Music: The Old Tasks

"It is not our intention to pose new tasks, but rather really to accomplish the old ones."

So said Austrian Poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, when he founded the annual Salzburg music festival (with Director Max Reinhardt, Composer Richard Strauss and others) and dedicated it to the memory of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Last week at Salzburg the founders' intention was well fulfilled.

The old tasks of The Magic Flute and Fidelio were really accomplished by the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. The Flute was given first, before a sellout...