European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Right a scene from Cimarosa s the music master staged during a recent Schwet Zingen festival. This year s event at Schwet Zingen Castle near Heidelberg West Germany runs through june 16. Joac a music festivals Europe offers a wide selection by John Rockwell new York times if you can obtain tickets a and hotel reservations nearby a a pilgrimage to a big glamorous european music festival can be delightful. But festivals have proliferated and the most rewarding Are not necessarily the most famous. Going to a less fashionable festival May be just As musically enjoyable a and probably will be much easier. The festivals in Salzburg Austria and Bayreuth West Germany Are the grand daddies. They define the big time festival experience for most travellers and they also define the two contrasting festival types thematic and geographic. Thematic like Bayreuth with Wagner or Pesaro with Rossini in allegiance to a particular composer or genre. Geographic like Salzburg despite its ostensible focus on Mozart in that a particular town or City or even country the Holland festival is the True Center of the experience and the visitor can choose among a Range of offerings. Not that thematic festivals can t take place in scintillating locations or that geographic festivals can t come up with piquant themes. The Drott Ringholm festival in suburban Stockholm for instance is a thematic festival that offers wonderful Early instrument performances of mostly 18th-Century operas in what is probably the oldest continuously functioning unimproved 18th-Century theater in the world. But going to Drott Ringholm Means As Likely As not staying in downtown Stockholm and that Means big City pleasures. The Royal Palace of Drott Ringholm the site of the theater and festival is gorgeous and on the surrounding lawns is a riveting Panorama along with Midsummer late night sunsets. Another plus is Drott Ringholm s a Fresco Waterside dining. Conversely big City festivals which often Are merely occasions for the municipal authorities to Gussy up regular offerings with gala performers at gala prices and to invite foreign ensembles can also offer thematic rewards. At the Prague Spring festival for example special attention is being paid to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bohuslav Martinu who is prize in Czechoslovakia but who has not yet entered the repertory mainstream elsewhere. At least six of Martinu s operas will be presented in Prague. Prague should also offer a Heady atmosphere of newfound Freedom and excitement and that should be True All Over Eastern Europe. Czechoslovakia has been among the More accessible East bloc countries and is becoming Ever More accessible to both Western tourists and Western artists. Eastern Europe offers mostly City festivals but there Are some with Strong thematic subtexts. In East Germany Berlin s Early fall festival can already be considered an appendage to West Berlin s september event both Are bustling International music bazaars and both offer the Chance to sightseer in one of the world s most fascinating cities. The late Spring Dresden music festival this year is built on a curiously dated theme Quot russian classical and soviet modern but there is plenty of Quality within that category and the restored Semper opera is a Beautiful Large scale British tourist authority costumed clog dancers pass in front of St. Giles Cathedral during the Edinburgh festival in Scotland. This year s even opens aug. 12. Facility. Its Marble Interior real and Faux in a Saxon Folk Art style is remarkable no matter what s on stage. East Germany s oldest festival happens to be thematic the Handel festival in the composer s Birthplace of hallo dates to 1052, with an older performance tradition extending Back to the German Handel revival of the 1920s. This summer there will be operas and oratorios and the guests continued on 4 May 24, 1990 stripes Magazine
