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121-670: It was created by the conductor Herbert von Karajan , and for most of its history featured the Berlin Philharmonic , of which Karajan was chief conductor; his successors in Berlin, Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle , succeeded him in Salzburg as well. The orchestra and Rattle left in 2013, and were replaced between 2013 and 2022 by the Dresden Staatskapelle and Christian Thielemann . It has been announced that

242-404: A Herbert von Karajan Prize ( Herbert-von-Karajan-Preis ), to be granted every year to “a musician whose exceptional artistic achievements have found global recognition”, starting in 2017 on the occasion of the festival’s 50th anniversary. It is awarded during the festival, and comes with a grant of €50,000. As for the summer festival, opera performances and many concerts were broadcast live on

363-626: A Renaissance music motet ). An accompanist is a musician who plays an accompaniment part. Accompanists often play keyboard instruments (e.g., piano , pipe organ , synthesizer ) or, in folk music and traditional styles, a guitar . While sight-reading (the ability to play a notated piece of music without preparing it) is important for many types of musicians, it is essential for professional accompanists. In auditions for musical theater and orchestras, an accompanist will often have to sight read music. A number of classical pianists have found success as accompanists rather than soloists; arguably

484-400: A rock band or rhythm section in rock and pop; a jazz quartet in jazz); all the way to larger ensembles, such as concert bands , Big Bands (in jazz), pit orchestras in musical theatre ; and orchestras , which, in addition to playing symphonies , can also provide accompaniment to a concerto solo instrumentalist or to solo singers in opera . With choral music , the accompaniment to

605-570: A Jewish grandfather, she was considered a Vierteljüdin (one-quarter Jewish woman). They divorced in 1958. On 6 October 1958, Karajan married his third wife, Eliette Mouret , a French model born in Mollans-sur-Ouvèze . She had enjoyed a carefree childhood growing up in Provence before being discovered by Christian Dior when she was 18. This laid the foundation for an international modelling career. Karajan first met Mouret in 1957 and

726-463: A baroque opera conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm , who had been his assistant ( Marc-Antoine Charpentier ’s David et Jonathas in 2004, George Frideric Handel ’s La resurrezione in 2009). Abbado introduced the custom of giving concert performances of the operas in Berlin before Salzburg as part of the preparation process, since they were no longer recorded in advance as in Karajan’s time, except for

847-423: A computer to prove it. He insisted that this skill was learned, not inherited, and considered it the bedrock of musical interpretations. He cited inconsistencies in rhythmic accuracy and control as "one thing that might make me lose my temper. I can accept a wrong note from an orchestra but when everything is getting faster or slower, that I cannot accept." He once explained to a German journalist why he preferred

968-684: A concert at Carnegie Hall , Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic were confronted by protests and picketers. In 1956, Karajan was appointed principal conductor for life of the Berlin Philharmonic as Furtwängler's successor. From 1957 to 1964, Karajan was artistic director of the Vienna State Opera . He was closely involved with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival, where he initiated

1089-539: A continual force in Karajan's life, not just as a composer, but as a conductor. Karajan recounted their only "proper" meeting, in 1939, to Osborne: [A]t the end [of a performance of Elektra in Berlin] he came and said to me it was the best performance of the opera he had ever heard. I said, "I don't really want to hear this; tell me what was wrong with it." I think he was surprised by my reaction, so he asked me to lunch

1210-408: A few hasty rehearsals immediately before the festival opened, and could concentrate on the staging when they reconvened in Salzburg. The singers left Berlin with a recording of the full orchestral parts, which enabled them to rehearse in the meantime with more precision and comfort than with a piano accompaniment . Karajan also used the studio tapes when he began to work on sets and stage effects at

1331-616: A final edition in Baden-Baden in 2025. Bachler, who remains artistic director, had previously hired Petrenko at the Vienna Volksoper and at the Bavarian State Opera; there had been speculations, when his appointment had been announced, that this was a way to facilitate the return of the Berlin Philharmonic. The festival is held over the extended week before Easter ( Holy Week ), beginning on Palm Sunday or

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1452-746: A guest conductor in Bucharest, Brussels, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Paris. In 1938, Karajan made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic . That same year, he made his debut with the Berlin State Opera conducting Fidelio , and then had a major success at the State Opera with Tristan und Isolde . His performance was hailed by a Berlin critic as Das Wunder Karajan (Karajan the miracle). The critic wrote that Karajan's "success with Wagner's demanding work Tristan und Isolde sets himself alongside Wilhelm Furtwängler and Victor de Sabata ,

1573-439: A large, conflict-prone organization. His intent, which he credits to a suggestion from Christoph von Dohnányi , was to produce opera in conditions which granted him complete control over music, stage direction, and management, and enabled him enough focus to achieve his designs with the highest possibly quality. This was to be with the Berlin Philharmonic , of which he was the chief conductor since 1955. Unlike their counterparts of

1694-468: A lied recital in 1992, a children’s concert ( Peter and the Wolf ) in 1998, and a jazz concert with Thomas Quasthoff in 2002. The Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and Mahler Chamber Orchestra , both founded by Abbado, were invited several times for a special concert. Simon Rattle succeeded Abbado in Berlin at the start of the 2002–2003 season, and directed his first Salzburg Easter Festival in 2003, with

1815-549: A limited season of concerts with the Staatskapelle. By 1944, Karajan was, by his account, losing favour with the Nazi leadership, but he conducted concerts in Berlin as late as 18 February 1945. A short time later, in the closing stages of the war, he and his wife fled Germany for Milan, relocating with the assistance of Victor de Sabata. Karajan's increased prominence from 1933 to 1945 has led to speculation that he joined

