Mozart Week

The Mozarteum originally organised a Salzburg Mozart Festival ({{lang|de|Salzburger Mozartfest}}) on an occasional basis. The first was in 1877, marked by the first appearance of the Vienna Philharmonic in Salzburg and in fact out of Vienna. Others followed in 1879, 1887 (the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Don Giovanni), 1891 (the 100th anniversary of the composer's death), 1901, 1904, 1906 (the 150th anniversary of his birth), and 1910; one was planned for 1914 but cancelled due to the outbreak of the Great War. Suggestions of an annual event, inspired by the Bayreuth Festival, did not come to fruiting, chiefly for lack of funds as well as due to the inadequate local artistic resources.{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Laut|title=Festspiele in Salzburg: Eine Dokumentation|language=de|date=1965|place=Salzburg|publisher=Residenz-Verlag|pages=16–30}}{{cite book |last=Kriechbaumer|first=Robert|title=„Salzburg hat seine Cosima”: Lilli Lehmann und die Salzburger Musikfeste|language=de|date=2021|place=Vienna|publisher=Böhlau|isbn= 978-3-205-21362-8|pages=9–71}} The Salzburg Festival was eventually created in 1920, but organised every summer independently of the ISM and, although putting an emphasis on Mozart at a time when the newly-standalone German-Austria was seeking to define its identity, open to a broader repertoire.

The Mozart Week was created in 1956 as part of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mozart's birth on 27 January 1756, as approved by the Federal Ministry of Education in 1953.{{cite journal|last=Rech|first=Géza|title=Die Jännerfestwoche in Salzburg anläßlich des Gedenkens an den 200. Geburtstag Mozarts|journal=Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum|publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg|issue=15|pages=1–3|date=March 1956|url=https://digibib.mozarteum.at/ismretroverbund/periodical/titleinfo/1925668}}{{notetag|The festival is unrelated to the Mozart Week of the German Reich ({{lang|de|Mozart-Woche des Deutschen Reiches}}), organised by Nazi authorities in 1941 on the 150th anniversary of Mozart's death, and which took place in Vienna.{{cite book |last1=Benoit-Otis|first1=Marie-Hélène|last2=Cécile|first2=Quesney|date=2016a|chapter=Eine Wiener Feier für den “deutschen Mozart”. Nationale Fragen bei der Mozart-Woche des Deutschen Reiches (1941)|language=de|editor-first1=Sabine|editor-last1=Mecking|editor-first2=Yvonne|editor-last2=Wasserloos|title=Inklusion & Exklusion. »Deutsche Musik« in Europe und Nordamerika, 1848-1945|place=Göttingen|publisher=V&R unipress|pages=253–270|isbn=978-3-8471-0473-5}}{{cite journal|last1=Benoit-Otis|first1=Marie-Hélène|last2=Cécile|first2=Quesney|date=Spring 2016b|title=A Nazi Pilgrimage to Vienna? The French Delegation at the 1941 "Mozart Week of the German Reich"|journal=The Musical Quarterly|volume=99|issue=1|pages=6–59|issn=0027-4631|jstor=44645875|doi=10.1093/musqtl/gdw010}}{{cite book|last1=Benoit-Otis|first1=Marie-Hélène|last2=Cécile|first2=Quesney|title=Mozart 1941. La Semaine Mozart du Reich allemand et ses invités français|language=fr|place=Rennes|publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes|date=2019|isbn=978-2-7535-7598-1}}{{cite journal |title=L'imagerie de la Semaine Mozart du Reich allemand dans la presse illustrée de Berlin et de Vienne. Les reportages photo comme instruments de la propagande nazie|first=Élisabeth|last=Otto|volume=21|issue=1|date=Spring 2020|pages=63–74|url=https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1087792ar |doi=10.7202/1087792ar|doi-access=free|issn=1480-1132|journal=Les Cahiers de la Société québécoise de recherche en musique|publisher=Société québécoise de recherche en musique (SQRM)|place=Montreal|language=fr|via=Érudit}}{{cite journal |title=L'Anno verdiano et la Mozart-Jahr (1941). Célébrations musicales, mises en scène politiques et négociations identitaires|first=Gabrielle|last=Prud'homme|volume=21|issue=1|date=Spring 2020|pages=75–92|url=https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1087793ar |doi=10.7202/1087793ar|doi-access=free|issn=1480-1132|journal=Les Cahiers de la Société québécoise de recherche en musique|publisher=Société québécoise de recherche en musique (SQRM)|place=Montreal|language=fr|via=Érudit}} It was the climax of a year of celebrations across Germany and annexed Austria, some of which in Salzburg, in order to celebrate Mozart as a German composer.{{cite book|last=Levi|first=Erik|title=Mozart and the Nazis: How the Third Reich Abused a Cultural Icon|place=New Haven, CT|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=2010|isbn=978-0-300-12306-7|pages=155–161, 168–184}}}} Its original focus was to rediscover and revive little-known works from Mozart's prolific production, especially the earliest of his 22 operas, with academic and critical concerns over interpretative practice, echoing the start of the historically informed performance movement as well as the launch of the {{lang|de|Neue Mozart-Ausgabe}} in 1956.{{cite news|url=https://www.furche.at/meinung/von-politik-und-liebe-6834513 |title= Von Politik und Liebe|language=de|date=6 February 1975|first=Claus-Henning|last=Bachmann|newspaper=Die Furche|issn=0016-299X|place=Vienna}}

