4 – 30 August
Besides the works of Mozart, from the mid-1920s on Richard Strauss’s operas formed a second mainstay of the Salzburg Festival. In 1926, Ariadne auf Naxos was in the repertoire, in 1929 the first Rosenkavalier, which came to be a central work in the Festival programme.
26 July – 30 August
When a music programme was planned for the first time for the newly established Festival in 1922, it was obvious that this should be held with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera.
30 July – 28 August
In 1927, improvements were yet again carried out on the Festival Hall, this time the stage area. A proscenium curtain was added, the stage technics refined, the orchestra pit enlarged. The intention was to perform opera in this theatre.
7 – 29 August
After the remodelling of the Festival Hall broke the back of the budget, facing the Salzburg Festival Theatre Association with bankruptcy, Governor Franz Rehrl endeavoured to rescue it. The Festival Hall was taken over into the ownership of the City and was rented out to the Festival Theatre Association.
13 – 31 August
In summer 1925, the former riding school complex was used for the first time as provisional festival hall for Hofmannsthal’s mystery play Das Salzburger grosse Welttheater / The Salzburg Great World Theatre directed by Max Reinhardt. Even before it was possible to perform in the impressive Felsenreitschule / Summer Riding School, the large Winter Riding School of 1840 was adapted as a theatre space (later: Small Festival Hall, since 2006: House for Mozart).
Festival not held
Various factors led to a cancellation of the performances of the Marian legend Das Mirakel / The Miracle by Karl Vollmoeller, to be directed by Reinhardt and planned for August 1924 in the Kollegienkirche / Collegiate Church: grave differences between the Salzburg and Vienna branches of the Festival Theatre Association, financial problems and numerous commitments of those in charge of the Festival – for instance, in April of that year, Max Reinhardt had taken over as director of the Theater in der Josefstadt and his troupe was on tour in America. The Festival did not take place.
21 – 24 August
In spring 1918, Max Reinhardt had purchased the former family seat of Prince Archbishop Firmian (1727–1744) built around 1740 and with sensitive renovations and remodelling subsequently revived the palace to its earlier brilliance.
13 – 29 August
On 13 August 1922, Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Das Salzburger grosse Welttheater directed by Max Reinhardt received its first performance in the Kollegienkirche/Collegiate Church, which meant a further provisional venue was being activated.
2 – 23 August
The plans announced in January 1921 for a four-week festival with two guest performances by the Vienna State Opera and other theatre productions, besides Jedermann, had to be shelved.
22 – 26 August
The performance of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann directed by Max Reinhardt on 22 August 1920 on Domplatz / Cathedral Square marked the birth of the Salzburg Festival, despite all reservations against the enterprise at a time of hunger and privation.
30 July – 28 August
In 1927, improvements were yet again carried out on the Festival Hall, this time the stage area. A proscenium curtain was added, the stage technics refined, the orchestra pit enlarged. The intention was to perform opera in this theatre.
A new production of Fidelio (conducted by Franz Schalk, directed by Lothar Wallerstein, set by Clemens Holzmeister) for the Beethoven centenary celebrations tested the Festival Hall on 13 August 1927 for the first time as a venue for opera – and revealed acoustic deficiencies, as the press reported.
RAVAG (Austria’s first public broadcasting corporation was founded in 1924 and existed until ORF was founded in 1958) had already broadcast a Festival performance for the first time in August 1925 – Mozart’s Don Giovanni conducted by Karl Muck from the Stadttheater/City Theatre (today: Landestheater/State Theatre). In summer 1926, three Festival opera broadcasts followed, transmitting to several South German stations as well as the Austrian ones. In 1927, Zurich, Prague, Warsaw and Zagreb were added to the list.