1936-481: A musician (typically a pianist) who plays for singers, dancers, and other performers at an audition or rehearsal —but who does not necessarily participate in the ensemble that plays for the final performance (which might be an orchestra or a big band ). An accompaniment figure is a musical gesture used repeatedly in an accompaniment, such as: Notated accompaniment may be indicated obbligato (obliged) or ad libitum (at one's pleasure). Dialogue accompaniment

2057-631: A number of major orchestras of the German-speaking lands which serve as the pit orchestra of their city’s opera house, for example the Vienna Philharmonic , the Berlin Philharmonic exclusively performed in concert at the time. According to Karajan’s recollections, he initially thought that the newly reconstructed Grand Theatre in Geneva was suitable for his enterprise. However, he realized during rehearsals of Boris Godunov for

2178-487: A number of services and consulting although the Easter Festival had a separate agreement with the summer festival supposed to cover it, and his managers had not authorized it. Part of the sums involved consisted in excessive and discretionary spendings which appeared in company accounts, leading to accusations of improper supervision by government authorities, especially the state governor Gabriele Burgstaller , who

2299-659: A pool of major opera houses, attempted when he started a partnership between the Vienna State Opera and the Teatro alla Scala . The inaugural Ring was announced as a co-production with the New York Metropolitan Opera ; however, only Die Walküre and Das Rheingold ended up performed in New York in the winter following the Salzburg premiere as expected, with Karajan in the pit with

2420-685: A production of Fidelio . In 2007–2010, the festival featured its second production of the Ring , staged by Stéphane Braunschweig and co-produced with the Aix-en-Provence Festival on the occasion of the opening of the new Grand Théâtre de Provence ; the operas were premiered by Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in Aix, and were performed in Salzburg the following Easter. Additions to the traditional programme under Rattle’s directorship included regular jazz concerts, and special performances of

2541-402: A revival of the 1968 stage production, but the shooting sessions could take place only five years later in a Munich studio, with a partly different cast. (Singers lip synced .) The project proved too costly to continue. The Easter Festival was increasingly criticized from the mid-1970s, as the lack of appropriate singers and the rising costs delayed the production of new Wagner operas and forced

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2662-477: A vocal solo can be provided by other singers in the choir , who sing harmony parts or countermelodies . Accompaniment parts range from so simple that a beginner can play them (e.g., simple three-note triad chords in a traditional folk song) to so complex that only an advanced player or singer can perform them (e.g., the piano parts in Schubert 's Lieder art songs from the 19th century or vocal parts from

2783-470: A well-remembered production of Boris Godunov by Herbert Wernicke , which drew political parables with Soviet history. After a chamber music concert was trialed in 1989, Abbado also created a chamber music and contemporary music series, then called Kontrapunkte (“Counterpoints”), featuring members of the Berlin Philharmonic and guest soloists and singers, at the Mozarteum . Also experimented were

2904-460: Is Deutsche Grammophon with which he became most associated, making 330 recordings with it. Karajan's 1981 Deutsche Grammophon recording of An Alpine Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic became the first work ever to be pressed on the compact disc format. Even though his repertoire had been extensively covered in analog ( LP record ), he spent the rest of the 1980s making digital recordings , notably rerecording Beethoven's symphonies (Karajan and

3025-572: Is a form of call and response in which the lead and accompaniment alternate, the accompaniment playing during the rests of the lead and providing a drone or silence during the main melody or vocal . The accompaniment instrumentalists and/or singers can be provided with a fully notated accompaniment part written or printed on sheet music . This is the norm in Classical music and in most large ensemble writing (e.g., orchestra , pit orchestra , choir ). In popular music and traditional music ,

3146-544: Is a patron of the Salzburg Easter Festival . Karajan had been a passionate sportsman since he was a teenager. He was a keen skier and swimmer and followed a daily yoga ritual. He won several regattas aboard his racing yacht, christened Helisara . He piloted his Learjet and was a great sailing and car enthusiast, particularly fond of Porsches . He ordered a specially configured Porsche 911 Turbo (type 930) with Martini & Rossi livery and his name on

3267-490: Is only a single instrument, as these instruments can play chords and basslines simultaneously (chords and a bassline are easier to play simultaneously on keyboard instruments, but a fingerpicking guitarist can play chords and a bassline simultaneously on guitar). A solo singer can accompany themself by playing guitar or piano while they sing, and in some rare cases, a solo singer can even accompany themself just using their voice and body (e.g., Bobby McFerrin ). Alternatively,

3388-436: Is that he is a composer who cannot really be compared to anyone else. ... And you never come to an end with him. I think it is perhaps also to do with my love of remote places, my love of mountains rather than cities. Layton demystifies this relationship somewhat by observing that: [s]tring tremolandi and pedal points are, of course, among [the similarities between Bruckner and Sibelius], and we hear Brucknerian echoes in

3509-427: Is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles of music. In homophonic music , the main accompaniment approach used in popular music , a clear vocal melody is supported by subordinate chords . In popular music and traditional music ,

3630-479: Is this sense of the Urwald , the primaeval forest, the feeling of elemental power, that one is dealing with something profound." When pressed about this connection toward the end of his life by his biographer Osborne, Karajan echoed some of these sentiments, saying: There is in both [Bruckner and Sibelius] a sense of the elemental. But I have often asked myself what it is that drew me to Sibelius's music and I think it

3751-462: Is tolerated if the results are successful." Indeed, James Galway , who served as principal flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1969 to 1975, recalled that "he [Karajan] achieved most of what he wanted through charm". But there were reasons for many of Karajan's eccentricities. Conducting with his eyes closed, for instance, was a consequence of memorizing scores; keeping his eyes closed helped him keep focus. Karajan's method of score study, too,

