26 July – 31 August

For many visitors the Salzburg premiere of Richard Strauss’s Die Schweigsame Frau was the high point of the Summer Festival, not least of all because of the front-rank cast of Hans Hotter, Hermann Prey, Fritz Wunderlich and Hilde Güden. Herbert von Karajan again devoted himself to one of his favourite stalwarts, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, the work that had served for his triumphant Salzburg operatic debut in 1948. The programme was graced by two world premières: an opera (Heimo Erbse’s Julietta) and a spoken play (Fritz Hochwälder’s Donnerstag). Ernst Lothar announced his resignation as head of spoken theatre when his Jedermann production was chided as “antiquated” and critical voices were heard even from the board of directors. There were no fewer than two visiting orchestras: the Orchestra National de la R.T.F, Paris, and the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein in his first appearance in Salzburg.

1959: The first Salzburg performance of Strauss’ Die schweigsame Frau featured an all-star cast, including Fritz Wunderlich (Henry Morosus) and Hans Hotter (Sir Morosus).

World première
Fritz Hochwälder
Donnerstag (“Thursday’)
D: Oscar Fritz Schuh
Ds/Cs: Caspar Neher
Landestheater

New production
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Der Turm (“The Tower’)
D: Ernst Lothar
Ds: Gustav Manker
Cs: Herbert Ploberger
Felsenreitschule

New production
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Zauberflöte
C: George Szell
D: Günther Rennert
Ds/Cs: Ita Maximovna
Festspielhaus

New production
Joseph Haydn
Il mondo della luna
C: Bernhard Conz
D: Georg Reinhardt
Ds/Cs: Heinrich Wendel
Landestheater


New production
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Orfeo ed Euridice
C: Herbert von Karajan
D: Oscar Fritz Schuh
Ds/Cs: Caspar Neher
Felsenreitschule

New production
Richard Strauss
Die schweigsame Frau
C: Karl Böhm
D: Günther Rennert
Ds: Teo Otto
Cs: Erni Kniepert
Festspielhaus

World première
Heimo Erbse
Julietta
C: Antal Dorati
D: Oskar Wälterlin
Ds/Cs: Caspar Neher
Festspielhaus

Revivals: Jedermann, Così fan tutte

4 ballet performances, 11 orchestral concerts, 1 concert of Salzburg Radio Chorus and Mozarteum Chamber Chorus, 6 chamber concerts, 8 serenades, 5 matinées, 4 solo recitals, 4 lieder recitals, 1 Schiller matinée, 4 concerts of sacred music, 1 church concert, 1 choral concert

Details of the several years:

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