In Verona, Italy, one summer during the opera festival, I heard my first
”Norma” in the spectacular, well-preserved arena built by the Roman emperor Diocletian in the third century A.D. I remember nothing about the performance other than it starred a very plump soprano, Anita Cerquetti, as the Druid priestess, and, as the proconsul Pollione, a young tenor named Franco Corelli. Nobody knew it then, but Cerquetti`s career would soon go into a tragic tailspin, while Corelli was about to soar to international prominence as one of the great operatic tenors of his generation.
The relatively unknown Corelli knew he had to impress himself on the audience in a dramatic fashion; so he brought along a claque large enough to be heard even in a 20,000-seat amphitheater. No diva, not even a hefty diva, was going to overshadow him. The Corelli claque clapped and cheered wildly each time the singer so much as opened his mouth. To make doubly sure that he would leave Verona the conquering hero, his fans distributed among the audience an enormous quantity of handbills, all bearing a picture of the handsome young tenor wearing the abbreviated toga that was his costume in the Bellini opera. All this went on during the performance. It was then that I began to realize why those large arenas are called circuses.
Since that memorable July night in Verona, every indoor opera performance I`ve attended has seemed so tasteful, so well-mannered, so unvulgar, so (I`m sorry to say) boring. Somehow it just isn`t the real thing without a cheering section producing a spectacle to rival that of the stage.
Chances are that very few festival performances in Europe this summer will be so bizarrely fascinating as that bygone ”Norma” from Verona. The 63d edition of the Verona Festival (July 4-Sept. 1), for example, promises a much tamer ”Aida”–no Corelli, no handbills, no demonstrations in medias res.
Still, a rich and stimulating variety of events awaits all who would partake of this summerlong banquet of musical discovery. With the dollar still going strong on the world market, Europe is bracing itself for perhaps its biggest invasion of music-loving Americans to date.
This is, officially, ”European Music Year 1985,” described as the biggest musical celebration ever–more than 1,000 events spread across an entire continent. The agenda ranges from opera, recitals, orchestra, chamber and choral concerts; to new music and old music; to rock, folk, jazz and ragtime; to such unusual fare as open-air jamborees, folk song and dance troupes, and a ”musical train” that will cross 10 countries with an orchestra created by the European Music School Union.
June 21 has been designated ”European Music Day,” when every city, town and hamlet from Dublin to Prague will have its own musical celebration. The collective sound of these myriad festivities may be plainly audible on this side of the Atlantic, but being in the thick of it will be lots more fun.
Many countries also plan tributes to four composing giants of the baroque whose tricentenaries fall in 1985: Johann Sebastian Bach, George Friderick Handel, Heinrich Schutz and Domenico Scarlatti. There is no experience quite like hearing this glorious music performed in a stylistically authentic manner in some of the churches, chapels and courtly chambers for which it was written.
The origins of European music fests are as diverse as the events themselves. Some sprang up around historic sites, such as the ancient Roman amphitheater in Orange, France (whose festival this year runs through July), the Alhambra in Spain (June 16-July 10) or the Drottningholm Court Theater in Stockholm (mid-May to Mid-September). Other festivals–Bayreuth in West Germany (July 25-Aug. 28), Aldeburgh in England (June)–are the realization of a composer`s vision. Others, such as England`s Three Choirs Festival at Hereford and Worcester, the oldest continuing music festival in Europe (Aug. 18-23), preserve important religious traditions.
If your travels take you anywhere in Central Europe, with a little careful planning you can easily take in several festivals within a trumpet call of each other. Germany, Austria and Italy, for example, are teeming with worthwhile performances this summer, many of them accompanied by beautiful scenery, good food and other beguilements.
Even some of the outlying festivals, such as Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (July 10-Aug. 25), can easily be reached by air. Several travel agencies offer festival packages for opera and music lovers that include airfare, concert tickets, accommodations and other amenities. One of the best of these is Dailey-Thorp, Inc. (Address: Park Towers South, 315 W. 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10019. Phone:(212) 307-1555.)
First-time visitors believe they must attend the big festivbals because of the greater number major artists featured at those events. But Europe in summer is so music-conscious that the smaller festivals can be just as rewarding, often more so. Every lane and public square is a potential site for musical happenings. Once, while walking around the Marienplatz, the center of old Munich, I came upon a student chamber ensemble that had set up shop near the city`s historic musical clock. Just before the mechanical figures of jousting knights made their scheduled appearance in the clock tower, the crowd was treated to the lilting strains of Strauss waltzes. No Viennese band could have done them better.