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3872-581: The 12 London Symphonies as some of the finest he knew, and his multiple Beethoven cycles are still staples. Yet Karajan's real interests seem to have lain in the period from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. Principal among these were his fascinations with the composers Anton Bruckner and Jean Sibelius . In a 1981 interview with Gramophone ' s Robert Layton, Karajan remarked that he felt "a much deeper influence, affinity, kinship—call it what you like—[in Sibelius's music] with Bruckner. There

3993-494: The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden , Germany’s largest opera house, which offered funds for four opera performances per edition and an expansion of the chamber music and educational programmes, while the Salzburg management stated that it had no realistic financial perspective to do so. They considered leaving Salzburg in 2009, with Simon Rattle’s support to the proposal, but a majority of the orchestra voted against

4114-570: The Mozarteum . Other venues over the city have been used since the 2000s. The festival is managed as a private liability company (GmbH) , the Osterfestspiele Salzburg GmbH (until 2010 Osterfestspiel Gesellschaft mbH Salzburg ), formed on 10 March 1966. Since a restructuring carried out after the 2009–2010 scandal , the company is owned by the Stiftung Herbert von Karajan Osterfestspiele Salzburg (25%),

4235-950: The NHK Symphony Orchestra , the New York Philharmonic , the Concertgebouw Orchestra , the Orchestre de Paris , the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, Milan and the Staatskapelle Dresden ), but the vast majority of his recordings were made with the Berlin and Vienna orchestras. He also left a considerable legacy of recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra , his last performance being in 1960. Although he made recordings with several labels, notably EMI , it

4356-691: The Salzburg Festival with the Walpurgisnacht Scene in Max Reinhardt 's production of Faust . In Salzburg in 1934, Karajan led the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time, and from 1934 to 1941, he was engaged to conduct operatic and orchestra concerts at the Theater Aachen . Karajan's career received a significant boost in 1935 when he became Germany's youngest Generalmusikdirektor , at Aachen, and performed as

4477-642: The State of Salzburg (20%), the City of Salzburg (20%), the SalzburgerLand Tourismus regional tourist information centre (20%), and the Association of Patrons (15%). The Stiftung Herbert von Karajan Osterfestspiele Salzburg (until 2018 Herbert-von-Karajan-Osterfestspiel-Stiftung ) is a foundation created by Herbert von Karajan in 1967 to support the festival and other activities. Until

4598-491: The (summertime) Salzburg Festival and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival . The Salzburg Easter Festival was a creation of the conductor Herbert von Karajan . After his 1964 resignation as director of the Vienna State Opera , to where he would not return until 1977, he decided to no longer take charge of a traditional opera company , avoiding the constraints of having to deliver a full season and to oversee

4719-651: The 1965 Salzburg Festival that the large stage and modern facilities of the Grand Festival Theatre , recently built at his initiative, made it the ideal venue. A Salzburg native, he lived with his family in nearby Anif . The new festival was to fit into the “Karajan system”, under which he combined his several positions and partnerships for complete artistic and financial independence. It would work without government subsidy , and although Karajan would act as manager, producer, funder, sole conductor, and stage director, he would ask for no pay. For each edition,

4840-593: The 1967 festival, were guests of honours at a symposium about the production. A documentary, Karajan: The Maestro and His Festival , was made that year about the foundation of the festival and the memorial production. Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria , the 2020 edition was cancelled, and the 2021 edition was postponed to All Saints’ Day weekend as an “Easter Festival in Autumn”, and shortened with

4961-528: The 1994 Boris Godunov and the 2001 Falstaff . The concert performance opened a thematic series of performances in Berlin, for example Shakespeare in 1995–1996 with Otello or “Love and Death” in 1998–1999 with Tristan and Isolde . This was also in consideration to the Berlin audience, as the orchestra was until 2001 overseen and funded by the city-state government. The Berlin performances were moved after Easter in Rattle’s time. The actress Isabel Karajan ,

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5082-501: The 2000s. Most of the revenues are from ticket sales, which reached 2.5 to 3 million euros in the 2000s (13,500 to 16,500 sold per edition); the Association of Patrons; and commercial sponsors. The festival worked without government subsidies until 1996, and remains largely self-sufficient: it has since received subsidies from the state and city governments and the state Tourismusförderungsfonds , which amounted to €375,000 (6,1% of its budget) in 2007–2008. The Association of Patrons of

5203-500: The 2010 restructuring, it owned 98% of the GmbH; the remaining 2% were initially owned by Karajan’s childhood friend Erich Aigner, who had transferred his shares to his son Christoph Aicher. His widow Eliette von Karajan , who was chairwoman of the foundation until 2019, became honorary chairwoman in 2020, and was replaced on the board by their daughters Isabel and Arabel. The GmbH had a yearly budget of between 4 and 6 million euros as of

5324-453: The Association of Patrons was almost indispensable to obtain tickets, despite their high price. It was at the time the only opportunity to hear an opera played by the Berlin Philharmonic. Karajan conducted every single opera and concert performance for almost two decades, and also staged the operas himself, except in 1975 ( La bohème by Franco Zeffirelli ) and 1987. The music critic Joachim Kaiser wrote of his original Walküre that it

5445-422: The Berlin Philharmonic would return as the resident orchestra in 2026, with its chief conductor Kirill Petrenko . Since 2022, the artistic director has been Nikolaus Bachler . Each edition includes the production of an opera and a series of orchestral and choral concerts, as well as a complementary programme of performances in other formats. The Easter Festival is independent from the organization which produces

