernhard Paumgartner went around the world: on the evening of 27 July 1971, during the premiere of Alban Berg's Wozzeck in the Grosses Festspielhaus, Paumgartner died at the age of 84 in Salzburg. For over half a century Paumgartner had decisively raised Salzburg's status as a city of music - indeed to such an extent that his ideas and influence still live on a generation later.

Bernhard Paumgartner Photo: SF/Ellinger

Bernhard Paumgartner was born on 14 November 1887 in Vienna into an artistic family. His father Dr. Hans Paumgartner was a pianist, composer and writer on music, his mother the renowned singer Rosa Papier. Bernhard Paumgartner studied and taught in Vienna but he found his metier in Salzburg. In 1917 he became head of the Mozarteum and remained director of this institution for four decades apart from the period under Fascist dictatorship.

Together with Max Reinhardt he was one of the co-founders of the Salzburg Festival. From 1920, when Jedermann (Everyman) was first performed, for which Paumgartner and Einar Nilson composed the incidental music, he was a shrewd and understanding advocate of the Festival idea.

He had a great sense of theatre and opened up the ears and eyes of the public for performances of Mozart's early operas in the courtyard of the Residenz, arranging them scenically and musically; he introduced the series of Mozart Serenades and Matinees and founded the Camerata Academica of the Mozarteum.

Throughout all those years Bernhard Paumgartner also worked as a university professor, as a writer, composer, editor, translator and arranger. He carried out research, especially on Mozart and made countless other innovations in Salzburg's musical life: he started the tradition of performing Mozart's C minor Mass in St. Peter's Abbey, performed Cavalieri's Rappresentazione in the Felsenreitschule and in the University Church, founded the Hellbrunn Festival and a grammar school in Salzburg for children who wanted to specialise in arts subjects.

Musical Commemoration for Bernhard Paumgartner

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Bernhard Paumgartner the Salzburg Festival and the Friends of the Salzburg Festival are holding a musical commemoration on 30 July 2001 entitled "From the Serenity of the Spirit".
The festive address will be held by Gerhard Wimberger, and the musical framework will be provided by the Camerata Salzburg, Gabriele Sima, Elena Denisova and Alexei Kornienko.

Further information from the Friends Office on the number 0043 662 8045 284.