International May Festival
The International May Festival takes place every year at the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden . They were founded in 1896 by then director Georg von Hülsen .
history
The idea for the May Festival goes back to the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth , which has taken place annually since 1876. After the opening of the new State Theater in 1894, the director Georg von Hülsen took up the idea. Since Kaiser Wilhelm II stayed in the world spa town every year in May, it made sense to schedule the festival in this month. The first May Festival took place from May 6th to 19th, 1896.
Richard Wagner's works were a focal point in the program until 1914 , but other operas were also staged, including Oberon by Carl Maria von Weber in 1900 . With the First World War , the May Festival was suspended for the time being. Even after the end of the war, a resumption of the tradition was out of the question for a long time. It was not until 1929 that the May Festival could take place again for the first time from May 4th to 21st under the direction of Paul Bekker , with a premiere of the opera Die ägyptische Helena by Richard Strauss . World premieres also took place during the May Festival in 1931 and 1932.
With the takeover of the Nazis , the theaters were brought into line . The May Festival took place during this period until 1939 as part of the Gau culture weeks . They were under the directorship of Carl von Schirach .
After the Second World War , the May Festival was resumed in 1950. The new name of the International May Festival was also linked to a new artistic concept in which important foreign theaters were invited to the festival. The Friends of the International May Festival support the festival financially every year. The program consists of opera and drama productions by well-known ensembles as well as excellent ballet and dance performances, concerts, readings and opera gala evenings with outstanding singers. The Young Week , which has been an integral part of the May Festival program for many years, shows productions for children and young people . The artistic director of the Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden is artistically responsible for the program selection .
In 1952 the festival was one of the founding organizations of the European Festivals Association .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Gerda Haddenhorst: The Wiesbaden Imperial Festival 1896-1914. Historical commission for Nassau Wiesbaden 1997.