5566-628: The Berlin Philharmonic's 1977 analog recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 won the Grand Prix du Disque , while their 1984 digital recording of it was not particularly critically acclaimed yet sold considerably more). In the mid-1990s, Deutsche Grammophon released the Karajan Gold series, remixes of Karajan's 1980s digital recordings enhanced by 24-bit processing. Karajan filmed performances of his work for both Unitel and his own company, Telemondial. Accompaniment Accompaniment

5687-509: The Berlin Philharmonic), before Georg Solti served as artistic director in 1992 and 1993. Only in 1994 did Abbado succeed to Karajan’s Salzburg role. Stage directors invited under Abbado delivered more modern productions than Karajan’s traditional style, although the audience made the festival unfit for a full commitment to Regieoper . This was especially under the influence of Gerard Mortier , who had succeeded Karajan at

5808-485: The Berlin Philharmonic. It was agreed that the operas would be co-produced with the Dresden Semperoper , where the Staatskapelle serves as pit orchestra. They were also filmed and released on DVD, until 2018. Starting in 2013, as a consequence of the increased government involvement and in order to reach out to the local public, the festival programme was expanded with a children’s concert, the weekend before

5929-705: The Berlin Philharmonic: he resigned as their chief conductor after the festival, and died in July. Claudio Abbado was elected to succeed him in Berlin. However, the Salzburg Easter Festival functioned separately for a few years: Kurt Masur conducted in 1990 (exceptionally with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra , of which he was chief conductor, and the Vienna Philharmonic ) and Bernard Haitink in 1991 (again with

6050-760: The Berlin to the Vienna Philharmonic: "If I tell the Berliners to step forward, they do it. If I tell the Viennese to step forward, they do it, but then they ask why." Karajan was a noted interpreter of virtually every standard of the classical repertoire, from the Baroque era to the 20th century. He was an admirer of Glenn Gould 's interpretations of Bach , performing the D minor Keyboard Concerto with him on one occasion. The eminent Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon considered Karajan's recordings of

6171-476: The Easter Festival in Salzburg ( Verein der Förderer der Osterfestspiele in Salzburg ) was designed to levy the high interest generated by the festival as a source of revenue: access to tickets is guaranteed to the 2,500   members of the association, who pay a contribution of 300   euros per year (50   euros for young people), and enjoy priority booking for a subscription to an entire cycle. For many years, seats were in such high demand that membership

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6292-477: The Easter Festival, which remained tied to the Berlin Philharmonic's music director after his tenure. In his later years, Karajan suffered from heart and back problems, needing surgery on the latter. He resigned as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic on 24 April 1989. His last concert was Bruckner's 7th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic. He died of a heart attack at his home in Anif on 16 July 1989 at

6413-414: The Easter Festival. At the time, these were a short cycle of three concerts. They were take over by the organization behind the summer festival in 1998. Karajan, who was enthusiastic about new recording technologies and had started to film opera in studio, formed the design to produce his Salzburg Ring . The orchestral parts for Das Rheingold were recorded during the 1973 festival on the occasion of

6534-547: The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Due to a strike, Siegfried (1969 edition) was presented only in 1972 with the recording main cast, but conducted by Erich Leinsdorf . The Easter Festival benefited from the star appeal of Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, which was at its highest during the 1960s and 1970s. As it needed to be privately funded, it heavily relied on an affluent international audience, to which it granted exclusive access; membership of

6655-545: The Nazi Party discovered Karajan's double membership in Munich and declared the first accession invalid. The second was made retroactive to 1 May 1933. During the entire Nazi era he "never hesitated to open his concerts with the Nazi favorite ' Horst-Wessel-Lied ', but "always maintained he joined strictly for career reasons." His enemies called him "SS Colonel von Karajan". In 1933, Karajan made his conducting debut at

6776-539: The Nazi Party solely to advance his career. Critics such as Jim Svejda have pointed out that other prominent conductors, such as Arturo Toscanini , Otto Klemperer , Erich Kleiber , and Fritz Busch , fled Germany or Italy at the time. Richard Osborne noted that among the many significant conductors who continued to work in Germany during the war years— Wilhelm Furtwängler , Carl Schuricht , Karl Böhm , Hans Knappertsbusch , Clemens Krauss and Karl Elmendorff —Karajan

6897-535: The Nazi Party twice. The first time this happened was on 8 April 1933 in Salzburg. He paid the admission fee, received the membership number 1607525 and moved to Ulm. It is said that this accession was never formally carried out. It is also certain that Karajan rejoined the Nazi Party in Aachen in March 1935, this time receiving the membership number 3430914. After the annexation of Austria, the responsible Reich Treasurer of

7018-549: The Prussian State Orchestra. He then became music director of the Staatskapelle Berlin, with which he toured Rome with extraordinary success. The next year, his contract in Aachen was discontinued. His marriage to Anita Gütermann (with one Jewish grandparent) and the prosecution of his agent Rudolf Vedder also contributed to his temporary professional decline, leaving him few engagements beyond

7139-468: The Salzburg Easter Festival announced that it would be maintained from 2013 with the Staatskapelle Dresden as their new resident orchestra, and its chief conductor, Christian Thielemann , an assistant to Karajan in his youth, as artistic director. Several concerts of that period were also conducted by Myung-whun Chung , who was the principal guest conductor in Dresden, a position which does not exist with

7260-558: The Wagner festival became Italian stagione , and festival standards sunk to repertory level. With the transfer of Verdi’s Don Carlo from the summer repertoire to next year’s Easter Festival, the last remnant of independence and significance will be gone.” The world presentation of the compact disc (CD) took place during the Easter Festival on 15 April 1981, at a press conference of Akio Morita and Norio Ohga ( Sony ), Joop van Tilburg ( Philips ), and Richard Busch ( PolyGram ), in

