The Salzburg Festival – a success story
Donations and requests for donations have a tradition
“Some of the costs have to be raised from private means. It is not only important for the Salzburg Festival but for the entire Austrian economy”.
Does this sound familiar to you?
This appeal for donations dates from the year 1934! At that time Max Reinhardt
and Clemens Holzmeister were appealing for private means for the installation
of a roof in the Felsenreitschule.
Festspielpräsidentin Dr. Helga Rabl-Stadler
The Friends Association is now requesting donations for the “House for Mozart”. A request that has fallen on fertile ground in the case of our Festival Friends. A festival patron from Germany wrote, “It is a matter of importance for me to inform you that I consider this donation initiative to be a splendid idea. I am especially pleased that it has resulted in such a marvellous response.” He went on to say, “I also think that the Association of Friends of the Salzburg Festival is doing a magnificent job”. Enclosed was a donation of € 5,000. We send our heartfelt thanks to Munich!
Your support, your comments give us much more than financial assistance. We sense that you are also emotionally committed to this project, as we are, and there can be nothing more rewarding for the artistic management of the Salzburg Festival.
In a recent issue of the New York Times John Rockwell described this festival as the “granddad” of all festivals. (Sometimes grandfathers are indeed more vivacious and energetic than their grandchildren). Rockwell writes that Salzburg is “a heavenly place to be”.
The appeal for donations dating from 1934 made the claim that “important institutions have recognised that the overall success of the Salzburg Festival depends very much on performances being able to take place without interruption in the Felsenreitschule”.
This year, 70 years later, the Felsenreitschule is again at the centre of attention during the Festival. Jürgen Flimm and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, an excellent team renowned for their outstanding productions, are preparing a Gesamtkunstwerk (a synthesis of all the arts) with their new production of King Arthur.
Helga Rabl-Stadler