Salzburg (Austria) (AFP)
We have been giving it life for six decades: under the gilding of the Grand Palais des Festivals in Salzburg, the most famous artists compete every summer with talent, keen to inscribe their legend in this temple of music.
Exceptional acoustics for a masterful scene: everything is only excess in this setting inaugurated on July 26, 1960 and where the performances of the "Salzburger Festspiele" follow one another.
From Placido Domingo to Luciano Pavarotti, the most beautiful voices have been acclaimed in the old episcopal stables with their tercentenary facade, which over the years have become the "holy of holies" of lyrical art.
"That this room was born is nevertheless a pure miracle", underlines the president of the festival, Helga Rabl-Stadler, on the occasion of a behind-the-scenes visit granted to AFP at the end of June.
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While the house is busy preparing a long-awaited "Don Giovanni" by Mozart, directed by Romeo Castellucci from Monday, it recalls the history of this unique building which forms a whole with the two adjoining smaller rooms. : the "House for Mozart" and the "Manège des Rochers".
- 50,000 m3 of rock -
"Under the direction of the conductor Herbert von Karajan, the architect Clemens Holzmeister wanted to implement this flagship project and in 1956, the state released 210 million shillings for the construction, a huge sum," recalls Ms. Rabl-Stadler.
At the time, the music and theater festival, founded in 1920 as a peace project after the First World War, took place in modest quarters, leaning against the rock which dominates the old town.
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Just liberated from the occupying forces which left in 1955, the small Republic of Austria, however ruined, relies on culture and makes this "Grand Palais" ("Grosse Festspielhaus") with 2,179 places a symbol of renewal.
The 100-meter-wide stage is built by dynamiting 50,000 m3 of rock.
From the street, five monumental bronze doors allow the public to enter.
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The room and the foyer are adorned with woodwork, frescoes, mosaics, sculptures and tapestries offering with their timeless materials a cozy atmosphere.
- "Sound privacy" -
What also makes this hall so unique is "its truly wonderful acoustics", according to conductor Franz Welser-Moest, who has performed there 74 times.
“Upon entering the stage, one has the impression of a place of intimidating dimensions and yet, it allows an incredible sound intimacy,” he said, excited to come back this year.
"The weaker sounds spread out so that the farthest listener can experience them very directly."
Helga Rabl-Stadler recounts that "the technical director of the Opéra Bastille" was surprised that "such good acoustics" had been designed as early as the 1960s.
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It is therefore never easy for the new generation to face, like Karl Böhm and Pierre Boulez in their time, this monument where we perpetuate a tradition as we gauge daring.
This season, the "Jedermann" from Hugo von Hofmannsthal's play, which is traditionally performed every year, will be in high heels, questioning gender identity.
Salzburg's role is also to nurture "the talents that will shape the music of tomorrow", considers artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser.
- "Organized dream" -
The classical world is very globalized and between mid-July and the end of August, 5,000 employees from 60 countries are asked for this international festival of superlatives claiming the first place.
Some 220,000 tickets were sold - despite the coronavirus pandemic - between 5 and 445 euros (half under 105 euros).
168 events are organized in 47 days, for a budget of 60 million euros, of which only 25% of public subsidies ... an investment largely offset by the economic benefits.
For months, masks have been sculpted for Don Giovanni, hatters have been fashioning headgear, costume designers have taken the orders.
A real city within a city is working to bring the "organized dream" to life, as Mr. Hinterhäuser puts it.
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"Making all these people from different continents strive towards the same goal is an immense task", breathes Helga Rabl-Stadler, who will bow out in the fall, after more than a quarter of a century of loyal service.
"In 1920, the founders planned to build on Austrian soil a world artistic center transcending the nations. Perhaps we have arrived a little bit there", she sketches.
© 2021 AFP