26 July – 30 August
On 27 August, in celebration of Karl Böhm’s 85th birthday, the Stadtsaal (City Room) was renamed the “Karl Böhm Saal”. Böhm’s contribution to the Festival can hardly be over-stated: a pillar of the Festival for more than forty years, he conducted opera virtually every summer (especially Strauss and Mozart) as well as a great many concerts, and adroitly asserted his position alongside the omnipotent Karajan. Despite his advanced age, Böhm again conducted a première this year, his last altogether: Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos with Hildegard Behrens and Edita Gruberova in a production by Dieter Dorn. Karajan continued his tour through the Verdi repertoire with a new production of Aida, sung by his preferred quintet of star vocalists: Mirella Freni (Aida), José Carreras (Radames), Piero Cappucilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov and Ruggero Raimondi. Maximilian Schell, Salzburg’s Jedermann, turned to direction with a production of Schnitzler’s tragicomedy Das weite Land.

1979: Herbert von Karajan congratulating Karl Böhm on his 85th birthday.
New production
Arthur Schnitzler
Das weite Land (“Far and Wide’)
D: Maximilian Schell
Ds/Cs: Filippo Sanjust
Landestheater
New production
Giuseppe Verdi
Aida
C/D: Herbert von Karajan
Ds: Günther Schneider-Siemssen
Cs: Georges Wakhevitch
Grosses Festspielhaus
New production
Richard Strauss
Ariadne auf Naxos
C: Karl Böhm
D: Dieter Dorn
Ds/Cs: Jürgen Rose
Kleines Festspielhaus
Revivals: Der Talisman, Jedermann, Die Zauberflöte, La clemenza di Tito, Le nozze di Figaro, Der Rosenkavalier
Concert performance: Berlioz' La Damnation de Faust
15 orchestral concerts, 4 chamber concerts, 6 serenades, 6 matinées, 5 solo recitals, 8 lieder recitals, 1 church concert, 1 choral concert, 3 public readings, Birthday matinée for Karl Böhm
Ceremonial address: Sir Karl Popper, “Creative Self-Criticism in Science and Art’
Details of the several years:
1960,
1961,
1962,
1963,
1964,
1965,
1966,
1967,
1968,
1969,
1970,
1971,
1972,
1973,
1974,
1975,
1976,
1977,
1978,
1979,
1980,
1981,
1982,
1983,
1984,
1985,
1986,
1987,
1988,
1989,