The first edition opened at the Salzburger Landestheater with a performance of La finta semplice (1769), staged by Géza Rech and conducted by Bernhard Paumgartner with the present Camerata Salzburg; they made the first recording of the opera, composed by a 12-year-old Mozart but withdrawn, and of which the first confirmed performance had taken place only in 1921. It also included a staging of Idomeneo (1781) by Oscar Fritz Schuh, as a preview of the next Salzburg Festival. Performances were conducted by Karl Böhm and Carl Schuricht with the Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and Joseph Keilberth with the Bamberg Symphony, and among the guest singers and soloists were Géza Anda, Wilhelm Backhaus, Clara Haskil, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Igor Oistrakh, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Irmgard Seefried, and Rita Streich.

File:Matthias Bundschuh, Rolando Villazón.jpg during the 2024 edition, at which he staged a marionette production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart and Salieri at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre.]]

Programmes originally included mainly works by Mozart's contemporaries of the classical period in addition to his own. They were first expanded to earlier composers who had influenced him in 1959, with George Frideric Handel on the 200th anniversary of his death.{{cite journal|last=Rech|first=Géza|title=Die Salzburger Mozart-Woche 1959|journal=Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum|publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg|volume=8|issue=1–2|pages=17–21|date=June 1959|url=https://digibib.mozarteum.at/ismretroverbund/periodical/titleinfo/1934041}} Starting in 2004, on an initiative of the new artistic director {{ill|Stephan Pauly (cultural manager)|de|Stephan Pauly (Kulturmanager)|lt=Stephan Pauly}}, they have increasingly featured later composers up to the present day, including commissions of new works and composers-in-residence.{{cite book|author-first1=Gerhard|author-last1=Walterskirchen|author-first2=Christoph|author-last2=Großpietsch|chapter-url=https://kulturlexikon.info/index.php?title=Mozartwoche |chapter=Mozartwoche|title=Salzburger Kulturlexikon|edition=3rd|orig-date=1st ed. 1987|isbn=978-3-99027-226-8|language=de|via=Salzburger Kulturlexikon 3.0, University of Salzburg|editor-first1=Peter|editor-last1=Mittermayr|editor-first2=Heinrich|editor-last2=Spängler|place=Salzburg|publisher=Jung und Jung|date=2019}} Pauly also called for new forms of performing arts to be featured at the Mozart Week, and “to dare to experiment and think artistically about how to present music in concert in the 21st century.”

The Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón became artistic director from the 2019 edition, with a contract eventually extended to run until 2028. In 2021, he also became artistic director of the Mozarteum Foundation.{{cite press release|date=October 2022|title=Rolando Villazón has been appointed artistic director of the International Mozarteum Foundation for five more years|url=https://mozarteum.at/en/press_release/rolando-villazon-has-been-appointed-artistic-director-of-the-international-mozarteum-foundation-for-five-more-years |publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg}} He announced his intention to bring the festival “back to its root” and to Mozart's music, which was featured exclusively on his first edition, although heard in a range of styles and interpretations, and supported by new partnership with local institutions in order for the whole town to celebrate Mozart.{{cite magazine |last=Villazón|first=Rolando|author-link=Rolando Villazón|title=„Die ganze Stadt soll Mozart feiern!“|pages=6–10|interviewer-first=Janis |interviewer-last=El-Bira|date=August 2018|language=de|magazine=Mozart 52: Magazin zum Mozartwoche|publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg|url=https://regulamuehlemann.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Magazin52_2018_WEB.pdf}}{{cite news|title=Only Mozart? Intendant Villazón setzt auf thematische Reduktion|language=de|first=Walter|last=Dobner|date=31 January 2019|newspaper=Die Furche|issn=0016-299X|place=Vienna|url=https://www.furche.at/feuilleton/only-mozart-intendant-villazon-setzt-auf-thematische-reduktion-1338197}} In addition to singing himself, he has acted as stage director at the festival.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria, the 2021 edition was replaced with a reduced programme streamed online, as the updated government regulations on social distancing made it unpractical to plan 56 events in eleven days with enough certainly.{{cite press release|title=The Mozart Week 2021 resounds online|url=https://mozarteum.at/en/die-mozartwoche-2021-erklingt-online|date=January 2021|publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg}} The 2022 was cancelled entirely at short notice due to the spread of the Omicron variant.{{cite press release|title=Mozart Week 2022 cancelled due to the pandemic|url=https://mozarteum.at/en/mozart-week-2022-cancelled-due-to-the-pandemic |date=January 2022|publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg}}

File:Salzburg Mozarteum Saal.jpg

File:Mozarteum Schwarzstraße 26, Salzburg - Wiener Saal (07) retusche.jpg

The programmes of the Mozart Week have Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his music in focus and perspective, but, despite its name, are not limited to his own compositions, and have long included works by his contemporaries, composers of the previous eras he drew inspiration from, and those up to the present day. Also, it lasts in fact about ten days, with a busy schedule of around fifty performances.{{cite news|last=Loomis|first=George|title=Mozart Is the Big Draw, but Variety Is the Goal|date=29 January 2013|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/arts/30iht-loomis30.html |newspaper=The New York Times|place=New York, NY|issn=0362-4331}}

Most performances are orchestral and chamber music concerts and recitals. Operas are also regularly featured, either fully or semi-staged or in concert performance. Other genres have been experimented, such as dance, with a commission to Sasha Waltz,{{cite news|url=http://www.drehpunktkultur.at/index.php/mozartwoche-sp-79180025/2351-das-experiment-wagen |place=Salzburg|website=DrehPunktKultur|language=de|date=18 January 2011|last=Klabacher|first=Heidemarie|title=Das Experiment wagen}} equestrian shows, with Bartabas and his Equestrian Show Academy, marionettes, at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, and a Mozart Kinderorchester, a youth orchestra formed by music students aged 7 to 12.

The festival has always invited a number of prominent conductors, singers and soloists and international ensembles. It has a close association with the Vienna Philharmonic, which has been present since its early years and has appeared at every edition since 1961 with up to three concerts,{{cite journal|title=40 Jahre Mozartwoche|language=de|journal=Österreichische Musikzeitschrift|volume=50|issue=11–12|date=November 1995|place=Vienna|pages=764–765|issn=0029-9316|oclc=610398019|doi=10.7767/omz.1995.50.1112.764}} and to the local Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and Camerata Salzburg. A number of conductors appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time at the Mozart Week, in the festival's early decades because they shared its repertoire and approach, such as Sylvain Cambreling, John Eliot Gardiner, Leopold Hager, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Yehudi Menuhin, and Roger Norrington, more recently Alain Altinoglu and Robin Ticciati.{{cite press release|url=https://mozarteum.at/en/mozart-week-2018-a-stocktaking-a-high-quality-programme-achieves-95-capacity |title=Mozart Week 2018: a stocktaking. A high-quality programme achieves 95% capacity|publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg|date=February 2018}}

Most performances take place in the two concert halls of the old Mozarteum building, the Great Hall ({{lang|de|Große Saal}}) and smaller Vienna Hall ({{lang|de|Wiener Saal}}), as well as in the Great Hall ({{lang|de|Große Aula}}) of the University of Salzburg, where Mozart himself performed and which was substantially redesigned in modern times.{{cite web|url=https://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/en/l/great-hall-of-the-university |title=Great Hall of the University|publisher=Salzburg Festival|place=Salzburg|access-date=20 November 2024}} Performances of opera or with a large orchestra take place at the adjoining performing venues of the Salzburg Festival, the Great Festival Theatre, the smaller Haus für Mozart and the open-air Felsenreitschule, or at the Salzburger Landestheater.