7381-596: The accompaniment instrumentalists often improvise their accompaniment, either based on a lead sheet or chord chart which indicates the chords used in the song or piece (e.g., C Major, d minor, G7, or Nashville Numbers or Roman numerals, such as I, ii, V7, etc.) or by " playing by ear ". To achieve a stylistic correct sound the accompaniment pattern should remind or imitate the original version using similar rhythms and patterns. Chord-playing musicians (e.g., those playing guitar , piano , Hammond organ , etc.) can improvise chords, "fill-in" melodic lines and solos from

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7502-438: The accompaniment parts typically provide the "beat" for the music and outline the chord progression of the song or instrumental piece. The accompaniment for a vocal melody or instrumental solo can be played by a single musician playing an instrument such as piano , pipe organ , or guitar . While any instrument can in theory be used as an accompaniment instrument, keyboard and guitar-family instruments tend to be used if there

7623-399: The accompaniment to a vocal melody or instrumental solo can be provided by a musical ensemble , ranging in size from a duo (e.g., cello and piano; guitar and double bass; synthesizer and percussion); a trio (e.g., a rock power trio of electric guitar , electric bass and drum kit ; an organ trio ); a quartet (e.g., a string quartet in Classical music can accompany a solo singer ;

7744-500: The age of 81. Karajan believed in reincarnation and said he would like to be reborn as an eagle so he could soar over his beloved Alps. Even so, on 29 June 1985, he conducted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Coronation Mass during a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica , on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul , and with his wife and daughters received Holy Communion from

7865-511: The back. One of Karajan's signature skills as a conductor was his ability to extract exquisite sounds from orchestras. His biographer Roger Vaughan observed this phenomenon while listening to the Berlin Philharmonic play in 1986, after nearly 30 years under Karajan's direction, noting that "what rivets one's attention is the beauty and perfection of the sounds. The softest of pianissimos commands rapt attention. The smooth crescendos peak exactly when they should. The breaks are sliced clean, without

7986-447: The best known example is Gerald Moore , well known as a Lieder accompanist. In some American schools, the term collaborative piano is used, and hence, the title "collaborative pianist" (or collaborative artist) is replacing the title accompanist, because in many art songs and contemporary classical music songs, the piano part is complex and demands an advanced level of musicianship and technique. The term accompanist also refers to

8107-610: The cancellation of Turandot , which had tentatively been reduced to a concert performance. The 2022 edition returned to the usual format. In July 2020, Nikolaus Bachler , the former intendant of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, replaced Ruzicka as general manager. He also succeeded Christian Thielemann as artistic director after the 2022 edition, and decided that his and the Staatskapelle Dresden’s residency would end that year. He initially announced that

8228-588: The chord chart. It is rare for chords to be fully written out in music notation in pop and traditional music. Some guitarists, bassists and other stringed instrumentalists read accompaniment parts using tabulature (or "tab"), a notation system which shows the musician where on the instrument to play the notes. Drummers can play accompaniment by following the lead sheet, a sheet music part in music notation, or by playing by ear. In pop and traditional music, bass players, which may be upright bass or electric bass , or another instrument, such as bass synth , depending on

8349-743: The conducting ban. With the Vienna Philharmonic and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde , he performed Johannes Brahms 's A German Requiem for a gramophone production in Vienna. In 1949, Karajan became artistic director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna. He also conducted at La Scala in Milan. His most prominent activity at this time was recording with the newly formed Philharmonia Orchestra in London, helping to build them into one of

8470-457: The conductor’s daughter, performed at the 2011 and 2015 festivals. A financial and political scandal erupted in 2009–2010 when Michaël Dewitte, the general manager, and Klaus Kretschmer, the technical director of the summer festival, were accused of embezzling funds: Dewitte was accused of irregularities in up to 1,5 million euros of spendings, and Kretschmer and a company to which he was linked were paid more than 2,400,000 euros over nine years for

8591-614: The conservatory and continued his studies at the Vienna Academy , studying piano with Josef Hofmann (a teacher with the same name as the pianist ) and conducting with Alexander Wunderer and Franz Schalk . Karajan made his debut as a conductor in Salzburg on 22 January 1929. The performance got the attention of the general manager of the Stadttheater in Ulm and led to Karajan's first appointment as assistant Kapellmeister of

8712-460: The day before, and ending on Easter Monday . Since its early years, the main programme has been structured in two identical cycles each with one opera performance, two orchestral concerts, and one choral concert. For a long time, all ticket were sold in subscription for a full cycle to the members of the Association of Patrons; tickets for a single performance are nowadays put on sale after the subscription period. The opera performances are usually on

8833-478: The destabilization of his position, Karajan attempted to join the Nazi Party in Salzburg in April 1933, but his membership was later declared invalid because he somehow failed to follow up on the application and that Karajan formally joined the Nazi Party in Aachen in 1935, implying that he was not eager to pursue membership. More recent scholarship clears up this confusion: ...the truth is that Karajan actually joined

8954-410: The development section of the first movement of Kullervo , written only a year or so after Sibelius first heard Bruckner's Third Symphony in Vienna. Yet the most potent assessment of Karajan's interpretation of Sibelius's music came from Sibelius himself, who, according to Legge, said, "Karajan is the only conductor who plays what I meant." Karajan was also a prolific opera conductor, championing

9075-410: The entire Bayreuth canon , concluding in 1982, with the exception of Tannhäuser , for lack of a tenor he felt suitable for the title role. All his studio recordings of Wagner’s operas, except for an earlier recording of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , were part of Salzburg productions; he never recorded Tannhäuser in the studio. He had initially envisioned that when the inaugural Ring

