Schwetzingen SWR Festival

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The Schwetzinger SWR Festival (formerly Schwetzingen Festival ) is an international festival of classical music that has been held annually in spring (late April to early June) since May 24, 1952 in the premises of Schwetzingen Castle ( Schwetzingen , North Baden ). Some concerts (mainly church concerts) also take place in nearby Speyer ( cathedral , Dreifaltigkeitskirche ). The festival is organized by the Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele gGmbH, whose shareholders, in addition to Südwestrundfunk, are in equal parts the Rhein-Neckar district and the city of Schwetzingen.

The left circle building at the 2002 Festival

Schwetzingen Palace with its park and court theater was the summer residence of the Elector Palatinate , who resided in nearby Heidelberg and Mannheim . What is now known as the Rococo Theater was built by Nicolas de Pigage and inaugurated on June 15, 1753. After the last Elector Karl Theodor moved to Munich (beginning of the year 1778), not only did the residence in Mannheim fall into a deep slumber, but also the summer palace in Schwetzingen. It was not until 1937 that the rococo theater was restored to its original purpose with the original stage machinery . For reasons of fire protection, the decision had to be made in 1971 whether the theater should be run as a museum in the future or whether it should be used. The decision was made for the performance and for a complete demolition and reconstruction of the stage building (the historic auditorium was retained).

As a rule, there have been two opera productions since then (cooperation with well-known opera houses, as the festival itself does not have any workshops) in the historic Rococo theater, the oldest, originally preserved ranked theater in the world. The repertoire includes world premieres of commissioned works (ie the composition commission is awarded by the Schwetzingen SWR Festival) and classical works, and in recent decades there has been an increasing number of excavations of unknown baroque and classical operas. In the process, numerous new editions of unknown and lost baroque operas were created. Another focus of the Schwetzingen Festival is on chamber music and orchestral works , presented by internationally renowned artists and highly talented young artists.

The SWR broadcasts all concerts on SWR2 and also arranges a selection of the concerts to other German and international broadcasters. Some events are also recorded by SWR television for broadcast on arte and 3sat . Thanks to the recordings of the SWR, the concerts of the festival can also be listened to on the website of the festival after the radio broadcast.

List of important rediscoveries (selection)

List of important world premieres (selection)

literature

  • B. Hermann, P. Stieber (Eds.) An Arcadia of Music - 50 Years of the Schwetzingen Festival 1952–2002 , Metzler Verlag Stuttgart
  • B. Hermann, E. Stett, P. Stieber (Eds.) Arcadia continues to sound - Schwetzingen SWR Festival 2003–2012 , Schwetzingen SWR Festival GmbH
  • S. Leopold, B. Pelker (eds.) Hofoper in Schwetzingen - music, stage art, architecture , Winter Verlag Heidelberg

Web links