Travel Pick: Classical Music in Austria
Whitsun Festival 2008

Under the artistic and musical direction of Riccardo Muti, the 2008 edition of Salzburg's Whitsun Festival is devoted to the musical history of Naples, the city where Muti was born (1941) and trained as a musician. Riccardo Muti said in a press statement about the Whitsun Festival highlights, “This year, Giovanni Paisiello's opera Il matrimonio inaspettato is on the program for Whitsun. It was written in 1779, which makes it one year younger than Cimarosa’s opera Il ritorno di Don Calandrino, which we presented last year. Like Cimarosa, Paisiello is one of the most important proponents of the Neapolitan School. He was also the first director of the Conservatorio S. Pietro a Majella, which was created by joining the formerly four conservatories. The most important composers taught here, such as Porpora, Durante, Jommelli, Scarlatti, and here they enjoyed a fruitful competition.”

The Neopolitan maestro described the opera as “light-hearted, but full of freshness and humor, which is typical for the masterworks of the Neapolitan School. Of course one should not ignore the political situation as it was then. Naples was under Bourbon rule at the time. The opera may have been written before the French Revolution, but the massive social changes that would follow it were already in the air. This explains the social criticism inherent in these works, the criticism of the difference between the estates, the tension between rich and poor. At the time, Naples was at the zenith of its importance. The revolution which also took place here turned Naples into a totally different place. Many problems that one has to deal with here today have their roots in this development.”

The festival closes with an oratorio: I pellegrini al sepolcro di Nostro Signore by Johann Adolph Hasse. “We call him Il Sassone or Il Grande Sassone in Italy. He is one of the most important protagonists of the Neapolitan School. That is interesting, since he was a typical German, but he composed in this Neapolitan style.”

While not as in demand as the Salzburg summer festival, ticket sales are brisk.