9196-439: The establishment of Saxony's cloth industry, and both were ennobled for their services by Frederick Augustus III on 1 June 1792, thus adding the prefix " von " to the family name. This usage disappeared with the abolition of Austrian nobility after World War I. The surname Karajánnis became Karajan . Although traditional biographers ascribed a Slovak and Serbian or simply a Slavic origin to his mother, Karajan's family from

9317-450: The festival celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special off- Ring “re-creation” of the 1967 Die Walküre , with sets reconstructed by Jens Kilian from Günther Schneider-Siemssen ’s, although with a new staging by Vera Nemirova , since the 1967 production was neither filmed nor documented. Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic were back for a special concert, and Gundula Janowitz and Christa Ludwig , who sang Sieglinde and Fricka at

9438-473: The festival would host a guest conductor and orchestra every year, starting with Andris Nelsons and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 2023. Changes brought about by Bachler to the festival format from 2023 include the addition performances of contemporary dance and of electronic music , both specially commissioned and performed at the nearby Felsenreitschule . The children’s concert, chamber opera, and Concert for Salzburg were not maintained. Each edition

9559-416: The festival, and a “Concert for Salzburg”, off-subscription and at lower prices. The composer and conductor Peter Ruzicka , who took over as general manager in 2015, also introduced a contemporary chamber opera , starting in 2017 with Salvatore Sciarrino ’s Lohengrin (1982), followed in 2018 by Bruno Maderna ’s Satyricon (1973), and in 2019 by Thérèse , a commission to Philipp Maintz . In 2017,

9680-422: The first and last night; there has sometimes been an off-cycle third one. The chamber music series introduced by Claudio Abbado in the 1990s has become a permanent part of the festival programme. Successive directors have experimented with additional types of performance. All opera performance and orchestral and choral concerts take place at the Grand Festival Theatre , and the chamber music concerts are usually at

9801-446: The first studio recording of the full cycle. This was Karajan’s first studio recording of a Wagner opera, after three decades conducting them. The festival reached budget balance on its first edition, even managing to turn a quasi-symbolic profit (given in different sources as 50   schilling or 300   schilling), which Karajan took as his only fee. Another way to fund the festival was co-productions , reviving Karajan’s idea of

9922-555: The greatest opera conductors in Germany at the present time". Receiving a contract with Deutsche Grammophon that same year, Karajan made the first of numerous recordings, conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin in the overture to The Magic Flute . Karajan's career continued to thrive at the beginning of the war. In 1939, the Berlin State Opera appointed him State Kapellmeister and conductor of concerts by

10043-576: The hand of the Pope. By the end of his life he had reconciled with the Catholic Church, and requested a Catholic burial. Karajan was married three times. Karajan married his first wife, Elmy Holgerloef, an operetta singer, on 26 July 1938. He first worked with her on a 1935 New Year's Eve gala production of Strauss's Die Fledermaus . They divorced in 1942. Elmy died of heart failure in 1983. A statement from his Salzburg office stated that Karajan

10164-619: The latter severely injured during the scandal after a reported suicide attempt, were dismissed, and were later sentenced on criminal charges; they served time in prison, and had to pay more than 2 million euros in damage to the festival. The company was restructured, with an increased involvement of the state and city governments, and the formation of a Board of Supervisors. Peter Alward, the former head of EMI Classics , took over as general manager in 2010. The Berlin Philharmonic received competing proposals to transfer their Easter residency to

10285-639: The maternal side, through his grandfather who was born in the village of Mojstrana , Duchy of Carniola (today in Slovenia ), was Slovene . Aromanian heritage has also been claimed. Through the Slovene line, Karajan was related to the Slovenian-Austrian composer Hugo Wolf . He also seems to have known some Slovene . Herbert Ritter von Karajan was born in Salzburg , Austria-Hungary ,

10406-708: The mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he sold an estimated 200 million records. The Karajans were of Greek ancestry. Herbert's great-great-grandfather, Georg Karajan (Geórgios Karajánnis, Greek: Γεώργιος Καραγιάννης ), was born in Kozani , in the Ottoman province of Rumelia (now in Greece), leaving for Vienna in 1767, and eventually Chemnitz , Electorate of Saxony . Georg and his brother participated in

10527-581: The mid-2000s, this was often with the (summertime) Salzburg Festival . Some productions were also sent on tour in Japan. The GmbH is independent from the Salzburg Festival Fund ( Salzburger Festspielfonds ), the body which organizes the summer festival and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival . They have a partnership agreement under which the Easter Festival uses the staff, technical facilities, set and costume workshops, and musical instruments of

10648-411: The middle of its Berlin season; being a corporation of the city-state at the time, it obtained the permission of West Berlin authorities , on the argument that it would promote the city’s international reputation . Artistically, this meant that the musical performance was fully ready long before the short festival, and that the conductor, orchestra and cast avoided doing the bulk of their preparation in

10769-453: The move. Following the scandal, they announced in May 2011 that they would withdraw after the 2012 edition, and transfer to a new Baden-Baden Easter Festival , with broadly the same format. A co-production deal had been announced in April 2011 with Madrid’s Teatro Real for the 2011 to 2013 productions, but fell through. Shortly after the announcement of the withdrawal of the Berlin Philharmonic,

10890-464: The new interpretations and social criticism brought about in Bayreuth by Wieland Wagner until his death in 1966, and by the guest directors thereafter invited by his brother Wolfgang Wagner as part of the “ Bayreuth workshop ”. In 1973, Salzburg Whitsun Concerts (now the Salzburg Whitsun Festival ) were created by Karajan over Pentecost weekend, intended for people who could not obtain tickets for

11011-418: The next day. He said, "You have made the music very clear, the fp here, the accent there; but these are not at all important. Just wave your stick around a bit!" He made a gesture like stirring a pudding. But what he meant was, let the music flow more naturally. Karajan conducted and recorded prolifically, mainly with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. He conducted other orchestras (including

