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House for Mozart in Salzburg

Wednesday, 12 April 2023 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  6 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post The Haus für Mozart, or House for Mozart, is a 1,500-seat theatre of the Salzburg Festival in the city of that name in Austria. It was established in 1925 when horse stables were converted into a venue for the mystery plays that were a main facet of the five-year-old festival, becoming the festival’s first dedicated performance space, its Festspielhaus. This name it retained through three rebuildings until, in 1960, the larger Neues Festspielhaus opened next door, whereupon it took the name Altes Festspielhaus, or Old Festival-House. But three seasons later, to end confusion in the minds of visitors unaware of the history, both theatres were renamed for their sizes, and the smaller was now the Kleines Festspielhaus. For forty-two seasons, through 2004, the nomenclature was settled. Then the theater was closed for its fourth gutting and reconstruction. It gained its current name upon reopening in 2006 as the festival’s principal theatre for Mozart and Rossini operas as well as Baroque stageworks.

The venue was inaugurated with Hugo von Hofmannsthal‘s play Das Salzburger große Welttheater directed by Max Reinhardt. But there were prompt changes. After the first season (1925) it was rebuilt under the direction of Clemens Holzmeister, and after the Nazi annexation of Austria (1938) it was rebuilt again by Benno von Arent. A third reconstruction, by Salzburg architects Hans Hofmann and Erich Engels, took place after the Second World War.

In anticipation of Salzburg-born Mozart’s 250th anniversary in 2006, local politicians led by Landeshauptmann Franz Schausberger reached a financial agreement with the Republic of Austria to modernize and technically upgrade the theater. Architects Wilhelm Holzbauer, a pupil of Holzmeister, and the Luxembourger François Valentiny drew up the plans, which included structural changes to the lobby area between the Felsenreitschule, another venue, and what would become the Haus für Mozart. Three new entrances were designed by the artist Josef Zenzmaier, and a golden art-wall in the foyer was created by the German Michael Hammers. The changes reconfigured the theatre to host 1,580 people: 1,495 seats and 85 stances (standing places). Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt inaugurated the new space.

Read more on SalzburgerFestspiele.at – House for Mozart, Salzburg.info – House for Mozart and Wikipedia House for Mozart (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center - Global Passport Power Rank - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

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