Mozart Festival Würzburg

Würzburg Residence

Court gardens

The Mozart Festival Würzburg is an annual four-week festival of classic music in the city of Würzburg. The Festival is held in the building and the gardens of UNESCO World Heritage Würzburg Residence .

Event

The Mozart Festival Würzburg is Germany's oldest Mozart Festival. Like the Salzburg Festival it ranks among the most well-known festivals of classic music in the German speaking world. Each year between may and july internationally renowned symphony orchestras perform Mozart's masterpieces in more than 50 concerts. It is a mixture of indoor and open air concerts in the unique atmosphere of Würzburg Residence and its court gardens.

Today between 25,000 and 30,000 people from all over the world visit Würzburg to join this musical event.

History

The Mozart Festival Würzburg was founded in 1922. The idea of organising a Mozart Festival in Würzburg came up one year earlier after an evening of music at the Grand Emperor’s hall in the Würzburg Residence. The conductor, Hermann Zilcher, overwhelmed by the ornate stucco and lavish surroundings said „I only needed to trace a certain piece of ornamentation with my baton in the air, and that was enough for a union between sound, architecture and colour“. One year later the Würzburg Mozart Festival was installed.

The last regular Mozart Festival was held in 1942. During the Nazi dictatorship, esp. in the years 1943-44, the festival was strongly influenced by the propaganda organisation Kraft durch Freude. Parts of the Residence were destroyed by the bombings of Würzburg in 1945, thus the annual festival ceased for the time being. In the following years the Residence was rebuilt and in 1951, encouraged by Bayerischer Rundfunk, the festival could be continued.

In 2011 the Mozart Festival Würzburg celebrated its 90th birthday.

Partial list of past featured artists

• Alfred Brendel
• Philippe Herreweghe
• Christopher Hogwood
• Gidon Kremer
• Lorin Maazel
• Sir Neville Marriner
• Waltraud Meier
• Yehudi Menuhin
• Trevor Pinnock
• Jukka-Pekka Saraste

References

• http://www.mozartfest-wuerzburg.de/index.php?id=27&L=1 Mozart Festival's website
• http://www.travelsignposts.com/Germany/sightseeing/wurzburg-mozart-festival Article about the festival at travelsignposts.com
• Oskar Kaul: Musica Herbipolensis. Aus Würzburgs musikalischer Vergangenheit. Publisher Siegfried Greß, Marktbreit 1980. ISBN 3-920094-16-6
• http://www.br-online.de/studio-franken/mainfranken/90-jahre-mozartfest-wuerzburg-DID1306351510828/index.xml Report on 90 years Würzburg Mozart Festival, Bayerischer Rundfunk 05/2011
• http://www.mainpost.de/ueberregional/kulturwelt/kultur/Mozartfest-unterm-Hakenkreuz;art3809,6193595 Report on the Würzburg Mozart Festival during the Nazi period
• http://www.br-online.de/studio-franken/mainfranken/90-jahre-mozartfest-wuerzburg-DID1306351510828/mozartfest-2011-wuerzburg-90-jaehrige-geschichte-ID1306357012531.xml HIstory of Würzburg Mozart Festival