11132-441: The opera would be recorded in studio in Berlin the previous autumn, for one of the three record labels with which Karajan was under contract ( Decca , Deutsche Grammophon , EMI ), and which he could put in competition in order to obtain the best possible terms. Commercially, this meant that part of the preparation work for the festival would be paid for by the label. It also enabled the orchestra to limit its presence in Salzburg in

11253-410: The phrasing and the words—always with Italian singers, which was unheard of in Germany then. I don't think I ever opened the score. It was so in my ears, I just knew it. Karajan went on to make two recordings of Falstaff —one for EMI/HMV in 1956 and another for Philips in 1980—and his colleague Otto Klemperer hailed the Vienna State Opera production as "really excellent". Strauss was likewise

11374-401: The presence of Karajan who praised the new format. As Karajan’s health declined in the 1980s, he started delegating some of his many duties: one of the concerts had a guest conductor from 1985, starting with Klaus Tennstedt that year, and the 1987 production of Don Giovanni was staged by Michael Hampe . The 1989 edition saw Karajan’s last appearance in an orchestra pit and his last with

11495-649: The radio by the Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). Some recordings have been released commercially. Some productions have also been filmed for commercial release. The 1986 Don Carlo and 1987 Don Giovanni (summer revival) were filmed by Herbert von Karajan’s company Telemondial, the catalogue of which was bought and released by Sony Classical . Most productions during Christian Thielemann’s direction were filmed and released on DVD by Unitel . Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan ( German: [ˈhɛʁbɛʁt fɔn ˈka(ː)ʁajan] ; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan ; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989)

11616-451: The revival of productions from the summer festival, including the fifteen-year-old Il trovatore , leaving it with little of an artistic line apart from Karajan’s central presence. His complete control decided René Kollo to leave over creative differences after his first performance in the title role of the 1976 Lohengrin , followed by Karl Ridderbusch . Despite his initial insistence on independence, Karajan resorted to subsidies from

11737-510: The second son of physician (surgeon) and senior consultant Ernst von Karajan (1868–1951) and Marta (née Martha Kosmač; 1881–1954) (married 1905). He was a child prodigy at the piano. From 1916 to 1926, he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Franz Ledwinka (piano), Franz Zauer (harmony), and Bernhard Paumgartner (composition and chamber music). He was encouraged to concentrate on conducting by Paumgartner, who detected his exceptional promise in that regard. In 1926, Karajan graduated from

11858-454: The slightest ragged edge." Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Karajan's conducting style was his propensity to conduct with his eyes closed. This is highly unusual for a conductor, as eye contact is generally regarded as of paramount importance to the conductor's communication with the orchestra. Yet, as Vaughan remarked: "[h]ere is one of the fascinating aspects of conducting: there are no rules, only guidelines. The most eccentric approach

11979-401: The state and city government from 1969, which he defended by pointing out the benefits to the local economy. In the face of public criticism and as government representatives started questioning the management and future of the festival, he again renounced their support in 1982. The music critic Reinhard Beuth lamented the “bankruptcy of an idea” in 1978: “The private company has to be subsidised,

12100-427: The style of music, are usually expected to be able to improvise a bassline from a chord chart or learn the song from a recording. In some cases, an arranger or composer may give a bassist a bass part that is fully written out in music notation . In. some arranged music parts, there is a mix of written-out accompaniment and improvisation. For example, in a big band bass part, the introduction and melody ("head") to

12221-400: The summer festival, and demanded to approve the productions which were to be performed, and to a large part funded, by his own festival. Although Abbado and Mortier had similar views (both modernists, both keen on thematic programming), they came in conflict when both festivals announced separate productions of Elektra for 1995, forcing Mortier to postpone his. Abbado’s first edition featured

12342-549: The summer festival. In the 1990s, Eliette von Karajan , the conductor’s widow, created a prix Eliette von Karajan reflecting her commitment to the arts, and her practice of painting as a hobby. A Salzburg Easter Festival Literary Prize ( Italian : Premio di Letteratura Festival di Pasqua di Salisburgo ) was also created as part of the Nonino prizes, funded by the Nonino grappa distillery. In 2015, Eliette von Karajan created

12463-453: The summer festival. The orchestra and choral concerts featured works Karajan frequently conducted in Berlin or on tour , most by Ludwig van Beethoven , Johannes Brahms , Anton Bruckner , Mozart, and Strauss; this made it possible to minimize on-site rehearsals, and the concerts were sometimes preceded by a studio recording, as for the opera. Karajan’s stagings favoured a romantic, naturalistic, illustrative style, which stood in contrast with

12584-511: The theater. His senior colleague in Ulm was Otto Schulmann . After Schulmann was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with the Nazi Party takeover, Karajan was promoted to first Kapellmeister . In the postwar era, Karajan maintained silence about his Nazi Party membership, which gave rise to a number of conflicting stories about it. One version is that because of the changing political climate and

12705-472: The theatre. The recording were released in the spring at the same time as the festival, both contributing to the promotion of the other. The Easter Festival was in complement to the Salzburg Festival in the summer, of which Karajan was artistic director since 1957. The Vienna Philharmonic traditionally occupies the place of honour at the summer festival; the Berlin Philharmonic had first performed there only in 1957, brought in by Karajan. Karajan’s initial focus

12826-548: The works of Wagner , Verdi , Richard Strauss and Puccini . Verdi's last opera, Falstaff , was something of a mainstay throughout Karajan's career. In his conversations with Osborne, Karajan recalled that, in the 1930s, when Italian opera was still something of a rarity in Austria and Germany: [M]y training in Verdi's Falstaff came from Toscanini. There wasn't a rehearsal in either Vienna or Salzburg at which I wasn't present. I think I heard about thirty. From Toscanini I learnt

