Victory for Berg

Since its foundation in 1842, the Salzburg Festival has always featured Native Son Wolfgang Mozart, although other Austrians and some outsiders, e.g., Beethoven and Wagner, often creep in. One Austrian whose name was never mentioned in the same breath with Salzburg was Atonalist Alban Berg. But this year Berg made it.

The festival music directors, Gottfried von Einem and Bernhard Paumgartner, suggested last fall that it was high time for a look at the atonalist's operatic masterpiece, Wozzeck (TIME, April 23)--and the battle was on. Claimed the Bergophobes: Wozzeck uses unsuitable language (e.g., whore); it is "dark and depressing"; its 15 scene changes would make the production unwieldy and expensive. But the Bergophiles won out, and the phobes sat back to watch the project fail.

Failure seemed sure at first: tickets sold like cold cakes. But after the general rehearsal (paid admissions), word went around that Wozzeck was something to see.

Last week the performance was a near sellout and a hit. Reason: Berg's tragedy of the simple soldier betrayed by his mistress proved to have so much stage impact that even traditionally conservative Austrians were bowled over. They hardly had time to notice the fact that Berg's music was full of wrenched, tortured and distinctly unconventional effects. Baritone Josef Herrmann sang the title role with pathos, but no mawkishness. Christl Goltz, currently one of Germany's most popular sopranos, was forceful as the wanton mistress. For Stage Director Oscar Fritz Schuh and Conductor Karl Boehm, who produced Wozzeck in the early '30s, it was like old times. When it was over, Wozzeck got an ovation.

The Met's Rudolf Bing, a Wozzeck fan, showed up for the general rehearsal. Wrote New York Times Critic Howard Taubman: "It is to be hoped that he will take his courage in his hands and follow in Salzburg's footsteps."

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