Festivals are a more essential part of Europe`s cultural scene than that of the United States, and for this reason visitors are often amazed at the varied complexion of these events. Together with old, established festivals that cater essentially to a narrow international elite are festivals no less
”major” whose creators refuse to restrict themselves to a single audience or type of artistic expression, reflecting the belief that art is not just for those who can afford to pay whopping prices.
What follows are European festival highlights from now until October (at press time many festivals had not announced specific program plans or dates;
in all cases, music and performers are subject to change):
The Holland Festival (June 1-30) is an ideal example of enlightened eclecticism. Financed by the Dutch government, the event virtually takes over entire towns, spilling onto streets, public squares and the picturesque canals that wind their way through Amsterdam. Most of the programs take place in that city`s great hall, the Concertgebouw, even though a major renovation of the structure is about to begin. Operas to be presented include Theo Loevendie`s
”Naima” in its world premiere, Mozart`s ”La Clemenza di Tito” and a baroque opera, Hasse`s ”L`eroe cinese.” The Concert-Gebouw Orchestra will play under Leonard Bernstein, Neeme Jarvi and Sergiu Comissiona. There will be several programs of Dutch contemporary music, along with a salute to Canadian culture and a major retrospective of the music of Mauricio Kagel, the festival`s central artist.
Holland`s early music festival, devoted to works by Schutz, runs Aug. 30 to Sept. 8 in Utrecht. Bach and Handel are the focus of an ambitious program of ”Musica `85” concerts, including Bach`s B-Minor Mass June 20 at the renovated cathedral–the country`s largest–in s-Hertogenbosch, a city celebrating its 800th anniversary. Already underway and continuing through Aug. 11 is a series of organ recitals encompassing all 200 Bach organ works as performed by 17 prominent organists in Amsterdam`s venerable Nieuwe Kerk.
Among festivals that rejoice in their exclusive, star-oriented status, providing events of the highest quality and charging all that the
international traffic will bear, Bayreuth and Salzburg are the most prominent examples.
In the historic Festspielhaus built by Richard Wagner himself, the annual Bayreuth Wagner festival begins July 25 with a new production of
”Tannhauser,” conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli and staged by Wolfgang Wagner. The controversial Peter Hall/William Dudley ”Ring” production will begin its final year of performances July 27. Also returning to the repertoire are ”The Flying Dutchman” (opening Aug. 2) and ”Parsifal” (opening July 26), the latter conducted by James Levine. Despite the worldwide dearth of major Wagnerian singers and despite recent criticism of Wolfgang Wagner`s administration, Bayreuth remains the standard bearer for performances of the master`s music dramas.
Some consider Salzburg the outstanding opera festival in Europe; others believe it has fallen victim to self-importance. Tickets and accommodations are invariably snapped up months in advance, as they are at Bayreuth. The city itself, Mozart`s birthplace, is a baroque jewel, always worth a visit. It offers a variety of large and small festival theaters, from the Large Concert Hall (where Herbert von Karajan`s ”Rosenkavalier” is going for more than $100 a seat), to the exquisite Mirabell Palace (built by an archbishop for his mistress), to the charmingly intimate Felsenreitschule with its outdoor stage. Major vocal recitals and concerts add class to a glamorous musical mix–more than 140 performances this year. J.S. Bach will be honored with various concerts. The 65th festival season runs July 26 to Sept. 1.
The lure of Salzburg notwithstanding, I am convinced there is no finer festival opera anywhere in Europe than what is presented in Munich. No word yet on casts or repertoire for the season (mid-July to August), but in a way it hardly matters: Mozart and Richard Strauss are always the twin musical pillars, and always beautifully realized by major international casts. Performances take place in the restored National Theater, the delightful, rococo Cuvillies Theater and in the Herkulesaal of the Residence Palace. Tickets aren`t so expensive as in Salzburg, but they also go fast,
particularly so with the Passion Play running in nearby Oberammergau.
If you are planning to spend several weeks in Austria in May, June or July, several festivals are worth looking into.
