Scottish annual festival of performing arts
The
Edinburgh International Festival
is an annual arts festival in
Edinburgh
, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially
classical music
) and the
performing arts
are invited to join the festival. Visual art exhibitions, talks and workshops are also hosted.
The first 'International Festival of Music and Drama' took place between 22 August and 11 September 1947. Under the first festival director, the distinguished Austrian-born impresario
Rudolf Bing
, it had a broadly-based programme, covering orchestral, choral and chamber music,
Lieder
and song, opera, ballet, drama, film, and Scottish 'piping and dancing' on the Esplanade of
Edinburgh Castle
, a structure that was followed in subsequent years.
[1]
The Festival has taken place every year since 1947, except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
.
[2]
A scaled-back version of the festival was held in 2021.
Festival directors
[
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]
- 1947?1949: Sir
Rudolf Bing
, Austrian-born opera impresario who became General Manager of the
Metropolitan Opera
- 1950?1955:
Sir Ian Hunter
, British impresario of classical music
- 1956?1960:
Robert Ponsonby
, British music administrator and BBC programmer
[3]
- 1961?1965:
George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood
, British opera administrator, who worked for the
Royal Opera House
,
English National Opera
, and
Opera North
- 1966?1978:
Peter Diamand
, Berlin-born arts administrator
- 1979?1983:
Sir John Drummond
, British arts administrator and BBC Radio 3 Controller
- 1984?1991:
Frank Dunlop
, British theatre director
- 1992?2006: Sir
Brian McMaster
, British arts administrator who worked at the
Welsh National Opera
- October 2006?2014:
Sir Jonathan Mills
, Australian composer and arts administrator
- October 2014?2022: Fergus Linehan, Irish theatre producer and music administrator
- October 2022?:
Nicola Benedetti
, Scottish-Italian violinist
Creation of the festival
[
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]
The idea of a Festival with a remit to "provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit" and enrich the cultural life of Scotland, Britain and Europe took form in the wake of the
Second World War
. The idea of creating an international festival within the UK was first conceived by
Rudolf Bing
, the General Manager of
Glyndebourne Opera Festival
, the arts patron Lady Rosebery, theatre director Sir Tyrone Guthrie, and
Audrey Mildmay
(wife of
John Christie
) during a wartime tour of a small-scale Glyndebourne production of
The Beggar's Opera
.
[4]
Rudolf Bing conceived of the festival to heal the wounds of war through the languages of the arts. This is its principal
raison d’etre
. It was first financed by
Lord Rosebery
with the £10,000 winnings of his horse
Ocean Swell
that won the only two major horse-races run in wartime including the
Jockey Club Cup
in 1944. This sum was matched by Edinburgh Town Council and then some money in turn was matched by the
Arts Council of Great Britain
under the chairmanship of
John Maynard Keynes
. Bing also co-founded the Festival with
Henry Harvey Wood
, Head of the
British Council
in Scotland, Sidney Newman, Reid Professor of Music at
Edinburgh University
, and a group of civic leaders from the City of Edinburgh, in particular Sir
John Falconer
.
Bing had looked at several English cities before shifting his focus to Scotland and settling on Edinburgh, a city he had visited and admired in 1939. In particular, Edinburgh's castle reminded him of Salzburg where he had been the festival director before the war. Harvey Wood described the meeting at which the idea was hatched:
The Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama was first discussed over a lunch table in a restaurant in
Hanover Square
,
London
, towards the end of 1944. Rudolf Bing, convinced that musical and operatic festivals on anything like the pre-war scale were unlikely to be held in any of the shattered and impoverished centres for many years to come, was anxious to consider and investigate the possibility of staging such a Festival somewhere in the United Kingdom in the summer of 1946. He was convinced and he convinced my colleagues and myself that such an enterprise, successfully conducted, might at this moment of European time, be of more than temporary significance and might establish in Britain a centre of world resort for lovers of music, drama, opera, ballet and the graphic arts.
Certain preconditions were obviously required of such a centre. It should be a town of reasonable size, capable of absorbing and entertaining anything between 50,000 and 150,000 visitors over a period of three weeks to a month. It should, like Salzburg, have considerable scenic and picturesque appeal and it should be set in a country likely to be attractive to tourists and foreign visitors. It should have sufficient number of theatres, concert halls and open spaces for the adequate staging of a programme of an ambitious and varied character. Above all it should be a city likely to embrace the opportunity and willing to make the festival a major preoccupation not only in the City Chambers but in the heart and home of every citizen, however modest. Greatly daring but not without confidence I recommended Edinburgh as the centre and promised to make preliminary investigations.
