27 July 27 – 31 August

The desire to give the Festival a new image led to a number of remarkable débuts. Gottfried von Einem, a 29-year-old Austrian composer who had joined the Festival’s board of directors the previous year, achieved a resounding success with the world première of his opera Dantons Tod. Equally responsible for its success were Oscar Fritz Schuh (director), Caspar Neher (designer) and the young Hungarian conductor Ferenc Fricsay. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf gave her Salzburg début as Susanna in Figaro, Sena Jurinac did the same as Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and Lisa Della Casa made her first appearance in an opera that would later establish her world fame: Strauss’s Arabella, this time however as Zdenka. The production was the work of another Salzburg debutant, Günther Rennert. Jubilation greeted the return of Wilhelm Furtwängler, who conducted two concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic, including one with Yehudi Menuhin.

1947: The cast of Dantons Tod after the world première (left to right): Oscar Fritz Schuh (director) and Caspar Neher (designer) with Rosette Anday, Gottfried von Einem (composer), Ludwig Weber, Ferenc Fricsay (conductor), Herbert Alsen, Peter Klein, Maria Cebotari, Paul Schöffler, Gisela Thury and Julius Patzak.

Refurbished production
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Jedermann
D: Helene Thimig
Cathedral Square / Festspielhaus

New production
Alexander Lernet-Holenia
Die Frau des Potiphar ("Potiphar's Wife")
D: Oskar Wälterlin
Ds: Heinz Bruno Gallée
Cs: Karin Schoor-Schauberger
Landestheater

New production
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Le nozze di Figaro
C: Josef Krips and Otto Klemperer
D: Lothar Wallerstein
Ds: Alfred Roller
Festspielhaus

New production
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan tutte
C: Josef Krips
D: Oscar Fritz Schuh
Ds: Robert Kautsky
Landestheater

World première
Gottfried von Einem
Dantons Tod (“Danton’s Death’)
C: Ferenc Fricsay
D: Oscar Fritz Schuh
Ds/Cs: Caspar Neher
Festspielhaus

New production
Richard Strauss
Arabella
C: Karl Böhm
D: Günther Rennert
Ds: Robert Kautsky

8 orchestral concerts, 1 choral concert, 5 chamber concerts, 4 serenades, 5 concerts of sacred music

Details of the several years:

1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959,