The Salzburg Festival
STAGE AND SCREEN Music
TuE outstanding event of this year's Festival at Salzburg has been the production of Die Meistersinger under the
musical direction of Toscanini. I have heard many perform- ances of the opera, some of them with far better singers than Salzburg provided and upon stages better suited by their size to the full deployment of the great spectacular scenes. But never have I heard a performance which so firmly held the attention from first bar to last. It is difficult to write about Toscanini without seeming to indulge in a school- girlish hero-worship. But the man is so great a musician, so vital a personality that no superlatives can really be excessive. His power of command is quite extraordinary, and he exercises it upon performers and audience alike, and it is upon himself not least that he exercises his disci- pline. How any man can work up the music to such a pitch of excitement as he attains, without for one moment losing control of himself or of the players must remain a mystery to lesser men.
Perhaps his most signal achievement was in Fidelio, where after a climax in the " Leonora Overture No. 8 " he started off the final scene, in itself a comparatively weak movement, at an even higher pitch of excitement, so that, instead of seeming an anti-climax, it was made into the true dramatic peak of the whole opera. This is the nearest thing to the fabulous feat of piling Pelion upon Ossa that I have ever been privileged to witness. Yet this performance was, on the whole, the least satisfactory of all ; for, with one or two exceptions, the singing was hardly up to Festival standard. After all, one has a right to expect at a Festival performance that the Fidelio shall be able to sing her great aria at the pitch at which it is written. Mine. Lehmann remains a great artist and a lovely singer, but it would be stretching courtesy too far to maintain that her voice retains the beautiful quality that it had twelve years ago. Herr von Pataky, the rather stolid Ottavio of the Glyndebourne Don Giovanni, proved himself a first-rate Florestan, but the rest were mediocre, or worse.
The best singing has undoubtedly been heard in the Italian operas, among which for present purposes Don Giovanni must be included. But an exception must be made in favour of Mine. Thorborg's Orpheus in Gluck's opera, sung unfor- tunately in German. Mme. Therborg showed a feeling for the classic dignity of the work, with which the Dakrozified pro- duction was sadly at variance. The only thing to do was to enjoy her performance and the fine playing of the Vienna Orchestra; led by the veteran Herr Rosé, under Bruno Walter. If Toseanini has been the special hero of the Festival, this must not be allowed to detract from the credit due to Walter, who remains for those who are not prejudiced about his racial origins the finest product among conductors of modern German musical culture.
None the less it would be idle to deny that for the majority of the audience this has been Toscanini's Festival, and if, as has been stated, it is also his last, the outlook for the future of the Festival is not good. The people of Salzburg have not been slow to take advantage of his popularity and prices have been sometimes disproportionately raised. If the main attraction disappears, there are likely to be many empty places next year. The only way to maintain the Festival will be to alter its policy of giving performances only of well- known operas ; in fact, to appeal to the musicians rather than to the smart public—and at the same time to secure that it shall be financially possible for them to attend. For without the attraction of Toscanini's great reputation, there is a distinct likelihood that the geese who lay the golden eggs will have been frightened away. But there are still silver ones to be had, if an interesting programme is provided.
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
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