[5]
Wood approached Falconer, who enthusiastically welcomed the initiative on behalf of the city. As it was too late to finalise arrangements for 1946, plans were made for the following year.
Features of the festival
[
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]
The first International Festival took place between 22 August and 11 September 1947, and it remained an event straddling August and September until 2015, when the dates of the Edinburgh International Festival was brought forward, to begin and end in August, to coincide with the
Fringe
.
[6]
Classical music
[
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]
From the beginning, the festival had a broad coverage, but with an emphasis on classical music, a highlight of the first season being concerts given by the
Vienna Philharmonic
, reunited with their erstwhile conductor
Bruno Walter
, who had left Europe after
Germany's annexation of Austria
in 1938.
[7]
Many notable musicians appeared at the festival during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Besides
Bruno Walter
, they included the conductors
Wilhelm Furtwangler
,
John Barbirolli
,
Thomas Beecham
,
Adrian Boult
,
Fritz Busch
,
Josef Krips
,
Pierre Monteux
and
Vittorio Gui
, the pianist
Artur Schnabel
, the violinist
Joseph Szigeti
, and the singer
Lotte Lehmann
, all of whom appeared in Edinburgh late their careers.
Rising stars of post-war Europe, such as the conductors
Herbert von Karajan
,
Rafael Kubelik
,
Charles Munch
,
Wolfgang Sawallisch
, and
Leonard Bernstein
, the pianists
Claudio Arrau
,
Solomon
, and
Rudolf Serkin
, the string players
Yehudi Menuhin
,
Pierre Fournier
,
Isaac Stern
, and
Amadeus String Quartet
, and the singers
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
,
Victoria de los Angeles
,
Boris Christoff
,
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
, and
Peter Pears
were all present in Edinburgh concert and recital halls from the beginning of their careers, while the long-lived pianist
Artur Rubinstein
had a career that seemingly spanned both eras.
Some of the most impressive performers of the early years had their careers cut short in the 1950s, notably
Kathleen Ferrier
,
Guido Cantelli
,
Ginette Neveu
and
Dennis Brain
.
Edinburgh remained at the centre of the musical world during the second decade (1957?1966) of the festival. Leading conductors who performed in the city at that time included
Otto Klemperer
,
Ernest Ansermet
,
Georg Solti
,
Carlo Maria Giulini
,
Yevgeny Mravinsky
,
Istvan Kertesz
,
Bernard Haitink
,
George Szell
and
Leopold Stokowski
.
During the third decade (1967-1976) a new group of artists came to Edinburgh, many of whom would dominate music for the rest of the century and into the next. They included conductors like
Pierre Boulez
,
Colin Davis
,
Claudio Abbado
,
Kurt Masur
,
Zubin Mehta
,
Riccardo Muti
, and
Daniel Barenboim
(who also often appeared as a pianist) and soloists like the pianists
Claudio Arrau
,
Alfred Brendel
,
Murray Perahia
, and
Marta Argerich
, and the string players
Jacqueline du Pre
and
Itzhak Perlman
. In addition an outstanding group of Soviet artists included the pianist
Sviatoslav Richter
, cellist and conductor
Mstislav Rostropovich
, violinists
David Oistrakh
and
Leonid Kogan
, and the soprano
Galina Vishnevskaya
.
Opera
[
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]
The founders of the Edinburgh Festival had been closely connected with the
Glyndebourne Opera
and from the beginning opera was an important part of the programme.
The city did not have, and still does not have, ideal facilities for creating original staged opera productions, so guest companies were invited to the festival. In the early years, Glyndebourne fulfilled this role, bringing two productions a year between 1947 and 1951.
Hamburg
took over in 1952, with no less than six productions. Glyndebourne returned from 1953 to 1955, now with three operas each year, with Hamburg coming again in 1956 with four productions.
