A History of the Salzburg Festival

Founded in 1920 by theater director Max Reinhardt, poet-playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal and composer Richard Strauss and intended as a tribute to Mozart, the Salzburg Festival has attracted almost every major musician of our time. In this useful account, a Howard University historian describes Salzburg not only as an institution, but also as an ""idea'' and ``ideal'' that ``evolved and mutated against the background of our cacophonous century.'' From uncertainty and fear to hope and prosperity, and, finally, after WW II, a new inventiveness, its fortunes tended to mirror Austria's complex internal cultural politics and intensive provincial intrigues. Rightly dominating the book are Reinhardt and three great conductors, Toscanini, Furtwangler and Karajan, the latter of whom has virtually controlled the festival for the past 30 years. Photos. (March)