In Bregenz, on the shore of Lake Constance, the famous ”floating stage” (anchored to the bottom of the lake) will offer opera and light-opera performances from July 23 to Aug. 24. Bregenz is one of the most delightfully unpretentious places on earth in which to enjoy music. Austria`s Vorarlberg mountains make a breathtaking backdrop for the audience seated ashore in the lakeside theater. Concerts and recitals will be performed in the adjacent festival hall. Before taking your seat, take an early-evening stroll among the many colorful flower gardens that line the lakefront.
The Vienna Festival will run May 11 to June 16, more than 1,000 events scheduled in nearly every concert hall, theater, opera house, park and square of that incomparable city–truly an international banquet. The Carinthian Summer Festival (late June-September) presents chamber music, lieder recitals and sacred choral music in Ossiach and Villach churches. If you are seeking something more specialized–namely, a festival devoted almost entirely to the music of Schubert–try to attend the Hohenems Schubertiade in late June.
From Austria it is a short trip to Switzerland and the Lucerne Festival. This prestigious arts celebration began in 1938 when Arturo Toscanini conducted Wagner`s ”Siegfried Idyll” at Triebschen, where the composer and wife Cosima spent many an idyllic summer. Since then the festival has continued to lure great musicians from all over the world. This year`s edition, in mid-August through early September, offers the usual stellar array of visiting orchestras and performers, many of them young artists of great promise.
Venturing south into Italy, you will discover a host of interesting and attractive festivals.
The 48th Maggio Musicale, the oldest and most prestigious Italian festival of the performing arts, begins in early May and extends to early July. The Stresa Festival on Lago Maggiore (mid-July to mid-August) combines good music with the comforts of a lake resort. Opera and ballet are the fare in the enormous outdoor arena at Macerata, also beginning in mid-July. Not far away, on the Italian Adriatic Riviera at Pesaro, the Rossini Festival (mid-August to mid-September) will draw bel-canto specialists and bel-canto lovers for performances of opera and choral works, many of them rarities such as last year`s ”Il Viaggio a Reims.”
Farther south in the Umbrian hill town of Spoleto, composer-impresario Gian Carlo Menotti holds forth each year with his Festival of Two Worlds. Far from being merely a showcase for Menotti`s music, Spoleto has come to represent an adventuresome arena for all the performing and visual arts, the emphasis being on young, often unknown performers (late June to mid-July).
No visit to the British Isles this summer would be complete without an extended visit to Britain`s two most important festivals, Edinburgh and Glyndebourne.
Considered by many to be the world`s premier artsfest, Edinburgh attracts some 100,000 visitors each year, and its contribution to the local cultural life is every bit as important as that of the Holland Festival to the Netherlands. Among this year`s extraordinary attractions will be the Lyons Opera (Chabrier`s ”L`Etoile” and Debussy`s ”Pelleas et Melisande”), Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Mahler`s Symphony No. 8 by the Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus, soprano Lucia Popp and the Cleveland Quartet. And the enormous variety of informal ”Festival Fringe” performances is a groaning board unto itself (Aug. 11-31).
Glyndebourne (May 20-Aug. 15) offers exquisite opera performed on an intimate scale in a small theater set in a private estate in the verdant East Sussex countryside. Part of the Glyndebourne opera ritual is taking the train down from London (special trains and connecting buses are available) and dining on the lovely grounds either before the opera or during the interval. If you want to be in style at Glyndebourne, wear regulation picnic attire
–tuxedos and evening gowns. Tickets tend to be expensive and hard to get but are usually worth the trouble of obtaining.
Choosing which Bach and Handel celebrations to include in your festival hop won`t be difficult. Because they are everywhere, you can`t help coming across one or two. Several West German baroque festivals appear promising. Wurzburg (May 10-19), Heidelberg (May 31-June 11), Hitzacker (July 27-Aug. 8) and Ansbach (Aug. 2-11) are all tossing Handel and/or Bach bashes.
One of the most important Bach festivals outside Germany is the Madeira Bach Festival in Portugal, featuring 25 concerts performed by international artists (June 15-24). Interesting, too, is the Bach ”Commemoration `85” by the Festival Estival in Paris; cantata performances and a harpsichord competition are promised. The event begins in mid-July and runs a full two months.
This is just a sample of the musical depth and diversity you can expect to find during Europe`s musical summer of `85. Once you are there, and have access to the program schedules and ticket vendors, you are certain to discover a lot more musical temptations with which to make your visit more enjoyable.