During the second decade (1957?1966), Edinburgh received a series of different opera companies, starting with
La Scala (Piccola Scala)
, and continuing with the
Stuttgart State Opera
,
Royal Opera Stockholm
, Glyndebourne Opera,
Covent Garden Opera
,
Belgrade Opera
, the
English Opera Group
,
Teatro San Carlo, Naples
,
Budapest Opera and Ballet
,
National Theatre, Prague
, the
Holland Festival
and the
Bavarian State Opera
, with an average of four or five productions each year. Also from 1965, an Edinburgh Festival Opera began to offer locally created shows.
During the third decade (1967?1976), Edinburgh Festival Opera were prominent performers, together with the
Glasgow
-based
Scottish Opera
. Meanwhile, the tradition of inviting guest companies continued with the German companies
Deutsche Oper Berlin
,
Deutsche Oper am Rhein
,
Hamburg State Opera
, and
Frankfurt Municipal Opera
, the Italian companies
Teatro Comunale, Florence
and
Teatro Massimo, Palermo
, as well as
National Theatre, Prague
,
Hungarian State Opera
, and
Royal Opera, Stockholm
and the
English Opera Group
.
Major artists came to Edinburgh during the first thirty years, such as the conductors
Claudio Abbado
,
Daniel Barenboim
,
Thomas Beecham
,
Fritz Busch
,
Christoph von Dohnanyi
,
Ferenc Fricsay
,
Alexander Gibson
,
Carlo Maria Giulini
,
Vittorio Gui
,
Rafael Kubelik
,
Georg Solti
,
Alberto Erede
,
Janos Ferencsik
,
John Pritchard
, and
Carlos Kleiber
, and the directors
Carl Ebert
,
Peter Ebert
,
Gotz Friedrich
,
Colin Graham
,
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
,
Gunther Rennert
,
Giorgio Strehler
,
Luchino Visconti
,
Wieland Wagner
and
Franco Zeffirelli
.
Star singers appearing in staged operas included
Victoria de los Angeles
,
Teresa Berganza
,
Maria Callas
,
Lisa della Casa
,
Ileana Cotruba?
,
Sena Jurinac
,
Birgit Nilsson
,
Magda Olivero
,
Renata Scotto
,
Anja Silja
,
Elisabeth Soderstrom
,
Joan Sutherland
,
Galina Vishnevskaya
, and
Ljuba Welitsch
,
Luigi Alva
,
Sesto Bruscantini
,
Boris Christoff
,
Fernando Corena
,
Geraint Evans
,
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
,
Nicolai Gedda
,
Tito Gobbi
,
Alfredo Kraus
,
George London
,
Luciano Pavarotti
,
Peter Pears
,
Hermann Prey
,
Giuseppe Di Stefano
,
Wolfgang Windgassen
, and
Fritz Wunderlich
.
Ballet
[
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]
Ballet
was inaugurated at the festival with performances of
The Sleeping Beauty
with
Margot Fonteyn
,
Robert Helpmann
and the
Sadler's Wells Ballet Company
at the
Empire Theatre
. They returned in subsequent years, together with companies including the Ballets des Champs-Elysees from Paris,
American National Ballet Theatre
from New York, the
Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas
(Le Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo), the Spanish Ballet of
Pilar Lopez
, the Yugoslav Ballet and the
Royal Danish Ballet
.
Drama
[
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]
Drama was an important feature of the Edinburgh International Festival from its inception, and right through the successful early years.
The Old Vic
Theatre Company, like
Glyndebourne
for opera and
Sadler's Wells
for ballet, gave their strong support to the festival in the beginning, and over the years they were joined by a series of other important British companies such as the
Glasgow Citizens' Theatre
,
The English Stage Company
,
Royal Shakespeare Company
,
Traverse Theatre
,
Prospect Theatre Company
, and the
National Theatre of Great Britain
.
One of the festival's first dramatic success came in 1948 when an adaptation of
Sir David Lyndsay
's
The Thrie Estaites
was performed to great acclaim for the first time since 1552 in the Assembly Hall on the Mound.
[8]
The work was revived in 1948. 1949, 1951, 1959 and 1973.
Companies came from all over the world, and with increasing frequency. In the first decade (1947?1956), from France, Italy and Canada, in the second (1957?1966), from France, Italy, Greece, Russia, and Poland, and in the third (1967?1976), from the USA, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, Bulgaria, East Germany, Italy, Romania, Japan, Belgium, and Switzerland. Notable groups included the
Le Comedie Francaise
,
Dusseldorf Theatre Company
,
The Stratford Ontario Festival Company
,
Abbey Theatre Dublin
,
Theatre on the Balustrade, Prague
,
La Mama Company, New York
and the
Noh
and
Bunraku
companies from Japan.