The festival has edited a substantial programme booklet since 1971, with essays, introductions and pictures.

{{Incomplete list|date=November 2024}}

• 2006: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor{{cite web|url=https://www.harnoncourt.info/nikolaus-harnoncourt-und-das-mozartjahr-2006/ |title=Nikolaus Harnoncourt und das Mozartjahr 2006|language=de|website=Nikolaus Harnoncourt|type=Official website|date=2006|publisher=Styriarte|place=Graz|access-date=20 November 2024}}
• 2008: Pierre-Laurent Aimard, pianist{{cite web|url=https://www.musicaustria.at/mozartwoche-salzburg-urauffuehrungen-von-staud-und-larcher/ |title=Mozartwoche Salzburg: Uraufführungen von Staud und Larcher|language=de|website=mica – music austria|publisher=Music Information Center Austria|place=Vienna|date=25 January 2008|access-date=20 November 2024}}
• 2012: Mitsuko Uchida, pianist

{{Incomplete list|date=November 2024}}

• 2009: Pierre Boulez
• 2010: György Kurtág{{cite news|last=Dobner|first=Walter|title=Mozartwoche Salzburg: Lieder der Schwermut und der Trauer|date=31 January 2010|language=de|newspaper=Die Presse|place=Vienna|issn=2662-0308|url=https://www.diepresse.com/5361981/jupiter-toente-in-salzburg-eher-bei-elgar-als-bei-mozart}}
• 2012: Mark Andre{{cite episode|title=Sascha Waltz bei der Mozartwoche 2012|language=de|network=Österreich 1|series=Mittagsjournal|url=https://oe1.orf.at/artikel/296472/Sascha-Waltz-bei-der-Mozartwoche-2012 |date=27 January 2012}}
• 2013: Johannes Maria Staud
• 2014: Arvo Pärt{{cite news|title=Mozartwoche 2014: Mozart ist das Zentralgestirn|place=Salzburg|language=de|newspaper=Salzburger Nachrichten|issn=1015-1303|date=22 January 2014|url=https://www.sn.at/salzburg/kultur/mozartwoche-2014-mozart-ist-das-zentralgestirn-4032043}}
• 2018: Jörg Widmann{{cite news|last=Dobner|first=Walter|title= Jupiter tönte in Salzburg eher bei Elgar als bei Mozart|language=de|date=28 January 2018|newspaper=Die Presse|place=Vienna|issn=2662-0308|url=https://www.diepresse.com/5361981/jupiter-toente-in-salzburg-eher-bei-elgar-als-bei-mozart}}

{{anchor|Mozartwoche on Tour}}

In 2019, Rolando Villazón created Mozart Week on Tour ({{lang|de|Mozartwoche on Tour}}), a touring project which brings some festival programmes to other cities.{{cite web|url=https://mozarteum.at/en/international?projectId=mozart-week-on-tour |publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg|title=Mozart Week on Tour|access-date=20 November 2024}} Performances have been given at the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence, France in April 2019,{{cite news|title=Aix : festival de Pâques, 7 ans de Passion|language=fr|url=https://www.laprovence.com/article/sorties-loisirs/5206536/festival-de-paques-7-ans-de-passion.html |last=Biblioni|first=Olga|date=21 October 2018|newspaper=La Provence|place=Marseille|issn=2102-6815}} at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Germany in December 2022,{{cite web|url=https://www.boulezsaal.de/en/Mozart-Week |title=Mozart Week on Tour|place=Berlin|department=Pierre Boulez Saal|publisher=Barenboim–Said Akademie|access-date=20 November 2024}} and at the Mozart Festival in Medellín, Colombia in October 2024, following the appearance of the Orquesta Iberacademy at the 2023 Mozart Week.{{cite news|language=es|title=¿Le gusta la música clásica? El Festival Mozart llega a Medellín|last=Chitiva Londoño|first=María José|date=21 October 2024|place=Medellín|newspaper=El Colombiano|issn=0122-0802|url=https://www.elcolombiano.com/cultura/musica/festival-mozart-en-medellin-celebracion-de-musica-clasica-del-24-al-30-de-octubre-DH25660289}}

