The HAYDNREGION NIEDERÖSTERREICH festival is entering its sixth season this year, which will open on March 26, 2023 in the Haydn birthplace in Rohrau: with the lecture “Haydn – a superstar in London” and a concert by the Salzburg court musicians. Jürgen Plank spoke with the artistic director MICHAEL LINSBAUER about the “Myth of Haydn” – this is the motto of this year’s festival – as well as about educational offers for children and a possible future positioning of the festival.
You are a co-founder of Haydn region of Lower Austriawhat was the impetus for this?
Michael Linsbauer: The impetus for this was the renovation and reopening of Haydn’s birthplace in Rohrau in 2017. The museum has been around since 1959, but nothing has happened to it since then. Until about 2010, the house was a bit like a slumber, there were no guided tours and events were rare. From 2015, there was the idea of upgrading the location, the museum and the place and putting it on a contemporary footing. Towards the end of the renovation work it was already clear that this was going to be a jewel and the question of how to use it was obvious: how would it be nice if the whole region could benefit from it? And so the idea came up to place the region between Vienna and Bratislava under this motto of the Haydn region.
Which places and locations are you talking about exactly?
Michael Linsbauer: There is an original location in Hainburg, where both Haydn brothers went to school. Or Mannersdorf, where Joseph Haydn stayed afterwards and it is said that he met the composer Gluck there. That was before the time at Esterházy. That was the bracket for involving the whole region. There are many beautiful castles, churches and wineries here. The Haydn House is the centerpiece, but we’re trying to set up a year-round festival that takes place through events at 10 to 15 locations.
“FOCUS ON HAYDN IN ENGLAND FOR SEASON OPENING”
“Mythos Haydn” is the title of the festival this year. Which myth are you artistically on the trail of?
Michael Linsbauer: The myth that Haydn creates for me is that his music is always up-to-date. The program also tries to reflect that Haydn wrote music that is timely in that it is relatively apt to combine it with various other styles, including contemporary ones. For me, that already constitutes a myth when music that is around 300 years old can still be interpreted in such a contemporary way. So I think to myself that that doesn’t apply to the works of every composer of the last 200 or 300 years. The region has always been strongly influenced by the peoples who passed by or were neighboring: be it the Hungarians, the Croats or the Danube-Swabians. This was an area that was constantly being influenced by different cultures. Haydn therefore very often wrote in a certain folk tone. That’s where the myth lies for me.
How is this background reflected in the 2023 program?
Michael Linsbauer: There is a focus on references to folk music, for example in combination with English-Scottish music. At the start of the season we are focusing on Haydn in England. At a concert with Cornelius Obonya and Peter Havlicek in June, in Haydn’s birthplace, the texts by Robert Burns and the settings of the folk songs will be discussed in depth. There is definitely a connection to folk music, also to borrowings from Hungarian folk music.
Speaking of folk music: the jaw harp world champion and bagpipe player Albin Paulus will perform on the evening of March 26, 2023 as part of the Salzburg court music play. Will his performance combine Haydn and the bagpipes?
Michael Linsbauer: Exactly, Haydn naturally always lends itself to various arrangements, especially as far as folk music is concerned. Albin Paulus, who has already done various projects with us in Rohrau, also with his band Hotel Palindrone there was already a great project, will come up with his bagpipes Salzburg court music to join. He will complement and frame the works that are played there, be it chamber music or Scottish songs.
There will also be an offer for children, what is planned in this direction?
Michael Linsbauer: Turbo Thilda, Esther Planton, is a great music mediator and has made a name for herself as such in Lower Austria. She slips into different characters again and again. Turbo Thilda is currently one of their most popular figures in music communication and there is a history of Turbo Thilda the music of Haydn is also woven into it.
Haydn was also active in Pilsen, does your festival also have an impact on this region?
Michael Linsbauer: There is also a Haydn Festival in the Pilsen region. For about a year and a half I’ve been following how the programs are put together there and which ensembles play there. That’s very exciting. We have a cooperation with the festival in Znojmo, from there we bring a production to Lower Austria for the second time. That was Michael Haydn’s “The Dream” a few years ago. And this year it is the oratorio Tobias, which was produced in Znojmo last summer. We are not yet cooperating with Pilsen.
What is happening in Pilsen compared to Lower Austria?
Michael Linsbauer: The festival in Pilsen is exciting in that it is set up very similar to ours. It also takes place in smaller locations in the region, in churches and castles, even there you don’t have a large location that is used. Instead, as with us, they try to work a region musically and involve the population.
A program item on August 6, 2023 is called Urban Shoe.
Michael Linsbauer: Urban Shoe is the current trio of Gudula Urban. Haydn’s music can also be interpreted in a contemporary way, in this case in the direction of jazz and world music with a bluesy groove. Paul Schuberth is there on the accordion. The event takes place in Mannersdorf in cooperation with the Mannersdorf cultural summer instead, Mannersdorf is one of the few authentic Haydn places.
“FOR ME, IT IS IMPORTANT TO PRESENT HAYDN IN ALL ITS FACETS”
Please tell us about some special program items of the last years?
Michael Linsbauer: We already had the combination of Haydn and Klezmer at a Heurigen, back then with Tini Kainrath and Klezmer Reloaded. And we already had Haydn and Tango or Haydn and Schrammeln, when Helmut Stippich wrote great arrangements and his own compositions. Just like Peter Havlicek will do this year. The fact that the audience has the opportunity to hear Haydn performed in a very puristic way is also part of the charm of the series of events. Or playful, improvised, arranged, alienated. I think everything should be allowed. I think Haydn would like that too. Haydn was also a humorous person who himself played and experimented with melodies, songs and folk music. That’s why I imagine that he would be fine with future generations doing that with his music.
How would you like to position the festival in the medium term?
Michael Linsbauer: We’ve been around for 5 years now, we’re in our 6th season now, the first 2 years were there to see how the project would be received. Then the Corona years came anyway, it was not a matter of course to survive them. Basically, however, we are positively surprised in terms of the trust and loyalty of the audience from the region. About fifty percent of our visitors come from the region and fifty percent from Vienna and other parts of Austria. Even during the Corona period, we had an occupancy rate of around 92 percent for the concerts that took place. The ticket sales for this year confirm that it will be similar again. So we have the confirmation and the order to continue. Of course, this order depends on the financial resources. If these remain as they have been, we will certainly present the region and the two Haydns in the various genres: from chamber music and song to symphony, orchestral works and oratorios.
What further development would you like to see?
Michael Linsbauer: The opera might be a vision in view of the year 2032, the big anniversary year (Note: 2032 marks the 300th anniversary of Joseph Haydn’s birth): To consider making an opera production every year as the next stage of development. But of course that depends on the resources and is currently not foreseeable. For me it is important to present Haydn in all his facets. To make the added value of a regionally anchored festival clear to the people in the region. And to inspire more and more supporters and fans for this Haydn region idea and to ensure that the whole region really benefits from it. We still have the feeling that there are still great locations in the region that could be added.
Many thanks for the interview.
Jurgen Plank
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Link:
Haydn region of Lower Austria