Noted directors in the early years included
E. Martin Browne
,
Peter Ustinov
,
Gustav Grundgens
,
Tyrone Guthrie
and
Michael Benthall
, while in the 1960s and 1970s
Frank Dunlop
,
Richard Eyre
,
Toby Robertson
,
Luca Ronconi
, and
Andrei Serban
brought productions to the city.
Well-known actors included
Ralph Richardson
,
Alec Guinness
,
John Gielgud
,
Sybil Thorndike
,
Lewis Casson
,
Emlyn Williams
,
Claire Bloom
,
Alan Badel
,
Peter Finch
,
Richard Burton
,
Fay Compton
,
Ann Todd
,
Eric Porter
and
Edwige Feuillere
in the early period, while
Anna Calder-Marshall
,
Derek Jacobi
,
Felicity Kendal
,
Ian McKellen
,
John Neville
,
Edward Petherbridge
, and
Timothy West
first appeared in the 1960s and 1970s.
Visual arts
[
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]
The visual arts were not featured in the first two festivals in 1947 and 1948, but from 1949 they became an important part of the events. There were major exhibitions at the
National Gallery of Scotland
and
Royal Scottish Academy
. These included
Rembrandt
in 1950, Spanish Paintings (
El Greco
to
Goya
) in 1951,
Degas
in 1952,
Renoir
in 1953,
Cezanne
in 1954,
Gauguin
in 1955, and
Braque
in 1956.
The second decade of the festival began with
Monet
in 1957, followed by two exhibitions, Masterpieces of
Byzantine Art
and the Moltzau Collection (
Cezanne
to
Picasso
) featured in 1958, Masterpieces of Czech Art in 1959, German Expressionist Painting in 1960, and an
Epstein
Memorial Exhibition together with a selection from the
Buhrle
Collection (
Zurich
) in 1961. Modern Primitive Paintings from Yugoslavia and
Matisse
and After (from the
Sonja Henie ? Niels Onstad Collection
in
Oslo
in 1962.
Modigliani
and
Soutine
were shown in a double exhibition, together with Music and Dance in Indian Art, in 1963. There was an exhibition of
Delacroix
in 1964,
Corot
in 1965, and
Rouault
in 1966.
The third decade began with
Derain
in 1967, followed by
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
,
Wotruba
, a
Boudin
to
Picasso
exhibition at the
Royal Scottish Academy
, and
Canada 101
, a focus on contemporary Canadian art, all in 1968.
Sixteenth century Italian drawings from British private collections
(at Merchants' Hall),
Contemporary Polish art
, and
Jack Coia
gold medallist
were shown in 1969. For 1970, the exhibitions were
Early Celtic art
and
Contemporary German art from Dusseldorf
.
The Belgian contribution to surrealism
,
Sir Walter Scott
Bicentenary
and
Contemporary Romanian art
exhibitions were offered in 1971. In 1972 the Scottish painter
Alan Davie
was featured at the Royal Scottish Academy, followed in 1973 by
Permanences e l'Art Francais
in the same gallery, as well as
Objects USA at the City of Edinburgh Art Gallery, and a
Tyrone Guthrie
exhibition
.
World premieres
[
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]
Many works have received their world premieres at the Edinburgh International Festival, from
T. S. Eliot
's
The Cocktail Party
and
The Confidential Clerk
in 1949 and 1953, to
James MacMillan
's 2018 version of
Quickening
and
Symphony No. 5
, both in 2019.
Festival venues
[
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]
The principal venues of the Festival are:
- Usher Hall
(capacity approximately 2,200), concert hall, built in 1914, used by the festival since 1947.
- Kings Theatre
(1,300), opened in 1906, used by the festival since 1947, notably for theatre and opera. As of June 2024
[update]
, the Kings Theatre is closed for renovation.
- Royal Lyceum Theatre
(658), opened in 1883, used by the festival since 1947, mainly for drama.
- Festival Theatre
(1,915), dating back to 1892, originally a variety, musical and opera house called the Empire Theatre. Used by the festival since 1947, at first for ballet. Remodelled in 1994 and now used for festival opera and ballet.