File:Salzburg Mozarteum außen 01.jpg

The Mozart Week is produced by the International Mozarteum Foundation (ISM), originally founded in 1841 with the support of the composer's widow Constanze Mozart and their two sons Karl Thomas Mozart and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, and today organised as a voluntary association. The responsibility of artistic director ({{lang|de|Intendant}}) of the festival has often been held jointly with the position of artistic director ({{lang|de|künstlerischer Leiter}}) of the foundation.

It is independent from the other classical music and opera festivals held in the city, the Salzburg Easter Festival (founded 1967), the Salzburg Whitsun Festival (founded 1973), and the summertime Salzburg Festival (founded 1920). The ISM also produces a concert season during the rest of the year, as well as another festival, Dialoge, founded in 2006.

As is common for a number of opera festivals, especially those which only give a reduced number of performances, the staged productions of the Mozart Week are sometimes in co-production, for example with the summer festival.

{{Incomplete list|date=November 2024}}

• 1985–1997: Wolfgang Rehm{{cite press release|url=https://www.pressetext.com/news/na-20170412035.html | title= Stiftung Mozarteum trauert um Professor Dr. Wolfgang Rehm (1929-2017)|language=de|publisher=International Mozarteum Foundation|place=Salzburg|date=12 April 2017}}
• 1998–2003: Josef Tichý, also artistic director of the ISM{{cite news|title=Josef Tichys Rücktritt ist fix|date=22 March 2002|language=de|place=Vienna|newspaper=Der Standard|issn=1560-6155|url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/902092/josef-tichys-ruecktritt-ist-fix}}
• 2004–2012: {{ill|Stephan Pauly (cultural manager)|de|Stephan Pauly (Kulturmanager)|lt=Stephan Pauly}}, also artistic director of the ISM
• 2013–2017: Marc Minkowski, in association with Matthias Schulz, the artistic director of the ISM
• 2018: Maren Hofmeister, also artistic director of the ISM{{cite news|url=https://www.traunsteiner-tagblatt.de/region/kultur_artikel,-abschied-weit-vor-der-zeit-_arid,331107.html |title=Abschied weit vor der Zeit|language=de|date=2 May 2017|newspaper=Traunsteiner Tagblatt|place=Traunstein}}
• 2019–present (until 2028): Rolando Villazón, also artistic director of the ISM (from 2021)

A number of performances have been broadcast by the Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), some later released commercially.

• 2024: {{ill|Austrian Music Theatre Prize|de|Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis}} — Special Prize for “Best Festival”{{cite web|url=https://www.musiktheaterpreis.at/preistraeger/ | title= Die Preisträgerinnen und Preisträger 2024|date=1 September 2024|access-date=20 November 2024|department=Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis|publisher=Verein Art Projekte|place=Vienna}}{{cite news |title=Mozartwoche ausgezeichnet mit dem Sonderpreis „Bestes Festival“|date=4 September 2024|website=Das Opernmagazin|language=de|first=Daniel|last=Floyd|place=Ennigerloh|url=https://opernmagazin.de/mozartwoche-ausgezeichnet-mit-dem-sonderpreis-bestes-festival/}}

• List of classical music festivals

{{notefoot}}

• {{official website|https://mozarteum.at/en/mozart-week}} at the International Mozarteum Foundation
• [https://digibib.mozarteum.at/ismretroverbund/periodical/structure/1910447 Festival programmes included in the {{lang|de|Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum}} foundation bulletin (1952–2002)] at the ISM's Bibliotheca Mozartiana {{in lang|de}} {{free access}}

{{portal bar|Austria|Classical music|Opera}}

Category:Mozart festivals

Category:Classical music festivals in Austria

Category:Opera festivals

Category:Festivals in Salzburg

Category:Music festivals established in 1956

Category:1956 establishments in Austria

Category:Annual events in Austria

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Category:Winter festivals