12947-787: The world's finest. Starting from this year, Karajan began his lifelong attendance at the Lucerne Festival . In 1951 and 1952, Karajan conducted at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus . During its 1955 tour of the United States, Karajan's past membership in the Nazi Party led to the Berlin Philharmonic's concerts being banned in Detroit, and Philadelphia Orchestra music director Eugene Ormandy refused to shake Karajan's hand. Upon arriving in New York City for

13068-515: Was ex officio the executive president of the foundation which supports the festival, and as such held the decision-making votes in the governing body of the company which organizes it. An investigation by the State Court of Audit pointed out a number of mismanagement issues as well as conflicts of interest between the company, the foundation, and the patrons association, which had no practical independence from each other. Dewitte and Kretschmer,

13189-479: Was "very shocked, affected, and deeply upset by the news. He had never forgotten her; she had been a part of his life." Karajan did not attend her funeral in Aachen. On 22 October 1942, at the height of the Second World War , Karajan married his second wife, Anna Maria "Anita" Sauest, born Gütermann  [ de ] , the daughter of a well-known manufacturer of yarn for sewing machines. Having had

13310-442: Was a production of Richard Wagner ’s four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen over the first four editions, starting in 1967 with Die Walküre , the popular second part. The Ring had already been his first stage production in Vienna in 1957, and this made it possible to negotiate a lucrative recording deal from Deutsche Grammophon, as the label was eager to compete with Decca’s recently-completed recording under Georg Solti ,

13431-539: Was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era , he debuted at the Salzburg Festival , with the Vienna Philharmonic , the Berlin Philharmonic, and during World War II he conducted at the Berlin State Opera . Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from

13552-494: Was completed, subsequent editions would enable him to perform two entire cycles, or one cycle and another opera for two or three evenings, with a few concerts in complement. In the event, it became customary to simply perform one opera at every edition. Apart from Wagner’s, these were from the core of Karajan’s lyric repertoire, especially by Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini , with a few revivals; however, operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss remained reserved to

13673-525: Was deeply taken with her. Their first daughter, Isabel , was born on 25 June 1960. In 1964, their second daughter, Arabel, was born. After Karajan's death, Eliette continued his musical legacy by founding of the Herbert von Karajan Centre in Vienna, now in Salzburg and known as the Eliette and Herbert von Karajan Institute . Her numerous projects focus particularly on the development of young people, and she

13794-556: Was given a theme, starting with Richard Wagner in 2023: on the programme was Tannhäuser , the only major Wagner opera never yet performed at the festival, and the dance and electronic music commissions were based on his works. The theme announced for 2024 is “the Mediterranean South — with Italy at its heart”. In January 2023, the festival announced that the Berlin Philharmonic would return as resident orchestra from 2026, with its chief conductor Kirill Petrenko , after

13915-533: Was listed on the Gottbegnadeten list (God-gifted list of artists exempt from mobilisation ). Karajan's denazification tribunal, held in Vienna on 15 March 1946, cleared him of illegal activity during the Nazi period. The Austrian denazification examining board discharged Karajan on 18 March 1946, and he resumed conducting shortly thereafter. Years later, former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said of Karajan's Nazi party membership card, "Karajan

14036-464: Was obviously not a Nazi. He was a Mitläufer ." In 1946, Karajan gave his first postwar concert in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic , but was banned from further conducting by the Soviet occupation authorities because of his Nazi party membership. That summer he participated anonymously in the Salzburg Festival. On 28 October 1947, Karajan gave his first public concert following the lifting of

14157-520: Was one of the youngest and thus one of the least advanced in his career. He was allowed to conduct various orchestras and was free to travel, even to the Netherlands to conduct the Concertgebouw Orchestra and make recordings there in 1943. He conducted for an audience of 300 Nazi armaments officials at a conference convened by Albert Speer in Linz, Austria, on 24–25 June 1944. In September 1944, he

14278-477: Was somewhat unusual, as noted by his friend Walter Legge , who remarked: He is one of the few conductors I have known who has never made a mark in a score. He will absorb a score quietly sitting on the floor, like a relaxed Siamese cat. Over the years he has learned how completely to relax the body so the mind is absolutely free to do what it wants. Karajan was also known for his preternaturally keen sense of tempo, even going so far as to have himself tested against

14399-592: Was the only way to obtain them, despite their price; tickets left unsold are nowadays put on sale at a later date to the general public. Members of the association have also been thanked with such perks as entry to public rehearsals and special recordings. Patrons associations were also created in Germany, in the United Kingdom, and in the United States. The festival frequently relies on opera co-productions , since it would otherwise need to fund an entirely new show for two or three performances. From mid-1980s until

14520-500: Was the works of Richard Wagner , which were avoided in Salzburg in the summer due to a gentlemen’s agreement with the nearby Bayreuth Festival held at the same time. Karajan had conducted in Bayreuth in 1951 and 1952 when the festival reopened after the war, before leaving in disagreement with co-director Wieland Wagner , who had taken an abstract and critical approach in staging his grandfather’s works. The first edition opened on 19 March 1967, Palm Sunday . Karajan’s first endeavour

14641-420: Was “self-cast, self-financed, self-staged, self-conducted — that Wagner composed the piece almost seems like a blemish”. His wife Eliette von Karajan acted as an unofficial hostess at the festival, and was usually the last to take her front-row seat jus as the lights went down. Wagner was the main focus of “Karajan’s counter-Bayreuth” (Robert C. Bachmann) in the first years of the festival. He ended up producing

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