- The Queen's Hall
(920), converted chapel, opened as a concert hall in 1979, performance home of the
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
.
- The Hub
(420), originally built as the Tollbooth Church (1842?44) to house the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
. This is on
Castlehill
, directly below
Edinburgh Castle
, with its tall
Gothic
spire, the highest point in central Edinburgh (outside of the Castle). Used since 1999 as the central box office, information centre, and offices for the Edinburgh International Festival team, as well as a separate venue.
- The Dunard Centre
(1000), a new concert hall, due to be opened in 2024/25.
Other venues that have sometimes been used in the past include:
- Church Hill Theatre
(353), built in 1892 as North Morningside Free Church and bought by the City of Edinburgh Council in 1960.
- The Edinburgh Playhouse
(3,059), opened in 1929, Britain's largest theatre, formerly a cinema.
- Freemasons' Hall
(approximately 500) at 96 George Street, opened in 1912, used by the festival from 1947 for recitals and chamber concerts.
- Gateway Theatre
, built in 1882 as a veterinary college, used for drama performances during the festival, but eventually converted to student housing.
[9]
- General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland
, used for drama performances from 1949
- Leith Theatre
(also known as Leith Town Hall and, briefly, Citadel Theatre), used as a medium-sized concert and recital hall by the festival from 1961 to the end of the 1970s. It closed completely in 1988, and is now being once again restored.
- St Cecilia's Hall
(180) a historic concert hall in the Cowgate, which dates back to 1763.
Other festivals in Edinburgh
[
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]
About ten other festivals are held in Edinburgh at about the same time as the International Festival. Collectively, the entire group is referred to as the
Edinburgh Festival
or Edinburgh Festivals.
Most notable is the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
, which started as an offshoot of the International Festival in the first year of its operation (although not known as such at the beginning), and has since grown to be the world's largest arts and media festival.
The
Edinburgh International Film Festival
also began in August 1947 with a programme of documentary films. In the 1990s this festival moved into June. The 1966 Writers' Festival begun by
John Calder
,
Richard Demarco
,
Jim Haynes
, founders of the Paperback Bookshop and Traverse Theatre, eventually led to the
Edinburgh International Book Festival
also staged in August.
The British Army's desire to showcase itself during the festival period led to the independent staging of the first
Edinburgh Military Tattoo
, featuring displays of piping and dancing, in 1950. This annual event has come to be regarded as a part of the official festival, though it continues to be organised separately.
[10]
The result is a collection of festivals with more than 2,500 performances and events every day in Edinburgh in August, which is said to be many times larger than any similar conglomeration of arts and media festivals anywhere in the world.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
The International Festival of Music & Drama Edinburgh 1947 Souvenir Programme
. 1947.
- ^
"Edinburgh festivals cancelled due to coronavirus"
.
BBC News
. 1 April 2020
. Retrieved
1 April
2020
.
- ^
"Obituary, Robert Ponsonby"
.
TheGuardian.com
. 2019
. Retrieved
27 December
2021
.
- ^
Fifield, Christopher.
Ibbs and Tillett: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire
. Ashgate, 2005: p. 263
- ^
G. Bruce,
Festival in the North: The story of the Edinburgh Festival
, London: Robert Hale, 1975, p. 18.
- ^
Severin Carrell (8 May 2014).
"Edinburgh international festival moves dates for 2015 as part of shakeup"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
Bruce,
Festival in the North
(1975), p. 20.
- ^
Bruce,
Festival in the North
(1975), pp. 25-6.
- ^
Listed building information for 40-44 (inclusive nos) Elm Row, Gateway Theatre, Historic Environment Scotland, accessed 22 August 2022
- ^
Bruce,
Festival in the North
(1975), p. 31.
Further reading
[
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]
- Bartie, Angela (2013).
The Edinburgh Festivals : Culture and Society in Postwar Britain
. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
ISBN
9780748670307
.
- Bruce, George (1975).
Festival in the north : the story of the Edinburgh Festival
. London: Hale.
ISBN
070915061X
.
- Miller, Eileen (1996).
The Edinburgh International Festival, 1947-1996
. Aldershot, Hants, England: Scolar Press.
ISBN
1-85928-153-2
.
External links
[
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]