Reframing the mental horizons of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Austrian Idea" and Salzburg Festival Ideology

By Matthew Werley

Magdalen College, University of Oxford

25 April 2025

Figures: (left) Hans Poelzig's Baroque-Oriental architectural designs (unrealised) for the Salzburger Festspielhaus in 1920; (right) Legende und Mysterienspiel: Die Prinzessin Girnara (text: Jakob Wassermann), a Buddha-themed opera by Egon Wellesz (Hofmannsthal's secret stage collaborator since 1918) that new-music enthusiast Stefan Zweig helped petition for a Salzburg world premiere in 1920/21